lummi island wine tasting april 22 ’16
(note: some photos may enlarge when clicked)
Friday Breads (contact us to get on the pre-order list!)
Kamut Levain – Mostly made with Kamut, (aka Khorasan wheat), an ancient grain with a beautiful golden color and a slightly nutty taste. The sourdough culture is fed with fresh milled kamut and the final dough incorporates bread flour and more fresh milled kamut. Great toast! – $5/loaf
Barley & Rye w/ Pumpkin Seeds– Natural starter fed with wheat flour. The final dough includes bread and barley flour and freshly milled rye and whole wheat. A little buttermilk and honey is added to balance the earthiness of the whole grains and then loaded with toasted pumpkins. – $5/loaf.
And, ever popular….
Croissants!! Delicious buttery, flaky croissants, I’ve heard some say they didn’t have croissants this delicious in Paris! and no, that’s not Paris, Texas. (sorry, already sold out!!!) – 2/$5.
http://sailhavasu.com/images/sherpa-in-build.jpg
Reuilly
Reuily sits on Kimmeridgian limestone, a geological chain running along the Loire Valley, highly valued for its Jurassic storehouse of marine and shell fossils dating back 150 million years. These minerals are without equal for producing some of the most beautiful white wines in France.
Reuilly comprises only about 500 acres of vineyards west of Bourges in the Loire Valley, where the primary grapes are sancerre and pinot noir. This quote from Kermit Lynch talks about the influence of these soils: “If you want to experience minerality, notice the first impression on the palate, which is of fresh, cushiony, Sancerre-like Sauvignon Blanc. Then, immediately, there is a stony firmness from within the wine. Les Fossiles is from a specific vineyard soil full of chalk, fossils and sea shells, making the fruit lively, with white flower perfumes, citrus and mineral finesse and precision.”
We are feeling the force of Spring in the air these days, which are hot in the afternoon despite the cool of the evening and the night. This is the perfect time to enjoy a really nice sauvignon blanc, and our first wine this weekend fits the bill perfectly.
La Baronne ‘Les Lanes’
The Lignères family’s ties to the wine world date back to the sixteenth century, but its modern incarnation began in 1957 when André and Suzette Lignères bought la Baronne Estate, along the border between the wine regions of Corbieres and Minervois, roughly following the main highway between Narbonne and Carcasonne in the western Languedoc.
Many of the wines have the grape Carignan in their blend, much of it from vines planted in 1890 that produce a marvelous, ruby red, meaty 100% Carignan wine that would make a believer out of the most Carignan-skeptic wine drinker. This week we are offering you a new blend from La Baronne, Les Lanes, a blend of 60% grenache and 40% carignan..
Read more about the estate on Tom Fiorina’s excellent blog article (we met Tom on the same trip and keep a link to his blog on our site- check it out!)
Boat Kit
This week my new boat kit arrived in a big plywood box. It is called a “Sherpa,” and was designed by John Welsford of New Zealand. Most of the complicated pieces are included, while the bottom and sides we must cut from additional sheets of high-end marine plywood.
Our new little sailboat “Dreamtime” got pretty badly bashed up in the freak windstorm that swept in late last August. We are happy to say she is nearly repaired and almost ready to go back into the water. When that happens, she will need a smart little tender to ferry people and their stuff back and forth from boat to shore. Never ones to get overly-optimistic, we hope to get this tender built somewhere between this July and July three years from now!
Dreamtime” came with a practical little inflatable dinghy from West Marine that will suffice until the new one is built. Stay tuned, mates!
This week’s wine tasting
Reuilly “Les Fossiles” Sauvignon Blanc ’13 France $18
Sage, black currant, gooseberry, and lime dominate both the nose and palate, where a suffusion of salt and chalk adds to a palpable sense of extract and invigoration…bring on the shellfish!
La Croix Belle Caringole Rosé ’14 France $11
Syrah-Grenache blend; intense nose of rose petals and pear-drop candies; palate of alpine strawberries, raspberries, and cranberries, with a citrus accent on the crisp finish.
Septima Malbec ’13 Argentina $9
Musky, ripe aromas of currants, leather, chocolate and espresso. Supple and generous flavors of sweet currant and tobacco flavors with a note of pepper, soft tannins and good length.
Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon ’12 California $14
Exudes aromas of plum, black currants, blackberry, smoke, and earth. Soft tannins and bright acidity add balance and substance; concentrated flavors of raspberries and black cherries dominate the entry, with refined notes of earth and pepper and lingering hints of cherry on the long and satisfying finish.
La Baronne Costa Les Lanes ’12 France $14
Organically grown blend of Carignan, Mourvedre and Syrah from Corbieres; juicy and complex, with luscious, mouth-filling flavors of dark berries and exotic spice.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
2072 Granger Way