lummi island wine tasting aug 12-13 ’22
Community Meet and Greet
Susan Hutton, the new Executive Director of the Lummi Island Heritage Trust, will be at the shop from 4-6 on Friday. She has taken over the position recently vacated by Becca Rettmer, who served as Director for much of its 25-year history. This will be a great opportunity for Susan to meet more of the community and talk about new directions for the Trust. Even if you don’t order bread this week please stop by and say hello to Susan and take a few minutes to get to know her!
Hours this weekend: 4-6pm both Friday and Saturday
The wine shop will be open this weekend as usual from 4-6 Friday and Saturday. Covid continues to be a threat, even for those fully vaccinated. Limited outdoor seating is available on the deck for those who wish to stay outside.
At this stage of the pandemic in our region, anyone can be a carrier, so though overall risks are low, we all must manage risk to ourselves and others in our own way. You are welcome to wear a mask , stay outside, or otherwise distance as additional precautions to protect yourself and others. For our part, we will continue taking basic precautions in the wine shop: windows open, air filter operating, outside seating options. We do continue to request that the unvaxed remain outside for tasting.
Btw, the forecast is for sunny, comfortable (70°) weather both Friday and Saturday.
Bread Pickup This Week
Buckwheat Rye – First, fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for 8 hours without yeast in a method known as an autolyse. This allows what little gluten these grains contain to start developing enzymes before the final mix – which is then fermented overnight in the refrigerator. The buckwheat-rye soaker is mixed with bread flour, salt and yeast and a bit of honey. Goes well with all sorts of meats and cheese – $5/loaf
Sweet Corn & Dried Cranberry – Made with polenta and bread flour, then enriched with milk, butter and honey for a soft and tender crumb, then loaded up with dried cranberries. Has great corn flavor but is not a traditional quick cornbread. A delicious bread that makes great toast – $5/loaf
and mmm, pastry this week…
Black Sesame & Candied Lemon Brioche: A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with fresh lemon zest and candied lemon and as if that wasn’t enough, topped with a black sesame streusel before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like?! – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Tre Donne Roero Arneis ’20 Italy $20
photo courtesy asiaimportnews.com
The revered Italian wine region of Piedmont (i.e., ‘foot of the mountain’) lies in the NW corner of Italy, in the foothills of the French and Swiss Alps to the west and north. The geography makes for the serendipitous combination of warm days and cool nights that make perfect conditions for wine grapes. The Roero region is just north of the iconic Barolo and Barbaresco regions, which produce some of Italy’s most prestigious wines.
White wines from Roero must contain at least 95% Arneis, and reds must contain at least 95% Nebbiolo. The sandy clay soils make for a nuanced, medium-bodied Arneis with aromas and flavors of pear, apricot, and white blossoms. With roots diving deep into layers of tufo clay, the 35-year-old vines at Tre Donne yield a wide array of complex aromas and flavors, from prominent stone fruits and piercing minerality to subtle layers of quince, mushroom, and lemon verbena. It’s easy to like!
Read more and even more...
Economics of the Heart: Signs of Actual Progress!
The past week has brought a number of encouraging signs, rare and welcome experiences after the wearying and wearing twin challenges of the last few years, Covid and Trumpism– one a disease of the body, one a disease of the body politic. Both have taken tremendous and lasting tolls, and both still linger as mortal threats.
The first good news is that after many years of effort by our community and our representatives at the local, county, state, and federal level, the USDOT (thanks, Pete!) has awarded Whatcom County $25M for our ferry replacement project! This would not have happened without the considerable effort of many in our local and extended community over the past decade: ferry Captains and crew, County Public Works and Council, LIFAC (Ferry Advisory Committee), our State and Federal legislators, our Governor, DOT Secretary Buttigieg, and many others who played vital roles in getting us this far. So it’s a very Big Deal and a huge relief to have this funding come through as our trusty Whatcom Chief gets increasingly crotchety in her old age.
The plan on the table is for a 34-car ferry to replace the Chief, which was designed 60 years ago as a 16-car vessel but which, as everyone knows has operated for decades as a 20-car vessel, bumper to bumper, door to door, day after day. The next boat will likely have walkable space all around each vehicle…quite extravagant, even a bit agoraphobic, perhaps..? Another possible stumbling block could be that the $25 million in the original rough proposal is now $37 million in current dollars, so it is likely there will be a two years of further tweaking before the final design is approved. Some of us who will remain unnamed for the moment have been pushing for a smaller, more energy-efficient vessel; given that the 34-car design would now cost another $10 million, there are likely to be numerous trade-offs before a final design is reached. This moment is for savoring the green light to move ahead with the project. It’s a Big Deal for all of us.
The proposed new ferry (after considerable arm -twisting) is a diesel-electric hybrid design, not the diesel-only originally proposed. Also, for six decades the ferry has berthed at the Island at night, and all the crew have been island residents. Therefore, because the new vessel will have to recharge overnight on the Island, an essential component of island infrastructure will involve a charging/energy storage station. At LIFAC’s urging, the County has also approved a Shore Power Study in the near term to explore and evaluate various recharge options.
Over the last twenty years there has been a great deal of research across the globe into replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy resources. One of the key infrastructure challenges has been how to make renewable energy resources reliable and predictable. After all, the great convenience of fossil fuels is you can use it whenever you want. But sun, wind, waves and currents are more fickle, so a great deal of global research has explored ways to gather and store energy from renewables while the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, the waves are crashing, the tide is changing, and then draw from it as necessary, the renewable equivalent of “starting the engine.” This, in turn, has led to substantial improvements in the capacity and efficiency of energy storage systems.
These lines of inquiry have been productive enough that it now makes sense for communities like our little island to start planning how to use microgrids, solar panels, windmills, waterfalls, waves, and tidal energy– whatever is locally available– to gather and store clean energy to run not only the next ferry, but also our homes and other infrastructure as well. It is now looking entirely feasible for a place like Lummi Island to become energy independent, with every property both generating energy for and using energy from interconnected community sources.
Including generating power for the next ferry!
This Week’s Tasting $10
Tre Donne Roero Arneis ’20 Italy $20
Pale golden yellow; soft aromas of orange blossom, honeysuckle, nectarine, and lemon verbena; flavors of pear, peach, quince, and green apple; enduring minerality and balanced acidity.
La Atalaya del Camino ’19 Spain $13
Intense aromas, fruit, and elegance on the nose with a distinct spiciness and a touch of floral notes. Rich and meaty structure, with rich dark fruits and hints of spice. Smooth and pleasant long finish.
Sineann Oregon Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $30
Aromas of deep dark fruits lead to a juicy, vibrant palate with notes of black cherry, black raspberry, fig, baking spice and fresh plum, and layered fruit flavors, finishing with supple, textured tannins and a lingering, complex finish.
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