lummi island wine tasting aug 21 ’20
click on photos for larger images
Saturday Outdoor Wine Tastings By Appointment!
We have tidied up the wine shop entrance area to accommodate limited Saturday afternoon outdoor wine tasting appointments for two parties of up to four people each. To minimize overlap between groups we are scheduling the first group for 2:30 and the second at 4:00. Tasting fee is $5 each for a flight of four wines. Social distancing rules will be observed, and hand sanitizer will be provided. See guidelines below.
NOTES:
1. The two slots sometimes fill early in the week;
2. Due to the outdoor venue, reservations are weather-dependent. (We are exploring ways to extend our season a bit, we’ll see how that goes…)
Social Distancing Guidelines
1. Everyone must wear a mask when they are not seated;
2. Groups sharing a table must be a “pod”of family or close friends that regularly share space together, or otherwise take responsibility for managing social distance within their group; and
3. Everyone agrees not to arrive before their appointment begins and to leave before it ends.
To make a reservation, call number next to our logo (above, right).
Stocking Up for Drydock
We are deeply grateful for the continuing support of your phone and email wine orders over the past five months of Covid Closure. (Five Months? Really? Where has the time gone??) .
We have been stocking up a bit for Annual Ferry Drydock which will run for three weeks beginning Sept 12. We all know the close quarters on the passenger ferry, so chances are most of us Old-timers will try to hole up here on the island till the car ferry returns in early October. We have stocked up on popular favorite wines and added a few new wines that presented just too good a deal to pass up. See the current list on the “Order Wine” tab at the top of this page.
When you have made selections, you can submit an order as follows:
- Send an email with the names and quantities of each wine you would like to order;
- Phone: call us at the number next to our logo, above right, and leave a message.
- Appointment: If you would prefer to shop in person, call to make an appointment. You bring a mask, we will provide hand sanitizer, and sorry, no more than two visitors in the shop at a time.
It’s that Simple!
Attention Shoppers!
A few weeks ago we wandered around the weekly Friday bread pickup pouring tastes of a very inexpensive Spanish blend of garnacha and carinena (grenache/carignan) packed in a wooden case for $84 (that’s right, $7 per bottle!). The wine is from Castillo de Monseran with these tasting notes:
An easy drinking, fruit-driven wine. Herbal overtones on the nose, bursting with ripe berry and plum fruit typical of Garnacha. Soft and round on the palate with gentle, well-integrated tannins making it suitable to be enjoyed while young. Lingering red fruit on the finish.
In full disclosure, we admit a certain bias toward any blend that includes carinena (aka carignan in France), but then again we have high expectations. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the first tasting was quite impressive, only to find (as sometimes happens) it was not nearly as good the next day. If you like red blends with big fruit flavors and a soft texture you may find this a great value. We’ll bring some to Friday Bread pickup if you want to try it!
And remember: you get a nice wooden box with a sliding lid if you buy a case!
Mar a Lago Update: Are They ALL Crooks?
An article in today’s Washington Post nicely captures the rapid Descent of the Republican Party over the past five years. Beginning with the clusterf8%ks that were the Republican Presidential Debates in 2015, the entire Party has wholeheartedly ridden the Train to Hell with the Tweetster-in-Chief. One by one all of them (except Mitt Romney, whom we salute for his moral courage) have either voluntarily left office and/or their Party, or have discarded without apology every one of the supposed “principles” they had long claimed were their Bedrock Beliefs and Commitments.
In this article, Jennifer Rubin succinctly and effectively lists enough examples of this blatant Republican Hypocrisy to illustrate her point: “The party has become a smash-and-grab operation — smash democratic norms and institutions, and grab the limelight and cash for however long they can.”
This Reality is in sharp contrast to the last four days of inspiring voices streaming into our homes from the Virtual Democratic Convention. It is certainly a relief to be immersed in a little Hope again with millions of like-minded people after four painful and exhausting years of watching everything we children of the Fifties held dear about our country rolled back or erased completely— including most basically that whatever else might be going on, We Were the Good Guys, committed to Right vs. Might, and NOT the other way around.
Sadly, that concept has been eroding since at least 1980, accelerating sharply in the Dubya Administration, which was heavily under the influence of the Project for the New American Century, the primary Neocon think tank that also spawned the the American Enterprise Institute and the pre-911 idea that “What we need (to get some policy traction) is a New Pearl Harbor.” History shows they had plans on the table to use a 911-like event to leverage the immediate invasion of Afghanistan, followed a year later by the 2003 U.S. invasion (and wholesale destruction) of Iraq, billions of dollars unaccountably “lost,” and both everyday infratructure and ancient cultural artifacts looted or destroyed.
Bill Kristol, one of the founding members of this war-mongering group, now appears regularly as a Tweetster Critic, probably because the T is more motivated toward social adulation than Global Dominance. So do not be fooled into thinking that these Neocon guys are now our Friends. On the contrary, there is evidence that Blackwater Dark Lord Eric Prince (who is, btw, brother of far-right Education Secretary Betsy Devos) had links to the recent Fed presence in Portland and other cities, possibly causing the “crime and vandalism” that “justified” their presence. There’s a lot going on, and it is not a big stretch to imagine that these people do not have our best interests at heart.
We may have many other menacing threats than the Tweetster to worry about and respond to, including a global pandemic; economic depression; racial inequality; and the growing costs of global climate change. Forces are likely already at work to rig the election in various ways. We can all Feel that tension between Hope and Fear. The last four years of 24/7 Mad-Hatter insanity have taught us that the Rules no longer matter, and our election could turn out exactly like the recent election in Belarus: Dictator Wins Landslide Victory! NOOOOOOOoooooo!
Arrrr, these be difficult times, lads; let’s keep a sharp Eye to Weather, keep our powder dry, ‘n’ take Nothin’ for Granted!
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2072 Granger Way