lummi island wine tasting aug 25-26 ’23
Hours this weekend: Friday & Saturday, August 25-26, 4-6 pm
This week’s wine tasting:
Lyrarakis Plyto Psarades ’21 Crete $20
This is a very old grape varietal saved from extinction when planted in the Lyrarakis Psarades vineyard at 480m elevation. It makes a lively, fresh, citric wine with bright, mineral-streaked lemon fruit; subtle, complex, and pleasing texture; unique freshness; and a lovely, complex, crystalline purity.
Chateau de Montfaucon Lirac Rose’ 21 France $18
Fine, translucent ruby in color, and aged mainly in concrete tanks, it offers up attractive floral aromas, hints of crushed stones, strawberries, cherries and a hint of lime.
Argento Malbec ’20 Argentina $12
From organically grown grapes; deep purple hue; inviting aromas of red berries and flowers, and flavors of plum and sweet blackberry; finishes with ripe, balanced tannins– way over-delivers for its modest price.
Sea Sun Pinot Noir ’21 California $19
A deep, alluring pinot, strikingly soft and rich on both the nose and palate, with scents of baked cherries and pie crust, and silky notes of brown spice and vanilla.
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Black Pepper Walnut- made with a nice mix of flours, bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this bread great flavor with just a bit of peppery bite to it. Works well with all sorts of meats and cheese- $5/loaf
Four Seed Buttermilk – Includes all the elements of whole wheat, adding cracked wheat and bran in to the bread flour instead of milling whole wheat berries. It also has buttermilk and oil for a tender bread and a little tang, and finished with a bit of honey and sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds and toasted millet $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Morning Buns – Made popular by Tartine Bakery in San Francisco…mine are made with the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with a filling of brown sugar, orange zest, butter and cinnamon, rolled up and sliced before baking. 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click 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: Lyrarakis Plyto Psarades ’21 Crete $20
The varietal’s name derives from the laurel (bay leaf) plant, which is called “Dáfni” in Greek, as the wine shows distinctive herbal nuances, a clean and refreshing mouthfeel, and a clean, lingering, aromatic aftertaste. Its unique characteristics offer great food-pairing versatility, pairing very well with almost anything served outdoors in the summer.
Our take is that this lovely white wine is unique in its “palate palette,” with complex, enjoyable nuances that are unique to this rare and unusual grape.
Economics of the Heart: More Democratic Than Voting…?
A recent essay in the NY Times argues quite convincingly that “free and fair” elections as currently practiced in the United States produce significantly worse results than if offices were filled by a raffle among qualified candidates. The most familiar example of that practice is the selection of jurors from a pool of randomly selected citizens. In addition, numerous psych experiments have demonstrated that lottery-selected public officials take more personal responsibility for the results of their actions, and as a result try harder to deliver benefits for the whole electoral community, not just their party constituents, donors, and political allies…what we might call “the usual cronyism.” Not to mention the predictable gang of narcissists, psychopaths, and everyday egotists who crave public attention.
The ancient Greeks used such a method, called“sortition,” in which a lottery was taken by qualified candidates who had passed an examination of their capacity to understand and exercise their duties consistent with the rules and values of the community. Of particular interest in this discussion is what research has revealed about the comparative personalities and resultant capacity for public service demonstrated by people who actively campaigned among the public for their votes vs. those who were selected by raffle. To paraphrase Woody Allen, “I would never want to vote for the kind of person who would campaign for office.”
As children of the fifties and sixties we old-timers were taught that the United States represented a kind of ideal democratic system, and we have all felt very fortunate to enjoy its benefits, serve in its military, and take part in civic affairs. However, since about 1980 there has been a national slide away from “one person, one vote” to “one dollar, one vote” that has pushed the poorest into homelessness, the struggling into poverty, and the middle classes into varying levels of economic struggle. And, of course, the Citizens United case.
In recent decades Republicans have courted the prejudices of white evangelical Christians by establishing oppressive restrictions on women’s rights, courted corporate donors by denying the threat of climate change, and turned national media and the internet into propaganda generators of “alternative facts” that have successfully convinced millions of Americans that up is down, dark is light, and bad is good.
We watched Reagan throw the poor and insane out on the street and open the door for unrestricted media lying on talk radio and Fox News. We saw Gingrich declare war on Congressional comity by openly insulting Democrats and orienting the Republican Party toward obstructionism, brinkmanship, and harassment of Democratic colleagues. And we have watched Republican legislatures use outrageous gerrymandering, restrictive barriers to voting, a concerted attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election, and an ongoing policy of having no policy except expecting to stay in power by the sheer volume and theatrical excess of their official proceedings.
So…at this point in time it is undeniable that our system is officially broken. And it will likely stay broken as long as Red States are permitted to make it harder for their opponents to get to vote or have their votes counted, and wealthy corporations and individuals are able to buy political and judicial influence with “campaign donations” or “free vacations.”
So sure, bring on the competency tests and the raffles, and do away with elections! Although, if one were really skeptical, one might wonder, “um…tell me again exactly how these raffles will be supervised..?.”
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2072 Granger Way