lummi island wine tasting dec 29 ’17 New Year’s weekend

(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)

New Year’s Breads

Cinnamon Raisin – Made with a nice mix of bread flour, freshly milled whole wheat and rolled oats. Some honey for sweetness, a little milk for a tender crumb and loaded with raisins and a healthy dose of cinnamon. No swirl of cinnamon sugar in the middle…the cinnamon is mixed in and flavors the entire bread for a hearty rustic loaf. Great for breakfast toast, even better for french toast – $5/loaf

Seeded Country Hearth- Also made with a mix of bread flour and some fresh milled whole wheat. Then loaded up with pumpkin, sunflower and poppy seeds. So good and So good For You! A nice rustic bread. – $5/loaf

and for pastry this week…

Brioche au Chocolate – A rich brioche dough made with plenty of butter, eggs and sugar, rolled out and spread with pastry cream before sprinkling with dark chocolate. The dough is folded over all that delicious filling and cut into individual pieces. As with all pastry quantities are limited so if you want these delightful pastries be sure and get your order in early. 2/$5

 

Holiday Wine Shop Schedule

Friday, December 29- open 4-7 for wine tasting and bread pickup
Saturday, December 30- open 2-6 for wine tasting as usual
Sunday, December 31- 12th annual East Coast New Year’s Eve Party 7-9 pm!

As the Fortunate Few well know, our annual “East Coast New Year’s Eve Party” has become a Hallowed Tradition. From 7-9pm on New Year’s Eve we provide the wine, you bring Something Delicious to share, and when the ball drops in Times Square three hours away, we all hoist our glasses and toast the New Year! The Young at Heart move on to their next party, and we Old Timers can get to bed at a decent hour! We welcome this annual opportunity to Thank all of you for your support this year, and to toast ahead to even more fun in aught-eighteen. Arrrr, lads and lassies, ye best mark yer calendars now ‘n’ start plannin’ yer Finger Foods!

Important Note! Speaking of Finger Food, we will again this year have a Secret Operative sampling the dishes and Assigning Points! Yummiest Dish wins a $25 credit, and Yummiest-Looking Dish wins a $15-dollar credit! Let’s see if Competition really does improve Quality!

 

Wine Club Reminder

All Wine Club memberships expire at the end of each calendar year! In order to keep enjoying Membership Savings through 2018 you must renew your membership. Also, we regret that rising costs demand that in order to continue our Generous Pours, we are raising the Wine Club Membership fee for 2018 from $35 to $50 to help close the Gap a bit on our expenses.

The Good News is that to make all of this more Palatable, if you are a current wine club member and buy any mixed case of wine before December 31, you can renew your membership for 2018 for the old rate of $35! Think about it! And while you’re at it, Consider that we have just Replenished our Stock of Theo’s Chocolate, including delicious bars, Almond Butter Cups, and Chocolate Coconut Clusters!

The Good Stuff

Some of you may have noticed a new display in the wine shop the last few weeks. Over the years we find we have built up an eclectic collection of some pretty nice wines. For various reasons most of them have never made it to our shelves: too few bottles or too expensive to pour for a tasting, or got lost in the cellar, any number of reasons.

These are all wines that we consider well above average, including Betz, Long Shadows, Quilceda Creek, Andrew Will, Felsina, Colomé, Ferrand, Osmin, El Nido, and several Brunellos. Since it is the Holiday Season, these are wines are all deserving of a Splurge, Something Special to Accompany a Special Event, or to Be a Special Event. Either way, next time you are in the shop check them out. Tasting notes and critic scores are provided.  Bon appetit!

 

Mar a Lago Update: Opinions are Facts, but Facts are Not Opinion

As 2017 slogs to its Surreal Dystopian Close, Republicans are Giddy with the Final Realization of their Tax Cut Wet Dream Fantasy. They think it’s Step One toward their 80-year Goal of Rolling Back the New Deal and getting back to the Good Old Days of the Great Depression.

It seems to us Wildly Unlikely that any of them actually Believe that Trickle-Down 4.0  will be good for for Anyone but their Über-Rich Overlords and (they hope) Themselves. Over the next year or two we can expect to endure a lot of Self-Congratulatory Chest-Beating and Short Fat Fingers pointing at Piles of Sheeyit and Celebrating it as the Long-Promised Shinola. So this is a good time to start laying out for Them and for Ourselves how to tell One from The Other as the Results come in over the next year.

The First Major Claim of the Plan is that their Drastic lowering of Corporate Taxes will very quickly (this year!) lead to Major New Corporate Investment here in the U.S., increasing wages and employment. Easy to check, huh…? Most economists predict that these Windfalls will instead show up as increases in shareholder dividends, buy-backs of company stock, and yet another round of Executive Bonuses. There is no Quid Pro Quo built in here, no Accountable Requirement that Corporations earn these Gains by Actually Investing in American Infrastructure. It’s just a Giveaway.

So over the next year let’s all keep our eyes on the Facts as they Unfold. “Sheeyit” means middle and lower incomes continue downward while upper incomes continue upward. “Shinola” means corporations invest increasing $$ in the US, and lower and middle class families really do start getting an increasing share of the Economic Pie. No doubt lots of pundits will be following this through the next year. Our prediction: Promised gains for the lowest 90% will continue to remain Around the Next Corner, while riches will pile up even more at the Top. (My, my, how did we get so Skeptical?). Stay tuned; Time and Results will tell. As long as you can tell S…t from S…a you will be able to figure it out. In the meantime, we hope you can drop by this weekend and taste some wine!

 

This week’s wine tasting

Ruffino Sparkling Rose Italy $13
Elegant and stylish, made primarily from the Glera grape, blended with Pinot Noir. Fresh and fragrant, with notes of strawberry and slight hints of rose petals. Alluring flavors of delicate red berries and white fruits linger through the finish.

Rodney Strong Chardonnay ’15     California    $11
60% barrel fermented  and aged on lees in barrel for 6 months; 40% cold fermented in stainless steel for a fresh fruit-forward character. Aromas of baked apple, pear and citrus with white blossom aromas. Flavors of baked fruit and toasty brioche with a creamy, well-balanced finish.

Bocelli Sangiovese ’15       Italy      $14
Bright,, lush, and appealing; deliciously ripe and smoky, with notes of marasca cherry, granite, and rhubarb compote. Finish is long and dry, with admirable acidity that makes the palate taut and pleasing.

Castano Solanera Vinas Viejas ’13    Spain   92pts   $14
Monastrell, Cab, Grenache from high-elevation limestone soils; dense purple color, a big sweet kiss of blueberry and blackberry fruit mixed with crushed chalk, full-bodied mouthfeel, beautiful purity, density and richness with lavish fruit.

Gilbert Cellars Left Bank Red ’14      Washington     $18
(Cab, Merlot, Carmenere, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot) Meaty, with notes of tobacco, earth, charcoal and dark fruits,  medium+ body, with a firm, structured feel on the palate. 19 months in 80% French and 20% American oak.

Wine Tasting

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