lummi island wine tasting feb 24 ’23
Hours this weekend: Open 3:30- 5:30 pm Friday Only
NOTE: Next week we will go back to our usual Friday hours of 4-6pm! And since it is still wintry (below freezing this week), and since we have been enjoying having the day off on Saturdays for while, we are not planning to open on Saturday for at least mid-February.
Covid (and a bunch of other winter bugs) are still around, more contagious than ever, but far less threatening for the vaccinated, masks are welcome but optional. These days we each get to manage the space around us in our own way. Please stay mindful of the risks, thanks.
Friday Bread This Week
Whole Wheat Levain – Made with a sourdough starter built up over several days before a levain is made and fermented overnight to start fermentation and gluten development. The bread is made with levain and bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat for a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Semolina w/ Fennel & Raisins – A levain bread made with bread flour, semolina and some fresh milled whole wheat. A little butter for a tender crumb and fennel seeds and golden raisins round out the flavors. These flavors go really well with meats and cheese, but it also makes pretty darn good toast – $5/loaf
…and pastry this week…
Brioche Suisse- 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. 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: Eola Hills Barrel Select Reserve Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $27
Eola Hills winery was something of a pioneer in the Oregon pinot noir explosion. Founded in the mid-80’s, the new owners did much of the grunt work themselves, becoming both grape farmers and winemakers. Now, forty years later the company farms over 300 acres and makes 80,000 cases of wine a year…you know, another American “success” story: what begins as a creative dream rooted in land, family, nature, nurture, art and culture can go in all kinds of directions.
It’s hard to say if or when a growing wine operation transitions from being an artisan, hands-on winery that fulfills someone’s artistic dream into a major commercial player, or what, if anything, is lost or gained in the process. But that kind of success does suggest they have been doing something right…right?!
This “barrel select” reserve pinot is a blend of the best barrels (yes, there is barrel variation in each vintage) from several different vineyards, taking a shot at “the best of the best.”
Last week we tasted pinot gris from Ponzi, another Oregon pioneer winery that has done very well over the years. So both have played significant roles in the evolution of Oregon viniculture that put Oregon pinot noir on the global map.
See notes below
Economics of the Heart: When The Lines Stop Crossing
Economists are fond of graphs. Everyone has encountered the standard blackboard sketch of a “Demand Curve.” It has price on the vertical axis, and quantity sold at each price on the horizontal axis. With a little manipulation, it is a versatile tool to describe a lot of human behavior. The primary takeaway, of course, is that when the price of something rises, less of it will be bought/sold, and that will have cascading effects throughout an economy.
On the supply side, it is broadly true that in the short term, producers have a very limited ability to increase production when demand increases. This was clearly seen as global demand for all kinds of stuff started climbing as Covid vaccines became available and commerce began ratcheting up after a long quarantine. Our little demand and supply curves were quite handy at explaining how that led to worldwide inflation as suppliers of key resources in short supply (like international shipping) made astronomical profits, not because their costs went up, but because the sudden increase in demand for shipping far exceeded short-term supply– the classic path to coveted “windfall” profits.
Covid was just one warning signal about how the interdependence of the global economy makes everyone vulnerable to social, environmental, geologic, and political instability. All of these things are getting worse at an increasing rate, driven by two powerful forces that we humans have caused and continue to make worse: global warming and overpopulation.
Over forty years ago I worked on a research project exploring the economic impacts of global warming on world fisheries. My main takeaway from that project was that all living systems are deeply interconnected to each other through the global environment: sun, wind, rain, plants, animals, seasons. It is deeply sobering that we ‘Boomers’ were born into a world of some 2 billion people. In just our own short lifetimes we have now seen the recent birth of the eight billionth living human being on our planet. Our population has increased four-fold; we are everywhere, and we have not been kind to our planet.
Broadly speaking, there are two pathways to saving our planet and its life-giving web of interdependence over the long term: massive cooperation or massive conflict. Democracies lean toward the first, through cooperation and shared values. Autocracies lean toward the second, through exclusion and hierarchy. That really means that democracies have a cooperative chance for survival. But it’s hard to see how autocracy is compatible with an effective sense of interdependence…
to be continued…
This Week’s $10 Wine Tasting
Marques de Caceres Rioja Red Blend Organica ’21 Spain $18
75% Tempranillo, 25% Graciano; we all loved this wine when Judy poured samples of it three weeks ago, and found it a bit disappointing when we poured it at our tasting. So third time is the charm, right? How do we really feel about it?!
Eola Hills ‘Patriot Red’ Oregon $22
Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Merlot, & Pinot Noir from Oregon, Washington, & California. Intense aromas of fruitiness lead to a soft, smooth palate with flavors of red berry jam. All you need to know is it’s pretty tasty!
Eola Hills Barrel Select Reserve Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $27
From best barrels from the 2019 harvest; classic, Burgundian-style pinot, with nose of fresh raspberries, earth, wet autumn leaves, and a silky palate of cherry and strawberry with a lingering cranberry tartness on the 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