lummi island wine tasting Jan 10 ’25
Wine Tasting Winter Hours: Fridays 4-6 pm
Had some sun today…nice light on the slough, see photo (while we muse on the ongoing frustration of being able to take digital pictures anytime and anywhere, but we can’t post them in our blogs because Google somehow owns them. Even so, the sun has been rare enough lately that the slough was particularly calm, reflective, and, if you look really closely, just a bit “ducky…”
Friday Bread This Week
Buckwheat Rye – Fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for several hours without yeast in a method known as an autolyse. As buckwheat has no gluten and rye little, the autolyse allows the grain to start the fermenting process before the final mix, which is then fermented overnight in the refrigerator. The buckwheat/ rye soaker is then mixed with bread flour, salt and yeast and a bit of honey.– $5/loaf
Whole Grain Spelt Sweet Levain – Made with a levain, also known as sourdough, freshly milled whole wheat and whole spelt before mixing with bread flour as well as a nice combination of dried apricots, golden raisins, slivered almonds and both sunflower and flax seeds. Chock full of flavor! $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Individual Cinnamon Rolls – Made with a rich sweet roll dough of eggs, butter and sugar. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Then rolled up and sliced into individual rolls for baking. – 2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
McManis Chardonnay ’22 CA $14
Lush and inviting with pure fruit flavors, voluptuous palate of peach, apricot, vibrant citrus, and melon and an easy, creamy texture with hints of vanilla and a smooth, lingering finish.
Goose Ridge g3 Red ’20 Washington $17
Syrah-cab-merlot blend; supple ripe plum and blackberry notes with hints of spice, vanilla, black currant and Bing cherry. Nicely balanced with a lush, round mouth and a long, lingering finish.
Chakana Estate Selection Malbec ’20 Argentina $20
Opaque, bright purple in color; pleasing nose of plums and spicy attic dust; full bodied palate of plums and spice with good length, balanced acidity, soft tannins, and lingering finish.
Economics of the Heart: Judge decides ferry lawsuit in Islanders’ favor…Let’s Party!
Yesterday morning we awakened to Peter’s post that the presiding judge in our October lawsuit had just ruled that the County did in fact illegally take $750,000 from ferry fare box revenue to pay for major infrastructure rebuilds in the last several years. We had argued that the plain language of the governing ordinance restricted expenses charged against fare revenue to “regular and routine” maintenance to the exclusion of major capital expenditures. This is a welcome conclusion to and vindication of several years of work that often felt futile.
As many of you know, the lawsuit followed from a conversation I had with Peter in the wine shop a couple of years ago when I showed him the ordinance in question and asked if the specificity of that wording ruled out charging fare revenue for unusually large, infrequent expenses generally associated with periodic replacement or upgrade of depreciable assets such as docks, engines, wingwalls, or landing dolphins. At that point he jumped in with both feet and started digging.
Many islanders kicked in donations for this legal challenge, while Peter (with a lot of lawyerly help from Jonathan) put together a polished and professional case. There are yet many details to be worked through, but ferry users are now due a substantial refund for excess fares paid over the past several years.
All YOU need to know is that this Friday’s wine tasting (today as you receive this post) is in honor of the hours, days, weeks, and months that Peter and Jonathan spent on our collective behalf. Come by, hug yer neighbors, ‘n’ hoist a toast to this wonderful community we share!!
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2072 Granger Way