lummi island wine tasting july 12-13 ’19

Posted at July 11, 2019

Friday Breads

Whole Wheat Levain – Made with a sourdough starter fermented overnight in the refrigerator. The bread is made with this levain, bread flour, about 25% fresh milled whole wheat, and a bit of fresh milled rye. It has a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf

Breton – Incorporates the flavors of the French Brittany region. Bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat and rye make for interesting flavor and the salt is sel gris -the grey salt from the region that brings more mineral flavors to this bread. Goes great with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf

Morning Buns – these have been made popular by Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, and this is my interpretation. 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

 

 

Henry’s Drive

Every once in a while we get a hankering for for a Big, Fat Australian Shiraz…better known elsewhere as, you know, Syrah. Most of us know shiraz as mass-produced, fruit-forward (even somewhat one-dimensional), and uncomplicated, but for the most part pretty drinkable. And sometimes that One Dimension can be Stupidly Good, in the same way that a big, fat, over-extracted, over-ripe, high alcohol California Zinfandel can be Good. There is so much flavor that every once in a while you get a craving for it, even though you know, and an inner nanny voice reminds you, that at some level it is Wrong to like this kind of wine.

So a few months ago we were browsing a local distributor’s catalog and saw the Henry’s Drive Padthaway Shiraz 2012 listed at a pretty good price (save $9 a bottle if we bought three cases). Never having tasted it, we did not order it. Fast forward to today, and it is mostly gone, but we were able to get the last five bottles, to be delivered Friday shortly before opening. We sheepishly admit this is a typical example of the lengths some of us will travel just to taste a wine we are curious about… our One Weakness.   more on Henry’s Drive

We have no idea if we will like it, if it will rise to our Expectations and we will Hunt for More, or if it will go straight into the Spit Bucket. It’s just part of the ongoing Romance with wine. You see a bottle and wonder, Gee, what does That One taste like…? This one won’t arrive until just before we open on Friday afternoon, so our first taste will also be yours. And there will only be five bottles!!

 

Mar a Lago Update: Four Seats for Survival

The campaigns for the 2020 election are well underway. We have seen the Democratic Presidential Candidates debate, and any one of them would be a major improvement over the Tweetster. And when we say “Major Improvement,” we mean first and foremost slowing, stopping, and reversing the political, economic, social, and environmental Disaster that threatens the very existence of Life on our dear Planet Earth through Climate Change.

Under the auspices of “economic growth,” human ingenuity has developed very sophisticated ways to transform the raw materials of our planet to “better serve” human needs and desires. It took about 200,000 years for the human population to reach 1 billion (in 1800), only 120 years more to reach 2 billion (1927), and 33 more to reach 3 billion. Global population is expected to hit 8 billion by 2024. That means that for us early Baby Boomers the human population has quadrupled during our lifetimes, with devastating consequences.

We are reminded of the first Star Trek movie back in 1980 in which an early human satellite (Voyager)  reaches interstellar space centuries later where it is found and Substantially Upgraded by an advanced machine civilization and sent back to Earth to complete its original mission. The Trouble begins (gulp!) when the Highly Evolved satellite (“Vee-ger”) encounters humans and sees them as “Infestations.” Uh-oh!

One inescapable meaning of Climate Change is that there are so many of us, demanding so much Energy in such a short period of time, that Our Very Existence on Planet Earth is, well, Threatening Our Very Existence on Planet Earth. It may already be too late. We all feel the pressure as we read about the  hurricanes, the rainfall, the flooding, the lost crops, the fires, the orcas, the polar bears, the rain forests, the pollution. Even the Central American exodus toward the US is largely driven by the desperation of drought and failing crops for people who were already barely at subsistence levels of survival.

If we are to have any hope of survival we must achieve two goals for the coming year: voting both Darth McConnell and the Tweetster out of office. It will not be easy, but it is possible…(to be cont’d)

Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 10,000 as of 5/1/19

 

This week’s wine tasting

Maryhill Winemaker’s White ’17   Washington    $12
Flavorful blend of pinot gris, chardonnay, semillon and sauvignon blanc; opens with clean, bright aromas of pear and apple with touches of tangerine, butter and lemon oil.

Castel de Maures Rosé ’17      France      $16
Syrah-grenache blend; bright vibrant pink; fruit-forward notes of fresh raspberries and summer flowers.

Anciano 5-Yr Tempranillo Riserva ’12     Spain       $11
Aromas of damp earth, mocha, tobacco, and black cherry. On the palate it is sweetly fruited, easy-going, and nicely balanced leading to a seamless, fruity finish.

Kiona Cuvée Rouge  ’17     Washington   $16
83% cab, 8% syrah, 6% merlot, 3% sangio blend from many Kiona vineyards for an  approachable, balanced, textured, and crowd-pleasing blend.

Henry’s Drive Padthaway Syrah ’12       Australia      $26
Shows meaty olive-infused aromas combined with sweet coconut and vanilla tones, with nice harmony of savory and fruity notes of loganberries and bilberries.

 

 

 

 

 

Wine Tasting

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