lummi island wine tasting june 21-22 ’19
NO Friday Breads This Week
Sorry, folks, our Baker is away taking in a few sporting events. She will return with your Weekly Bread next week. Look for your weekly email sometime Sunday!
Summer Solstice
Friday, June 21 is the Summer Solstice, the first day of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the moment this year when the sun is (for just a moment) directly above the Tropic of Cancer, the highest latitude in any year where a viewer on Earth can have the Sun Directly Overhead. Each year the point is different, but always falls (more or less) on the line of latitude at 23° 26′ N, aka the Tropic of Cancer. All of this relative motion occurs because the Earth’s axis is tilted at a constant (more or less) 23.5° from the ecliptic. Can you imagine how weird the world would be if it weren’t tilted? This year Summer Solstice will occur at 8:54 am PST Friday, June 21, about the time many of you might be reading this post!
Spring has been Puffing Out here for several weeks now, and we’re just a few days past the Full Moon, with its characteristic “lowest low” tides. Days will start getting shorter; Sunset will start moving southward a bit each day, and Sunrise will start being a little later.
Our next cosmic “cross-quarter day” will be in six weeks, roughly in early August. It is called Lammas, and celebrates the wheat harvest, as well as the beginning of the descent into winter. Here’s a good story about the holiday.
Triguedina
The Cahors wine region snakes along gravel terraces formed along the meandering Lot River to the west of the very old city of Cahors. The dominant grape in Cahors for centuries has been malbec; it is also grown in Bordeaux, where it is used mostly in blending cabernet and merlot dominant wines. Winemaking in the region dates back to Roman times in 50 BC.
Influenced by both the Atlantic Ocean to the Northwest and the Mediterranean to the south, malbec from Cahors often has a certain rustic character, showing dark color, robust tannins, and flavors of young blackberries, tobacco, coffee, and meat, with a mineral component from the limestone soils, with good tannic structure and concentration. In Cahors, malbec is called Cot; during the Middle Ages it was called the “black wine” for its deep, purple-ebony hue. Cahors wines must have a minimum of 70% malbec, with the rest either merlot (to soften), or tannat (to sharpen).
In recent decades malbec has been grown very successfully in Argentina and Chile. Malbec from Argentina tends to be more plummy and fruit-forward than Cahors, with a velvety soft texture. In Mendoza, at the foot of the Andes, the grape makes rich, robust wines with brambly black mountain fruit and sweet floral notes. With scarce rain, early summer hail, and a forceful gale called the Zonda, Argentine vines have to dig deep into the alluvial sand and clay soils deposited from millennia of Andean snow melt to make any wine at all.
This week’s tasting includes Clos Triguedina, a nice example of the Cahors style of malbec; come check it out!
Mar a Lago Update: Malignant Normality
Recently a panel of top mental health experts, led by Yale psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee, after detailed analysis of the voluminous documentation of the Tweetster’s behavior in the Mueller Report, has unanimously found that the Tweetster “ is mentally unfit, a threat to the United States and the world, and as such should have his powers severely restricted.”
In the foreward to Dr. Lee’s latest book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, renowned psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton used the phrase “Malignant Normality” to describe the resigned acceptance people experience after long enough exposure to the wrong, destructive and pathological behavior of others around them. It can happen in families and groups of all sizes, up to whole nations. In a recent interview, Lifton discusses the panel’s decision that the so-called Goldwater Rule was secondary to their Duty to Warn about patients who represent a Danger to Self or Others.
Malignant Normality was magnificently illustrated in comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night featuring the Tweetster’s opening Campaign speech in Florida, in which he made a long series of false statements (you know, “Lies”) about his accomplishments in office. Kimmel than goes on to point out that every single claim was a Conspicuous Lie, yet still his fans cheer. Apparently it all sounds good in the Great State of Malignant Normality.
Another sign: as nearly as we can tell, the New York Times stopped counting the Tweetster’s Daily Lies at 10,000 a little over a month ago. Let’s see…10,000 lies in 30 months…about 11 lies a day on average. Now consider the Hell that has generally broken out when Any Other Politician has been caught in even One Lie… and then ask yourself, “What is Wrong with this Picture?”
We are reminded of an old cartoon, in which an Elderly Man (always dear to our hearts!) sits on a park bench dispensing bread crumbs to a Pigeon. However it is clear in the cartoon that the “Pigeon” is a very thinly disguised Human Person pretending to be a Pigeon. A passerby is leaning over and saying to the Crumb Giver, “Sir…that person is making a Fool of you.”
Back then the natural assumption would be that the Crumb Giver would Snap Out of It and stop throwing crumbs. But under the Malignant Normality of our Time, the Crumb Giver would just double down and throw more crumbs to the Fake Bird. Pretty Scary.
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 10,000 as of 5/1/19
This week’s wine tasting
San Martino Prosecco Italy $11
Pale straw yellow in colour, aromatic and elegant nose (unusual in prosecco), with notes of apple and banana; pleasantly full and harmonious on the palate.
Domaine de l’Amauve La Daurèle, CdR Villages Séguret ’17 France $18
Grenache blanc, clairette, viognier, & ugni blanc; expressive nose of white fruits, mirabelle plum, and acacia honey; soft on the palate with lively citrus flavors…very Food Versatile!
Goose Ridge g3 Red ’16 Washington $15
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.
Garnacha de Fuego ’14 Spain $11
As usual, loads of fruit with strawberry and black cherry notes intermixed with licorice and earth, and great purity and richness for this price point.
Triguedina Clos Triguedina ’11 France $19
Superb ruby red with some purplish glints. Black and red fruits, a peppermint note. Well balanced and concentrated, with ripe and supple tannins for a rich, solid, well balanced wine that well expresses the minerality of Cahors Malbec.
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