lummi island wine tasting june 25-26 ’21

Posted at June 24, 2021

Re-Open Hours: Fridays & Saturdays 4-6pm

NOTE: Covid vaccinations are required for admission upstairs, but unvaccinated guests are welcome to enjoy tastings on the deck.

Bread This Week

Spelt Levain – Spelt is an ancient grain that is a wheat. It has a nutty, slightly sweet flavor and has gluten but it isn’t as strong as the gluten in modern wheat. This bread is made with a culture that is used to create a levain before the final dough is mixed with traditional bread flour, spelt flour, fresh milled whole spelt and fresh milled whole rye. It is a great all around bread – $5/loaf

Semolina w/ Fennel & Raisins – Also 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. Judy A. says this is her favorite! These flavors go really well with meats and cheese, but it also makes pretty darn good toast – $5/loaf

and pastry this week…

Chocolate Babka Rolls – A sweet pastry dough full of eggs, butter and sugar, rolled and spread with a chocolate filling, rolled up and cut into individual rolls that are placed in baking forms for baking and then brushed with sugar syrup after baking. I’ve heard some people say they hide these to keep them all to theirselves. Be sure and get your order in early as quantities are limited – 2/$5

Wine of the Week: Chasing Venus Sauvignon Blanc  ’20         New Zealand      $14

This is an interesting wine our island wine rep Judy brought by a few weeks ago. We both liked it immediately. Though unmistakably a NZ sauv blanc, it also has more subtlety, complexity,and flavor nuances than is typical for the region. With unusually hot weather forecast for this weekend, this wine is certain to be a refreshing thirst-quencher.

The interesting name of this NZ sauv blanc derives from the voyage of Captain James Cook in command of the HMS Endeavor from 1768-1771 on an expedition with two major objectives. The first was a Royal Society scientific project to study the predicted transit of Venus across the Sun in 1769. The second was more a geopolitical matter of of growing Empire: to search for and explore Terra Australis Incognita, the rumored “undiscovered land” in the South Pacific. And indeed, Cook became the first European to locate and explore New Zealand and Australia, with huge and lasting consequences.

Tasting notes: Bright, crisp, lively and refreshing, with tantalizing aromas of tropical fruit, lychee, and pineapple lead to big flavors of grapefruit, mango, papaya, gooseberry and lime.

Economics of the Heart: The Edges of the Future

Believe it or not, we are about to mark the middle of the first year of the Biden Presidency. The past year has been a chaotic sequence of unlikely events that continue to shroud even the relatively short-term future in discomforting uncertainty. In the space of a year our country has endured an astonishing sequence of emotional roller coaster rides.

A brief list of emotionally charged events of the past year include things like two Impeachment Convictions of the Former Guy, the Global Covid Pandemic, the death of liberal Justice Ginsburg and immediate hypocritical assignment of her seat by Darth McConnell to yet another Catholic Absolutist; the Big Lie about the 2020 election; the unlikely wins of two Democrats as Senators in Georgia; Republican collusion in the Capitol Riot; Republican assertion that Climate Change is not a problem — the list goes on and on.

We find ourselves at a tense crossroads where anything can happen; where the stakes are infinitely high, and the continuing existence of Life on Earth is in peril from human activity. Life itself feels delicately and inappropriately at stake, mainly because Republicans are more concerned about preserving personal and corporate wealth than about the long-term viability of Life on Earth. Maybe they are All In with the belief that short-term profit is more important than long-term survival and viability. Maybe it’s not just an act. 

The point we are trying to locate and take aim at is this: the very existence of Life on Earth is in peril from the unwillingness of Republicans to realize or care about Science. This is not our grandparents’ politics. This is, in every conceivable way, an existential battle for a sustainable future. Every indicator suggests that Republicans long ago brainwashed each other and a third of the national electorate into believing that global warming is a myth, that fossil fuels have a long and bright future, and that Critical Race Theory is the only thing keeping them from having the lives they want.

This week’s $5  tasting:

The forecast is for a major Heat Wave this weekend. We think these wines will offer particular refreshment for these conditions.  Oh, and did we mention we have…wait for it…Air Conditioning…!

Bargemone Provence Rose ’20  France    $14
Beautiful pale pink, with bright, mineral-dusted aromas of pink grapefruit and dried red berries. Light and racy on the palate, with tangy citrus and redcurrant flavors. Finishes brisk and dry, with good lingering spiciness and length.

Chasing Venus Sauv Blanc  ’20         New Zealand      $14
Bright, crisp, lively and refreshing, with tantalizing aromas of tropical fruit, lychee, and pineapple lead to big flavors of grapefruit, mango, papaya, gooseberry and lime.

Gamache Boulder Red ’17     Washington    $16
Smooth and approachable red blend layered with depth and complexity. Aromas and flavors of blackberry, black cherry and blueberry. Pairs well with everyday fare from pizza to barbecued hamburgers.

Wine Tasting

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