lummi island wine tasting june 8 ’18
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread Friday this week
Whole Wheat Levain – A sourdough levain helps the fermentation process to start and the gluten to start developing. This particular dough adds bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat for a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Pear Buckwheat – Uses a poolish preferment of bread and milled buckwheat flours, water, salt and a bit of yeast and fermented overnight. Since buckwheat has no gluten using the preferment allows the dough to begin to develop before the final mix. The addition of toasted walnuts and dried pears soaked in white wine makes for a really flavorful bread – $5/loaf
For 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
Whidbey Island Winery
Little-known Whidbey Island Winery has been around for over 25 years, since 1992. Owner-winemaker Greg Osenbach planted his vines on Whidbey back in the late 80’s. A number of white varietals do very well on Whidbey, including an award-winning Sigerrebe we carried last year, as well as Madeleine Angevine and Madeleine Sylvanver, which locals in our area will recognize as varietals that have done well right her in Whatcom County at Mt. Baker Vineyards.
We had a chance to taste through WIW’s current releases at a recent tasting, and continue to be impressed by the care and precision represented in many of the wines. In this case we found the 2015 Rosato bright, lively, and full of summer flavor. It is a blend of sangiovese and a few other Washington-grown Italian varietals…one more expression of the Summer Magic of Rose!
Conundrum
As many of you know, Conundrum is a delicious California white blend with an established reputation for fullness of flavor and roundness of texture. It seems to be a pretty big outfit, as evidenced by the fact that our favorite Island Wholesale Wine Purveyor (you know who I mean) represents it, and brings us all manner of deals on how we can get more and more for less and less. Generally speaking, all of our Regulars love both the red and white blends when we bring them in, but much prefer to buy them in the high teens than in the low 20’s.
As a result, sometimes we have it, sometimes not. A month ago or so there was a Special Deal and we bought a case we could sell for high-teens, a few bucks off the usual retail. Today late in the afternoon we tasted some other wines and got another appealing offer: we can get a great price on some Conundrum White (we have to buy a Bunch), and get a 3-liter bottle thrown for our 2019 New Year’s Party (never too early to start thinking about these things) — if we buy several cases. Which we have decided to do. When the dust settles, we expect to have several cases available at about $16/bottle. Call if you want us to set aside a case for you!
Mar a Lago Update: The Happy Place
Ahh, it’s Nice and Quiet in Here…the Only Place we can be alone and Think. And exhale. Such a Relief! The World is so Noisy, always Blah-Blah Foolish people in our Face, wanting a Piece of us, wanting a Deal, wanting our Energy. But we don’t give it to them; we hold it out in front of them and Tease them with it, because this is what they want, what Everyone Wants, to be like Us, completely Self-sufficient, Indifferent to All of it, the only Real Person on the Planet. We learned how to make Our Own World, figured it out all by Ourselves, no Dad, no Mom, maybe a few tips from uncle Roy. We Struggled, and we found this Refuge, and it has made All the Difference.
We learned very young what a Jungle it is Out There. You can’t rely on Any One; people are such Awful Bullies, and they will Hurt you over and over, and you need to protect yourself, and you need to keep a Safe Distance all around you. No knows this like We Know This. No One is Ever Going to Hurt Us Again. Oh, no.
When the World is Crushing you Moment by Moment, Constantly making up Stories about you, lying about you, trying to get at you, trying to peck your Liver out of your Body…that’s when you need The Refuge. The first few times were Not Easy, believe me. But it was worth it to learn how to do it at all, and then to do it more and more easily, and to be able to spend longer and longer periods of Restoration Time there. Our critics have no idea of the Power of It, the Satisfaction of it, the Invulnerability of it, and the Comfort and Contentment that comes from having spent most a a Lifetime with your own Head stuck Deeply, Safely, and Rewardingly Up Your Own…well, you see what I mean…
This week’s wine tasting
Chat. Blizard Blanc d’Amour ’16 France $14
Grenache blanc, viognier, marsanne, rousanne; complex, fruity fragrances of grapefruit, white peach, lychee and acacia flower. Balanced, ample and suave, with a fresh finish.
Whidbey Island Winery Rosato ’17 Washington $14
A dry, vivacious, Provençal style rosé from Sangiovese and other Italian varietals; intriguing flavors of strawberries and cream, white cherries and kumquat…Summer in a bottle!
Fantini Sangiovese ’16 Italy $11
Garnet color, fruity bouquet of strawberries and black cherries with vinous notes and hints of wood, quite intense and persistent; medium bodied, with firm tannins and good balance, immediate appeal.
Crios Malbec ’16 Argentina $14
Bright, dark red. Redcurrant, black cherry, ripe strawberry and spices on the nose; sweet red fruit flavors are complicated by earth, licorice and menthol; creamy fruit is firmed by smooth tannins…a terrific value.
JM Cellars Bramble Bump Red ’15 Washington $25
56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 13% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, made to enjoy now. Big and powerful with strong tight blue and black berry fruits.
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2072 Granger Way