Lummi Island Wine Tasting March 29 ’14
Logo bags
For some time now we have been re-using the nice “non-woven” wine bags that many of you bring to us for recycling. We have lots of paper bags, but these bags, in use at many wine merchants, are definitely nicer to use…and use again…and again. Thanks to all of you who have brought in your bags for us to recycle– they have worked very well.
I should mention here that I Really Like our logo, which Pat designed about ten years ago. Curiously, I don’t recall that anyone has ever commented on it one way or the other. But to me it really captures the feeling of what we are trying to do here with wine and community. Maybe it’s the vaguely art-deco motif, or my fantasy that we did all this before in Atlantis with a similar logo, or whatever, but I do get curious about whether any of you have ever, you know, seen it or thought about it…
But we have long had in mind how nice it would be to have our own Logo Bags. We recently found a deal that works for us, and have brought in a big box of bags for use by our Wine Club members. Hopefully you will keep your bag in your car, always on hand for your next visit. “Wear it with Pride!” Admit it, aren’t they just the Height of Fashion…?
Wine Club update
As mentioned two weeks ago, we are pleased with the first year of our Wine Club, especially the member perk of enjoying half-price tastings through the whole year of membership. We could call that the “Subscription Perk.” In addition, we also piloted a”Loyalty Perk,” which involved a complex hierarchy of rewards based on cumulative purchases and advancement through a cumulative series of membership levels. It was complicated and very difficult to implement. So, on the spur of this very moment, we are doing away with all of that for your Wine Club renewals, in favor of something simpler.
We will continue the annual fee of $35, and the $5 tasting fee for members. However, we are doing away with the various membership levels (white card, pink card, red card, second red card, etc.). Instead, we are going directly for your volume-purchase jugular with anytime volume discounts for members only:
– 8.6% discount on any mixed-case purchase (we pay sales tax!)
– 5% discount on any 6-bottle purchase
– 15% discount on any special-order case
Spring Art Advisory
For the last few months we have enjoyed our backdrop of original paintings (mostly water colors by Meredith Moench, along with some intriguing framed mirrors by Jyl Peterson. The image at left is of one of our own “Moenches” hanging in our living room. This weekend is your last chance to get one of your own before we change artists for our Spring Show (more on that next week!). Since most of us don’t actually “see” the art on the walls around us, except as a hazy, unconscious awareness, we invite you to take a serious look when you visit this weekend.
I happen to be particularly fond of watercolors, and have really enjoyed how Meredith’s work has been evolving, with lots of lively color balanced with soothing expanses of white space. I also invite you to look more closely at Jyl’s interesting art-deco mirrors and old-time Lummi Island cannery labels.
Gorman
From time to time a visitor to the wine shop asks, “What is your favorite wine?” At first glance this is a perfectly reasonable question. But I am always surprised by the question, and never know how to answer. At some level, I don’t have a “favorite,” because for me, at least, it doesn’t work like that. I have lots and lots of “favorites,” little pleasures sitting patiently, (or indifferently), on a shelf, or in the shop, or in the “cellar,”or in an unopened box somewhere I haven’t even opened yet. The problem is with the question, of course, the assumption that there is, or could be, or needs to be, one single favorite. But I kinda think hedonism just doesn’t work that way. It’s not so much a matter of good-better-best, but more a matter of these kinds of pleasures, or those kinds of pleasures. I mean…there are So Many, and they are So Good!
The Logo at left is a really nicely done logo for Gorman Winery in Woodinville. We stopped by their tasting room a few weeks ago and were duly impressed; the wines are carefully made, definitely New World (big and extracted), and well worth savoring. I have been going through a periodic “chardonnay” phase, and I have to admit the Gorman chardonnay really caught my attention. A few years ago, when I didn’t like chardonnay, for all the reasons YOU probably don’t like chardonnay, we went to a high-end wine event, with scores of very expensive and highly regarded wines. I was amazed to find that my two favorites were both chardonnays. All you need to know is that the Gorman “BIg Sissy” chardonnay made a big impression, and we will let you taste it and make up your own mind this weekend…!
This week’s tasting
Château Coujan Rouge ’11 France $11
Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cinsault. Imagine a bowl of fresh cherries and raspberries disguised as wine.
Simple on first sip, evolves in the glass and works well with food.
Bibbiani Treggiaia Rosso Toscana ’09 Italy $11
A smooth and satisfying blend of sangiovese, canniolo & cab; serious but friendly, delightful with anything from pizza to lamb chops.
Borie de Maurel Espirit d’Automne ’11 France $13
Syrah, grenache, carignan; perfumes of black olives, tobacco, and spices; minerally flavors of graphite, limestone and clay with notes of morello cherries, red fruits, mint and liquorice.
Bodegas Breca Breca ’10 Spain 94 pts $16
100% Garnacha from 80 year old vines yielding less than one ton per acre in an amazing terroir of steep hillsides and ancient head-pruned vines. Black raspberry, truffle, kirsch, lavender and liquid rock-like characteristics emerge from this astonishing wine. An absolutely incredible value in today’s market.
Gorman “Big Sissy” Chardonnay ’12 Washington 93pts $30
Bright straw-tinged yellow-gold. Wild aromas of orange, apple, spices, vanilla and nutmeg; pliant, very ripe and nicely concentrated, with floral and leesy notes, finishing fat and long.
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2072 Granger Way