lummi island wine tasting may 13 ’21
Pickup of bread pre-orders continues on Fridays from 4-5:30 outside the wine shop.
Four Seed Buttermilk – Adds cracked wheat and bran to the bread flour instead of milling whole wheat berries. It also has buttermilk and oil which will make for a tender bread as well as add a little tang. Finally it is finished with with a bit of honey and sunflower pumpkin and sesame seeds and some toasted millet – $5/loaf
Fig Anise – Made with a sponge fermented overnight, then the final dough is mixed with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. Honey, dried figs and anise bring in all the flavors of the Mediterranean. A great flavorful bread – $5/loaf
and this week’s pastry…
Chocolate Croissants – a traditional laminated french pastry made with both a bit of sourdough and another pre-ferment to help strengthen the dough and create a traditional honeycomb interior. Rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5
It has been a spectacular week for light on the island, the kind of light, we imagine, that drew the Impressionist painters to Provence. The last example we noted of this phenomenon here in the blog was the occasion of our friend Thurid’s 80th birthday party a few years ago at the Curry Preserve, where we made traditional and delightful May wine in a punch bowl with Riesling, Prosecco, and handfuls of Sweet Woodruff. The Spring light was beautiful then as well and the photos looked all the world like those amazing Impressionist paintings. Check them out here and here.
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This weekend we are opening our first art show in well over a year. Our dear friend, neighbor, and indefatigable artist Anne Gibert has maintained great discipline throughout this strange period, completing more new paintings than we have room to show. They will be up for some time so you all can get a chance to come by and visit them! Here are a few pictures…they are much more captivating in person!
Our current open hours are from 4-6pm on Fridays and Saturdays, still with a few waning restrictions based on vaccination status:
ONLY those who have completed their Covid shot sequence are welcome Upstairs, while All are welcome downstairs on the deck. Through June we will encourage prudent social distancing and quiet conversation, mindfully refraining from yelling, coughing, cackling, hooting, spitting, gargling, cheering, or singing in proximity to people outside one’s own “pod.” You know, the kinds of things people might do after a bit of wine and having been cooped up alone for a year. 🙂
While it IS a huge and welcome relief to be able to visit face to face again (and maybe to cop a few hugs!), for the time being we prefer that our guests avoid crowding around the bar as in pre-Covid, and to spread out into the shop in smaller groups of three or four.
Wine of the Week: Bodega Garzon Tannat Reserve ’18 Uruguay $15
Tannat originated in the Southwest of France near Madiran in Gascony close to the Pyrénées where it has thrived for centuries. It has been known for its muscular tannins and was often blended with Bordeaux varietals cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. It was planted in Uruguay by Basque settlers in the nineteenth century, and has evolved into the dominant red wine of the country.
The Uruguayan evolution of the grape has developed wines characterized by soft and elegant and tannins and complex blackberry fruit notes. It has also developed several new clones which as a group have brought more ripeness, but higher alcohol and lower acidity and fruitiness. There is ongoing development of the wine’s potential by blending it with cab sauv, merlot, or cab franc. At present it offers a unique array of flavor and textural characteristics unlike any other varietal.
Bodega Garzon Tannat Reserve ’18 Uruguay $15
Opaque deep, dark red; opens with an enticing, delicious aroma of very ripe, dark fruit and berries stewed in their own liqueur, with a melange of spice, wood. The palate is steeped with vermouth-like spice, herb, and licorice notes that are seamlessly balanced and integrated with the robust tannins of this rustic grape.
The Economics of the Heart– The New Political Polarities
Most of Our People here at the wine shop have one foot planted in Middle Age and the other looking for a toehold on the rocky path into Old Age. As children of the Fifties, we have lived through many Illusions of America and its political parties. We have sixty or seventy years’ experience with the many media faces of the Two Parties.
Politics wasn’t an issue for most of us until the late sixties, when the cognitive dissonance of the Vietnam War forced us to face the possibility that we Were Not the Good Guys anymore. What was our objective? What were our guiding values? For many of us it was a difficult time. The good guys and the bad guys were not so easy to tell apart.
As we fast-forward fifty years to the Chaos of Today, it is hard to find consistent philosophical markers of either the Right or Left. Rather, what we have seen in the past decade in general, and the last four years in particular, is a disintegration of the entire philosophy of political partisanship.
We have mentioned many times the observation of economist Joan Robinson that every society/economy needs
“a set of values, a set of rules, and a will in the people to carry them out.” What we have learned over the last ten years in general, and in the last five years in particular, is that the Real World is much more cruel than that. The combination of the Ubiquitous Internet and the astonishing concentration of wealth and power into a very few Hands has exposed a more stark set of political divisions.
There are no more “Democrats” or “Republicans.” It is probably more precise to say there are people who believe in and work toward a common good and those who believe only in private power. The 2020 election and subsequent Capitol rioting have exposed a Republican Party without a shred of ethical constraint or moral principle. They would more aptly be named the “Authoritarian Party.”
This week’s $5 wine tasting
Bodega Garzon Albarino ’19 Uruguay $15
Pale yellow with greenish reflections, this Albariño is intense in the nose, with peach and citrus notes. The freshness and minerality mid-palate is superb, with remarkable acidity and a round, crisp finish.
Bodega Garzon Tannat Reserve ’18 Uruguay $15
Opaque deep, dark red; opens with an enticing, delicious aroma of very ripe, dark fruit and berries stewed in their own liqueur, with a melange of spice and fruit. The palate is steeped with vermouth-like spice, herb, and licorice notes that are seamlessly balanced and integrated with the robust tannins of this rustic grape.
Juggernaut Hillside Cabernet ’17 California $19
Huge, rich, and opulent, with complex flavors of chocolate, coffee, blackberries, cassis, mint, and velvety tannins. New French oak adds notes of vanilla and toast; concentrated, rich, and smooth on the palate.
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2072 Granger Way
