lummi island wine tasting may 7-8 ’21
Pickup of bread pre-orders continues on Fridays from 4-5:30 outside the shop.
Poolish Ale – the preferment here is a poolish, made with bread flour, a bit of yeast and a nice ale beer for the liquid and fermented overnight; a great all around bread with a nice crisp crust – $5/loaf
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – Also made with a poolish, buckwheat and bread flour. Buckwheat is actually a seed (not a grain and therefore has no gluten) that adds an earthy flavor that in this bread is balanced with a little honey. Some toasted walnuts add a nice crunch and just a touch of honey for a little sweetness; goes well with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
and this week’s pastry… 🙂
Raisin Brioche- A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar, and filled with golden raisins soaked overnight in rum, chunks of almond paste and topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like? – $5/loaf
It’s Official! Now Open Fridays and Saturdays 4-6 pm!
Our dear little wine shop is now officially Open from 4-6pm on Fridays and Saturdays, albeit with a few 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, 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 the past 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. Welcome Back!!
Wine of the Week: Edi Simcic Duet ’16
It has now been over a year since we have been able to order our usual semiannual wine order from Small Vineyards, the Seattle wine importer from whom we have bought a substantial portion of our Italian wines. They are consistently both good and modestly priced for the quality they deliver, which are exactly the criteria we use to select all the wines we offer. We are now down to our last wine from SV, and are including it in our tasting this weekend.
It differs from most of the SV wines in that it is definitely more expensive than most of their other offerings. The winemaker is Edi Simcic, whose vineyards and winery are in Slovenia near the Italian border between the Alps and the Aegean. Both the father and son winemakers and their wines are highly regarded for the quality of the fruit and the craftsmanship of the wines.
Here is a very seductive YouTube video of the wine estate. You should also know that a lot of people who know a lot more about wine than we do are big fans of these wines. Check it out this weekend, and see what you think! See tasting notes below…
The Economics of the Heart– Everybody Loses in Proxy Wars
Tonight’s exploration was inspired by a recent PBS News video essay by persistent special correspondent Jane Ferguson, who has been interviewing ordinary people in ravaged and war-torn hell-holes in the Middle East for several years on PBS. This report was a couple of days ago, and centered around the truly desperate situation in Yemen.
Ferguson shows us the ongoing Devastation of an entire society, where some 90% of the population are reliant on food supplied by NGO’s just to stay barely alive. There are relentless bombings of buildings and infrastructure, ongoing malnutrition, and limited access to potable water, food, shelter, and medicine. Not even the most basic survival needs are being met, and it is heartbreaking to see children reduced to skin and bones, barely able to breathe for lack of food and water, the most basic of needs. Millions are so malnourished that many die, and even the survivors will never reach the potential they were born with. What infrastructure there was is constantly being bombed out of existence by Saudi Bombs and Hoofi rockets.
What the World is experiencing, and millions of people are suffering, is the fallout of the latest in the long series of Proxy Wars around the Globe in which large, industrialized countries have found it expedient to confront their political and economic adversaries indirectly. They do not risk their own civilian populations or industrial bases, and they do not openly declare their involvement. Rather, each nation supports the local players which best align with its own broad interests.
To see what is happening in Yemen is to see the unraveling of hope for a global humanity. Maybe this is what WWIII looks like; no one sure if they are on offense or defense, the good guys or the bad guys. But we should all be able to agree that starving millions of children is Way over the Line, and we should make it clear to our Leaders that stopping it is a First Priority. If we can’t get that right, it’s all downhill from here.
This week’s $5 wine tasting
Maryhill Viognier ’16 Washington $14
Vibrant aromas of orange zest, honeysuckle, and pink grapefruit; flavors of lemon, pear, and white peach. The mouthfeel is delicate, yet full-bodied, withnotes of fresh flowers.
Amalaya Malbec ’18 Argentina $15
Richly colored, juicy and aromatic, with supple, caressing tannins, herbal black fruit aromas with notes of earthy spice and cured meat and flavors of blackberry, dark plum, herbs and spices.
Edi Simcic Duet ’16 Slovenia $27
Merlot, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc; bold and compelling, with notes of chocolate, cherries, cheesecake, and coffee on silky tannins and a lush, ripe, fruit-full body that goes on and on.
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