lummi island wine tasting nov 16 ’18

Posted at November 15, 2018

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Uh-Oh…No Bread Friday till Nov 30!

On Tuesday this week our Baker celebrated a noteworthy Birthday, and took much of the Island to a wonderful dinner at Ciao Thyme in Bellingham. A bunch of us have a long history with the place, and it is always special and delicious.

Janice hand-picked the menu and chef Mataio pulled out all the stops to make it memorable. Sorry, haven’t found any photos of the event yet. Janice and David are off to Hawaii, will be back in time for Bread Friday in two weeks!

 

 

Speaking of Schedules…

Though we are just back from our trailer trip to California, the coming holidays call for even more travel and more shortened hours here at the wine shop. At the moment the schedule looks something like this:

-This weekend, Nov 16-17: open as usual Fri 4-7 and Sat 2-6
-Thanksgiving weekend, Nov 23-24: CLOSED BOTH DAYS
-Nov 30-Dec 1 and Dec 7-8: open both weekends for Bread Fridays 4-7 and Saturdays 2-6
-Dec 14-15: OPEN FRIDAY, CLOSED SATURDAY
-Dec 21-22 and 28-29: open usual hours
-Dec 31: 13th Annual East Coast New Year’s Celebration 7-9pm

 

Big Wines

Last weekend’s tasting was a Big Hit, despite the fact that all of the wines were on the Expensive side compared to what we usually pour. Generally the price range goes from around $10 to $20-something; last weekend it went from $19 to $40. Even so, we sold out of almost everything…Amazing!

As it turned out, we did NOT pour the Juggernaut Cab last weekend, because we didn’t have any! I had forgotten that the order had not arrived as scheduled before we left in mid-October. We substituted something else last weekend, and this weekend we Have Received three cases of it, at a special price that allows us to offer it for an astounding $17 instead of the usual $20! This is a Big Fat California Cab, rich in fruit, and just the thing to enjoy by a Fire in the earlier and earlier Evening Darkness around here.

Also on the Big side is a wine we have poured numerous times, not for Everyone, but with a definite appeal to those of us who like more rustic reds with a bit of unruly character. Such is our French malbec from Cahors, which flaunts a rustic tannic structure, dark berry flavors, solid minerality, and even a certain refinement….! Not as Big or Refined as the Juggernaut; but possibly a bit more Honest Representative of its terroir…!

 

Mar a Lago Update: A Finger in the Dike

As of today, the next Congress will likely have a House controlled by Democrats 229-198 (with 8 Independents) , and a Senate controlled by Republicans 51-47 (with two Independents). That means that all the House Committees will have majorities of Democrats and Dem Chairs. It’s a Very Different Balance of Power from the current Congress. Most importantly, the new cast of characters will have a lot more traction to demand information from the Tweetster, who has been abetted at every turn by Republican Party committee chairs in evading the normal accountability that has restrained every previous White House occupant from unrestrained Excess.

We have had two long years to contemplate the Magnitude of our Despair that this Buffoon, his Relentless Hubris, Razor-Thin Depth (“not enough water to float a boat”), Breath-Taking Ignorance,  Unabashed Narcissism, and Infantile Vindictiveness. We have borne a nonstop sense of Violation and Deeply Personal  Invasion as he has parlayed our Highest Office into a One-Man 24/7 Reality TV Show.

For those of us of a certain age, who really believed for many decades that Our Values were Noble, Egalitarian, Kind, and Wise, this man has been an ongoing. Heart-Breaking Insult. It is sobering to consider that he actually might believe that Everyone Else is just like him, pathologically attached to maximizing his own press coverage. As if column-inches, gigabytes, or total minutes of Air Time, positive or negative, were the Important Thing, not their value in bringing people together, providing Hope and Comfort, ending conflict, or Building a Better World.

So it feels like a Good Thing that in a few months there will be an element of our Institutions that might be able to enforce some tiny bit of Accountability on this Modern-Day Gollum…seeking words of Wisdom, let it be…!

Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 6,420 as of 11/2/18

 

This week’s wine tasting

Phantom Chardonnay ’16     Calif    $17
Fermented and aged sur lie without oak; delivers rich aromas of white and yellow fruits, with bright crisp notes of citrus zest, honey, apple, and spicy minerality on the long, broad finish.

Monte Tondo Valpolicella ’16   Italy    $15
The grapes are dried for about a month in a well ventilated “fruttai” before pressing, and ultimately aged for five months in oak. Not a frivolous wine, it packs loads of sour black cherry aromas, spices, violets, and roses.

Montes Classic Merlot ’13   Chile     $11
Bright and complex, with blackcurrant and black cherry flavours and a rich, juicy finish. Aged in oak for six months before release.

Chateau la Croisille ‘Silice’ Malbec ”15    France   $18
Plots located on the Luzech limestone plateau of Cahors, with its iron-rich siliceous red clays, aged one year in neutral oak, yielding a wine that is both rustic and polished.

Juggernaut Hillside Cabernet ’15 California   $17
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.

Wine Tasting

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