Lummi Island Wine Tasting November 16 ’13

Annual Fall Regatta

dscn0367 (Modified)

Typically the second weekend of November brings not only the Winter manifestation of the Lummi Island Artists’ Studio Tour; it also brings the annual Round the County (San Juan County, that is) sailing race. Each year about eighty boats gather in West Sound near the Orcas Island Yacht Club and begin the race on Saturday morning, rounding Orcas, Clark, Sucia, and Patos before stopping for the night at Roche Harbor. On Sunday they set out on the completion leg down the west side of San Juan Island, east of Lopez, Decatur, and Blakely Islands to finish again at Lydia Shoal near Obstruction Island, a total of some 76 miles.

What all this means to us on Lummi is an unexpected bright spot in the deepening autumn gloom. More often than not the weather is bright and sometimes very breezy when sometime in late morning the second Saturday of November a long line of sailboats, colorful spinnakers flying, threads up Haro Strait between us and Clark Island. Because of the light wind this year, the boats appeared in a long, continual string rather than the usual widely spaced clumps, providing the delightful view above…!

 (click image for larger view)

Not your mother’s Retsina!

It’s one of those things we all go through: the first taste of retsina, usually in a Greek restaurant, and usually when we are quite young. It is actually made by putting some measure of pine resin (“Pinus Halepensis”) in with the grape must (skins, seeds, etc.) during fermentation, yielding a white wine with a decidedly piney character. It has been around so long that it has been declared a Traditional Appellation, and can only be produced in Greece. Back in the day, we all knew retsina as the weird wine we always had in Greek restaurants, and which often gave us nasty headaches the next day.

So it is with surprise and pleasure that we offer for your tasting experience this weekend a “new wave” retsina, more judiciously made with an eye to quality, and yielding a surprisingly tasty white wine. The pine resin is definitely there, but not so much that it smothers the white wine behind it. I think you’re gonna like it!

 

A taste of Portugal

portugal_regionsAlthough we have occasional visitors specifically seeking Portuguese wines, we don’t often encounter the wines in tastings and generally don’t have much of a selection. That changed recently when Ryan needed a couple of Portuguese wines (and a couple of Greek wines!) for his fall tasting class in town. One of our reps brought in several of each for us to taste, and the four we are tasting this weekend are the ones we liked best. It is fair to say we were both surprised by each of them. As you can see from the map at left, there are eight main wine regions in Portugal. The delicious white we are pouring is from the Dão region, and the red is from Alentejo, further south. Alentejo, we have learned, is also the world’s most important area for the growing of cork-oak, known in Portugal as “sobreiro.” It has been grown commercially in the region for the past 300 years, where it is integrally co-planted with vineyards, pastures, and citrus groves. Who Knew??

This week’s tasting

dscn0371 (Modified)Ritinitis Nobilis Retsina Greece $16
A “new wave” style Retsina, using modern winemaking technology and carefully managed co-fermentation with fresh pine resin, results in a surprisingly elegant and refreshing wine.

Albaro Castro Dão Branco ’12 Portugal $15
A lovely combination of fragrant crisp fruit and intense mineral notes. A blend of lemony and fragrant Encruzado, crisp and apricot-y Bical, and smoky-edge Cercial.

Agricultura Vinho Tinto ’11 Portugal $11
From Alentejo, on Portugal’s south-eastern border with Spain, comes this eminently quaffable red wine with surprising depth and complexity.

Perazzeta Erio Supertuscan ’10 Italy $16
An established favorite around here, this sangiovese-cab-syrah blend from Tuscany (we also carry their olive oil!) is rich, balanced, and delicious–a great food wine.

Gaia Agiorgitiko ’08 Greece $23
A well-structured and surprisingly delicious Greek red wine with intense ripe fruit aromas, well-integrated oak, and a velvety, seductive texture.

Wine Tasting

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