lummi island wine tasting october 21, ’16
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Friday Breads
Rosemary Olive Oil- made with bread flour and fresh milled white whole wheat, olive oil makes for a tender crumb and loads of garden fresh rosemary adds great flavor. This bread has a nice crisp crust and delightful soft crumb. It’s a great all around bread and makes fantastic toast – $5/loaf.
Buckwheat Rye – full of hearty whole grain goodness. Made with bread flour as well as fresh milled rye and buckwheat flour and just a little honey to help balance the flavor of the whole grains. A hearty artisan bread that will go well with meats or cheese – $5/loaf.
And for pastry this week…
Rum Raisin Brioche: A truly delightful pastry made with a rich brioche dough full of eggs and butter, chunks of almond paste, golden raisins soaked in rum, and a hint of fresh lemon zest for a nice zing. Then topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. These are my personal favorites. Quantity is limited so don’t wait to order – 2/$5
Cowboys of the Camargue
At Arles, the Rhone River divides into two branches, one flowing SSE and one flowing WSW. The two branches and the Mediterranean shore form the boundaries of a triangular estuary which is the Camargues, a river delta that covers nearly 360 sq mi. It is a wetland of grasses, etaings (lagoons), canals, and marshes, with a widely diverse ecosystem of over 400 species of birds as well as indigenous white horses and black bulls, both of which live sometimes on ranches, sometimes free to roam. While barging slowly through the Camague it is not unusual to see groups of white horses or bulls grazing the brush along the canal.
This vague sort of ownership is managed by the Gardians, a lineage of riders who live in traditional cabanes– thatched, windowless structures with bull horns over the door to ward off evil. The gardian’s traditional tools for herding have been a trident and very skillful riding. The Gardians, the horses, the bulls, and the Camargue form a cultural ecosystem that has survived more or less intact for hundreds of years. There is now a Musee de Camargue which chronicles their mutual and fascinating history. Read more
Decision 2016
At this point we are all super-saturated with Analysis of the Candidates and their Positions. All those with actual Brains made up their minds a long time ago how they would vote, at least for President. So you have to ask yourself, what kind of person is unable to make useful distinctions between or among Candidates? Curiously, listening to them suggests not that they are Morons, exactly, but that they are somehow trying Really Hard to Make Sense of their Choices, and can’t quite Distill what they are seeing and reading into useful Data.
One recent conversation in our household explored the “WTF” observation that Their Confusion might be best explained by CBS top exec Les Moonves on the media Over-Coverage of All Things Trump over the past Year: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS!” If we extrapolate that rationale to the rest of the NewsSphere, we find ample motivation to spend more and more Air Time on Outrage and less and less time on Facts. Which is to say although we have all seen it coming for decades, this year we Crossed a Line in American News Coverage. Now there can be no doubt that the Main Function of “News” is not to provide, as Fox News so ironically promised) “Fair and Balanced” reporting, but rather, Which of Today’s Molehills Shall We Make Into a Mountain of $$?!
Stay Tuned; though now fully disgraced and discarded, Trump still has Full Media Attention, and Nation or no, Future or No, isn’t he still Just Their Dearest Boy…?! Read more
On the matter of Tea
A few years ago we attended a monthly Tea Tasting. It was held at the Lynden Library (I am not making this up!) by a charming young couple with a lot of knowledge and interest in Tea. Each month they would pour four or five different Teas, describing in detail where each one came from, its characteristics, and where it fit into the Vast Spectrum of Tea. It was interesting, engaging, and enjoyable. And, unfortunately, a Long Commute.
We were at it long enough to learn that Tea has its own Ancient Vocabulary; as with Wine, the study of Tea inevitably explores the relationships among each particular tea, location, season harvested, treatment after harvest, cutting technique, ageing process, and so on and so on. Cultivation of Tea goes back Millennia, maybe even further than Wine. Like wine it is Subtle and Complex, with layers of nuance most of us Westerners are untrained to distinguish.
So. We are interested in branching into the World of Tea here at the wine shop. At present we are thinking about a small group, maybe once a month, getting together to begin an Exploration of the Vast World of Tea. We don’t know what that will look like exactly. But we would like to know if any of you are interested in participating in this exploration. Please let us know by email or in person at the shop. If there is interest, we would like to kick this off sometime next Spring. Let us know if you are interested, thanks!
This week’s wine tasting
Ronan by Clinet Bordeaux Blanc ’14 France $15
80% sauv blanc, 20% semillon; fresh and appealing aromas of yuzu, grapefruit, white flowers, and passion fruit; flavors of citrus, white fruits and warm spices are fleshy yet crisp and clean.
Mas des Bressades Rosé Cuvée ’15 France $14
Spicy aromas and flavors of ripe red berries, orange, and pungent flowers; Nicely concentrated and supple, gaining weight with air, picking up bitter cherry and melon notes and a lingering red fruit liqueur quality.
Federalist Red ’14 Washington $16
Lavish use of oak brings out notes of smoke, black pepper, and spicy cardamom with lots of red fruit and a velvety texture.
Tommasi Poggio Al Tufo Rompicollo ’12 Italy 93pts $18
Opulent, with a raisiny nuance to the ripe, soft red cherry, sweet spice, and herb aromas and flavors. Velvety, opulent, well balanced and smooth, with long, with lush, smooth tannins. Terrific buy!
Pomum Red ’11 Washington $19
Bordeaux blend; aromas of red fruit and exotic spices; On the palate, it shows black cherry, red cranberry and garrigue, fine elegant tannins and a long finish.
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