lummi island wine tasting october 25 ’14
This Week’s Breads
Janice arrives with fresh bread just after opening each Friday at 4pm.
This week’s Fresh breads include Semolina; Golden Raisin & Fennel Seed; Rustic.
Uh-oh, Bad Day for the Green Ketch!
A few weeks ago I posted an item about the sailboat that had been anchored in Legoe Bay most of the summer. In particular we were curious about its “Cascadia” flag. After being around for a few months, the boat went away a couple of weeks ago, only to return early this week.
That turned out to be unfortunate timing and a poor choice of anchorages for Tuesday night’s high winds from the southwest. Wednesday morning found the boat stranded on the shore with a substantial hole in her side. Local stalwarts spent some time trying to patch and refloat her, but to no avail, as these photos taken today attest. Aye, lads, it’s a sad business, as we well know from our own little adventure a few weeks ago…
2015 Calendars now on sale!
Wine club members Cheryl and Di are usually the first ones here each Friday afternoon as we open, along with Janice delivering the day’s Fresh Bread. These days they are often met by Bread Devotees from around the Island. Some of them don’t even drink wine…! Don’t they know they can’t Live by Bread Alone…???!
In any case, Cheryl and Di are both nature photographers of some skill, and each year they produce a calendar featuring Lummi Island scenes, often involving birds, the Ferry, birds, Mt. Baker, and perhaps a few birds. The point is that if you are not a bird, a ferry, or Mt. Baker, your picture will probably not be in the calendar. All you need to know is that we DO have their 2015 calendars on sale at the wine shop!
So it is with some pride and sense of Good Luck that this year’s photo of Mt. Baker also includes a sunrise sky in the background, and Hales Passage in the foreground, along with a picturesque sailboat quietly at anchor. It turns out it is our boat, the same one you just saw if you clicked on the link in the last sentence in the previous paragraph. She is now safely tucked in her slip in Bellingham for the winter, her bottom cleaned and painted, and no signs of damage from her recent grounding adventure. May the Green Ketch fare as well!
Wine Club…Do we still have one?
Last year was the first year of our Wine Club. The rules were complicated: discount tastings, different levels of purchase discounts based on sales, and members joining all through the year. We changed the rules a bit for this year, but our goal all along has been to give Wine Club members two kinds of rewards: 1) lower tasting fees than the general public, and 2) increasing savings the more wine you buy from us. The current rules are posted here.
This year we continue to be happy with the discount tastings part of our membership package, even though we have had only about half as many members. On the one hand that makes for fewer regular visitors. On the other hand, it means that a greater proportion of visitors are not members, and we do a little better than breaking even on tastings. On the third hand, it feels like our community of regulars has been declining in number, and that causes concern, because, in case you hadn’t noticed, building community is the main reason we continue to carry on this absurd pretense that we are some sort of “real business.” Now that is a scary thought!
Matthews
It’s hard to believe that we have been open for almost ten years. Back in those early days, one of the first wines we carried was from a Washington winery that had already established a reputation for quality. Having opened in 1993, it was an early player in a Washington wine scene that has grown on the order of a new winery every two weeks for the last twenty years. So in a sense these folks were pioneers.
As often happens in America (unlike elsewhere), retirement of one generation leads not to passing on the baton within the same family, but selling the whole kit and kaboodle to someone new, whether that be a human person or a corporate person. So I really don’t know what is going on at Matthews these days, but a few weeks ago their rep Eric stopped by (I was in the ferry line as he came off and detoured home to taste…duty calls!) and poured samples of all their wines. Suffice it to say I was impressed enough to buy several of them, which we will pour over the next couple of weeks. I think you will like them!
This week’s tasting
Grand Bateau Blanc ’12 France $11
80% sauvignon blanc and 20% semillon, it has reticent aromatics of apple skin, bruised peach, lemon, stone fruit kernels, hay, grass and gooseberry. The palate is medium to full bodied, the acid medium and its flavours remind of lemon, apple skin, grass and gooseberry.
Chateau Fontanes Rosé’13 France $17
Redcurrant and strawberry aromas are accented by orange zest and cinnamon. Silky and broad in the mouth, offering juicy red fruit flavors and slow-building spiciness.
Casarena ’505′ Malbec ’10 Chile $12
Nuanced aromas of currant, dusty herbs, licorice, spices, coffee and smoky oak. Serious and lively, with saline complexity to flavors of blackcurrant and cranberry. Intense, suave and long, a splendid value.
Bodegas Triton Entre Suelos ’11 Spain 90pts $12
Ripe cherry, cassis and licorice on the pungent nose. Broad, chewy and concentrated, offering spicy black and blue fruit flavors with suggestions of candied violet and black pepper.
Matthews Red Wine ’12 Washington $18
Syrah, Cab Franc, Merlot blend; solid dark berry fruits, spring flowers, graphite and spice to go with a medium to full-bodied, nicely textured and up-front profile.
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2072 Granger Way
