lummi island wine tasting jan 24 ’25
Wine Tasting Winter Hours: Fridays 4-6 pm
Jan 20 MLK Day eve gathering (and power outage!)
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Norwegian Klosterhagen Quick Bread: A new bread this week form a small hotel in Bergen, Norway. It uses just baking soda as a leavening agent, and still full of whole grain goodness, with fresh milled whole wheat & rye flour along with the bread flour, molasses, yogurt with lots of raisins, apricots and hazelnuts, and topped with a mix of pumpkin & sunflower seeds. Delicious! $5/loaf.
Whole Wheat Ciabatta – A seldom made bread that uses an Italian biga pre-ferment as well as a levain, also known as sourdough, which are made a day in advance. And, once mixed the dough is fermented overnight in the refrigerator. A long, slow ferment adds a lot of flavor to the final bread. Made with regular bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. A little olive oil for more flavor and a lot of water. With so much water this bread can’t really be shaped, just cut into pieces and baked. A great rustic bread – $5/piece
Bagels! – Always popular, made with a preferment sponge mixed, shaped and refrigerated overnight before being boiled and baked in the traditional manner for a delicious chewy bagel. These come one each with sesame seeds; mixed sesame and poppy seeds; onion and garlic spice, and plain. **Each order is mixed – sorry no choices** – 4/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
MAN Chenin Blanc ’22 South Africa $14
Using only free-run juice preserves a clean, natural character, refreshing acidity, light, bright flavors of quince, pear, and pineapple, with palate of fresh stonefruit and apple, refreshing acidity & minerality, and a round, soothing mouthfeel.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’22 South Africa $14
Aromas of dark coffee beans, red berries, nutmeg, and vanilla spice turning to dark berries and smoky plum; rustic yet silky and juicy, with smooth tannins, balanced acidity, and comforting intensity.
Decoy Red ’21 California $21
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, with splashes of Zinfandel, Syrah, and Cab; aromas of blackberry, dark plum, baking spice and savory herbs; fresh, rich, and savory on the palate with rich,
silky tannins and bright acidity that carries the flavors to a long, lush finish.
Economics of the Heart: Democracy, Humanism, & Economics
The Founders of this country were philosophical humanists. Our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg address echo the belief that all human beings have the same ongoing needs for food, water, shelter, community, safety, and well-being. A thousand years of human history teaches us that we are sometimes compassionate and caring, and sometimes selfish, crafty, and ruthless.
Despite the inherent conflict between these polarities, our country has survived pretty well for 250 years, oscillating in an ongoing balancing between these polarities because of the stability of our interlocking 3-tiered political system of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Our Constitution deliberately steers a neutral path around religion, allowing both freedom of religion and freedom of religion. The growing pressure of the Far Right to make a particular version of Christianity our national religion is a dangerous infringement on our Constitutional freedoms of and from religion as we choose.
Historically the polarization of our two-party political system has maintained a tension between serving the want-mores and the need-enoughs. The Constitution has constrained the resulting oscillation of political influence between these two constituencies and generally maintained a certain balance of “creative tension” in our governance. But since 1980 there has been a long-term, highly organized, slow-motion undermining of our Constitutional system by uberwealthy autocratic interests aspiring to turn the United States into their very own private feudal fiefdom.
The opening act of this latest turnover seems to be a nonstop fireworks act of blowing up our institutions while we watch in horror. You know, like Dubya’s “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad that killed thousands of Iraqis under the guise of finding Iraq’s never-found “weapons of mass destruction.” Bottom line: the current “shock and awe” barrage from Bozo Central is meant to demoralize, and while it certainly is that, it is also a powerful incentive to defend our rights and our collective well-being from the tyranny of autocracy. At the same time, there there are clearly ongoing festering conflicts among the many subsets of unelected Maga players, a growing sense of public outrage, and a quickly rising stack of lawsuits by State Attorney Generals and citizens watchdog groups around the country.
In some ways this is just the usual do-si-do we have come to expect when administrations change party. Traditionally, the Democratic administration fires up the economy, creates jobs and income for ordinary people, who spend it where other ordinary people benefit from it. That keeps the wheels turning for our mutual benefit…as the Biden administration did in a time of global recession from Covid.
In contrast, as now, when the R’s take over, that all goes out the window when, in exchange for huge bribes…um..”campaign contributions”…they drastically lower taxes for major corporate donors, make CEO’s even richer, and will raise prices of everything from prescription drugs to veterans health care to rent and groceries. This will inevitably add trillions to the national debt and tank the overall economy. Which would ordinarily bring in the next Democrat to fix it, and so on. The last fifty years of history tell us we can be pretty sure they WILL loot and crash the economy between now and the 2026 midterms.
On the good news side at the moment, our new WA Attorney General and 21 other state AG’s have filed suit against Maga’s attack on birthright citizenship established in the Constitution. Numerous public interest watchdog groups are also filing suits, and we have yet to see how this Congress is going to operate, beginning with its handing of the circus of WUCN’s ( Wildly Unqualified Cabinet Nominations.) In addition, though we don’t have control of the Senate or the House, the Maga majorities are small, and we have some great lawyers and statesmen on our side.
The economic well-being of our country requires a smoothly ongoing Circular Flow of $$ from households to retailers to producers to resources and back to workers. As a primary consumer of everything, government spending keeps the wheels turning, while Maga’s promised tax cuts to billionaires, Big Pharma, Big Oil, and their ilk will as usual inevitably concentrate wealth even further. As usual, this will lower consumer demand, reduce production and employment, and increase the national debt. This time they seem to be wanting to take an even bigger bite than usual, so keep an eye to weather and your piggy bank in a safe place.
And this is only Day 3…
lummi island wine tasting jan 17 ’25
Wine Tasting Winter Hours: Fridays 4-6 pm
Sorry, no Bread This Week 🙁
(those on mailing list will get next week’s order info Sunday…)
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
Juggernaut Chardonnay ’22 Sonoma $17
Barrel fermented; aromas of apple, Asian pear and lemon meringue open to rich, lingering flavors of stone fruit, honeysuckle, and yellow plum, with finishing notes of vanilla, butter cream and hints of clove.
Cala Civetta Sangiovese di Toscana ’21 Italy $13
Earthy nose of red plum accompanies a vibrant yet mildly tannic palate of tart cherry with a hint of smoke and ocean brine – a true expression of Scansano, nestled halfway between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Mt. Amiata.
Alain de la Treille Chinon Cab Franc ’22 France $21
From Loire valley alluvial gravel & & yellow limestone terraces along the Vienne, offering complex minerality and a juicy, spicy flavors that dance from plum to cassis, game, earth and tobacco, all with a delicacy that speaks of the village’s cool conditions.”
Economics of the Heart: First the Coup…then the Occupation
Democracy
just doesn’t to be working for the obscenely rich. As a class, they have been grumpy since Roosevelt’s New Deal transformed the role of the federal government. The stock market crash of 1929 had ignited widespread unemployment, poverty, and despair to millions of families and communities as businesses collapsed and work was hard to find. FDR cast a wide net for new ideas, finally basing the New Deal largely on the emerging principles of Keynesian economics, which stood in sharp contrast to the prevailing ethos of trickle-down economics that jobs are created by wealthy businessmen and resource owners who own the means of production and out of kindness hire workers to transform raw materials into goods and services. And, as Marx correctly observed, these “capitalist” owners pay workers barely enough to get by, while they continued to get richer at an ever increasing rate.
Keynes’s view, most simply, was that the economy is like big table where everyone has a seat and an ongoing responsibility to get money from the person next to them (for their work) and pass on to the next person (for their purchases). In that way everyone acting individually keeps money coming in and money going out in a circular flow. If some players withhold too much from the stream, the the entire stream slows down, and more and more do not have enough. Keynesian economics guided economic policy until the 80’s, when Reagan, a charming but stupid man, fully re-embraced trickle-down ( like Project 2025, written for him by the Heritage Foundation), cutting social programs that kept an economic floor under the elderly, the mentally and physically disabled, single parents, ethnic and racial minorities, and more, and shifting some $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the highest 1%.
The January 6 coup attempt began years before and has never stopped. All these very rich guys who are still rebelling against the New Deal evolved from the tycoons of the 1930’s to the nastiness of early 50’s McCarthyism. They also regrouped from the more crackpot views of the John Birch Society, the long-term lobbying of the Koch brothers through their Americans for Prosperity PAC, spending about $400 million just since 2020. And of course we haven’t even mentioned the long string of Leonard Leo’s decades-long project to gain enough control of the Supreme Court to overturn key legislation regarding women’s rights, environmental rights, business regulation, and ultraconservative Catholic values.
So: Monday begins the Occupation of the United States of America by domestic enemies that nostalgically still call themselves “the Republican Party.” It seems reasonable to expect that the Tweetster’s puppet masters will keep him out there as the 24/7 distraction while their Project 2025 plan to dismantle our democracy proceeds against the will of over half the country’s voters.
The fight begins in earnest…
lummi island wine tasting Jan 10 ’25
Wine Tasting Winter Hours: Fridays 4-6 pm
Had some sun today…nice light on the slough, see photo (while we muse on the ongoing frustration of being able to take digital pictures anytime and anywhere, but we can’t post them in our blogs because Google somehow owns them. Even so, the sun has been rare enough lately that the slough was particularly calm, reflective, and, if you look really closely, just a bit “ducky…”
Friday Bread This Week
Buckwheat Rye – Fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for several hours without yeast in a method known as an autolyse. As buckwheat has no gluten and rye little, the autolyse allows the grain to start the fermenting process before the final mix, which is then fermented overnight in the refrigerator. The buckwheat/ rye soaker is then mixed with bread flour, salt and yeast and a bit of honey.– $5/loaf
Whole Grain Spelt Sweet Levain – Made with a levain, also known as sourdough, freshly milled whole wheat and whole spelt before mixing with bread flour as well as a nice combination of dried apricots, golden raisins, slivered almonds and both sunflower and flax seeds. Chock full of flavor! $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Individual Cinnamon Rolls – Made with a rich sweet roll dough of eggs, butter and sugar. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Then rolled up and sliced into individual rolls for baking. – 2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
McManis Chardonnay ’22 CA $14
Lush and inviting with pure fruit flavors, voluptuous palate of peach, apricot, vibrant citrus, and melon and an easy, creamy texture with hints of vanilla and a smooth, lingering finish.
Goose Ridge g3 Red ’20 Washington $17
Syrah-cab-merlot blend; supple ripe plum and blackberry notes with hints of spice, vanilla, black currant and Bing cherry. Nicely balanced with a lush, round mouth and a long, lingering finish.
Chakana Estate Selection Malbec ’20 Argentina $20
Opaque, bright purple in color; pleasing nose of plums and spicy attic dust; full bodied palate of plums and spice with good length, balanced acidity, soft tannins, and lingering finish.
Economics of the Heart: Judge decides ferry lawsuit in Islanders’ favor…Let’s Party!
Yesterday morning we awakened to Peter’s post that the presiding judge in our October lawsuit had just ruled that the County did in fact illegally take $750,000 from ferry fare box revenue to pay for major infrastructure rebuilds in the last several years. We had argued that the plain language of the governing ordinance restricted expenses charged against fare revenue to “regular and routine” maintenance to the exclusion of major capital expenditures. This is a welcome conclusion to and vindication of several years of work that often felt futile.
As many of you know, the lawsuit followed from a conversation I had with Peter in the wine shop a couple of years ago when I showed him the ordinance in question and asked if the specificity of that wording ruled out charging fare revenue for unusually large, infrequent expenses generally associated with periodic replacement or upgrade of depreciable assets such as docks, engines, wingwalls, or landing dolphins. At that point he jumped in with both feet and started digging.
Many islanders kicked in donations for this legal challenge, while Peter (with a lot of lawyerly help from Jonathan) put together a polished and professional case. There are yet many details to be worked through, but ferry users are now due a substantial refund for excess fares paid over the past several years.
All YOU need to know is that this Friday’s wine tasting (today as you receive this post) is in honor of the hours, days, weeks, and months that Peter and Jonathan spent on our collective behalf. Come by, hug yer neighbors, ‘n’ hoist a toast to this wonderful community we share!!
lummi island wine tasting returns January 10
Reminder: Closed till January 10
Every year at this time we close the shop for end of year inventory. It’s a tedious affair, but grounding in its quiet drudgery.
Inventory has been made easier for having whittled down our inventory in recent years because of Covid, but for even longer because of the continuing impact of the “Costco laws” that have been systematically pushing small retailers like us out of the wine business since about 2015.
So, inventory is easier now than it once was, and since it demands a bit of quiet attention, it can even be a bit soothing. 🙂
Friday Bread Returns Jan 10
If you are on the bread mailing list, you should receive ordering info on Jan 5.
2025 will demand calm, tireless commitment to our Constitution and to each other while being deaf to distraction.
Best wishes to all for this holiday season and the coming year!
2072 Granger Way