lummi island wine tasting december 18 ’15
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Friday Breads (call us to get on the preorder mailing list! )
Heidebrot – a German country bread that is about half bread flour and half fresh milled rye. It uses a rye fed sourdough, unlike the normal wheat fed sourdough. A great artisan bread with a nice rye flavor – $5/loaf.
Pecan Flax Seed – Also made with rye levain, bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat. Plenty of flax seeds, toasted pecans and a little honey make for a flavorful loaf. Really delicious- $5/loaf.
Brioche au Chocolate – A lovely brioche dough that is full of eggs, butter and sugar, rolled out and spread with pastry cream and chopped dark chocolate. Folded over and cut into rolls and baked. My oh my! – 2/$5.
More Italian arrivals!
As mentioned last week, our Fall Italian wine pre-order from Small Vineyards just recently arrived; therefore this weekend we are pouring another All-Italian tasting! These twice-a-year shipments from SV reliably bring great wines at very modest prices, and though we would have preferred them a month ago, on the plus side here they are just in time for the Holidays! Many of you will recognize fondly familiar labels as well as some new labels altogether or new wines from wineries we have been enjoying for years.
Our lead-off white is a pinot blanc from the spectacular alpine region of Alto Adige, tucked up along the Italian borders with Switzerland and Austria. The next two on the tasting list (Arcangelo Negroamaro and Treggiaia Sangiovese) are popular favorites with many of you. Number Four is new, a Super-Tuscan blend of cab and merlot, and Number Five is a an interesting Sangiovese from Perazzeta, one of our long-time favorite producers, from a just rediscovered vineyard harboring a sangiovese clone thought long extinct.
Wine Shop Holiday Schedule
For reasons mostly involving Bread Coordination, this is more complicated than usual, so read carefully!
~This weekend, December 18-19: Open as usual, Friday 4-7, and Saturday 2-6.
~Wednesday, December 23: Open for first-ever Bread Wednesday from 4 to around 6:30, sort of “Friday on Wednesday.” Come pick up your bread, taste some wine, and wish The Gang a Happy Christmas!
Friday, December 25, Christmas Day– Closed
Saturday, December 26 (“Boxing Day” in Canada!): Open for usual Saturday hours, 4-6
Eleventh Annual “East Coast New Year’s Eve” Extravaganza
Well after ten years our “East Coast New Year’s Eve Party” has become an Established Tradition. From 7-9pm on New Year’s Eve, we provide the wine, you bring something delicious to share, and when the ball drops in Times Square three hours away, we all hoist our glasses and toast the New Year! The Young at Heart can move on to the next party on their dance cards, and we old timers can get to bed at a decent hour! It’s also our chance to thank you for your support this past year, and to look ahead to more fun in aught-sixteen. Mark your calendars and start planning your finger food!
Important Note! Speaking of Finger Food, we will again this year have a Secret Operative sampling the dishes and Assigning Points! Yummiest Dish wins a $25 credit, and Yummiest-Looking Dish wins a $15-dollar credit! Let’s see if Competition really does improve Quality!
This week’s tasting
Kaltern Jubilee pinot blanc ’14 Alto Adige (It) $14
Clean, with whistling-bright acidity and fresh and floral nose with overtones of apples, pears, stone fruits and quince, and juicy fruit-basket aromas on the finish.
Palama Negroamaro ’12 Italy $10
Elegantly expansive, rich and robust, with silky mouthfeel, layered aromas of steeped spices, and palate of blackberry jam with accents of cinnamon, leather, tobacco and smoke.
Pugliano Treggiaia Italy $11
A smooth and satisfying blend of sangiovese, canniolo & cab, showing bright fruit, food-friendly acidity, aromas of cherry and herbs, and an easy, friendly mouthfeel. A long-time favorite here.
Micheletti Bolgheri Rosso ’14 Italy $18
Blend of cab and merlot, showing aromas of dark cherry, dusty plum, and cinnamon…a great value!
Perazzeta “Emma” Sangiovese ’14 Italy $18
From a clone of Sangiovese thought extinct for 150 years– rich and spicy, with aromatic hints of eucalyptus.
lummi island wine tasting december 12 ’15
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Friday Breads (email us to get on the preorder mailing list! )
Pain Meunier – Incorporates all parts of the wheat berry into the bread. It’s made with bread flour, whole wheat flour, cracked wheat and wheat germ. I hear that Jack has said it makes the best toast ever! A nice all around bread – $5/loaf.
Buttermilk Currant – A really flavorful loaf made with bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat, buttermilk to tenderize the crumb, a bit of honey for sweetness and some fresh rosemary. Really delicious- $5/loaf.
Bagels – Happy Hanukkah- Old fashioned bagels that are boiled, topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, mixed seeds or plain, then baked – Baker’s choice selection- 4/$5.
Italian arrival!
For whatever reason our fall Italian wine order from Small Vineyards arrived only this week. The good news is that as always there are a lot of great wines at modest prices, and just in time for the Holidays. This week’s tasting leads off with a sparkling wine from Slovenia. The grape is Rebula, unfamiliar to most Western palates, but appealing enough that we brought in two cases. See tasting notes below, along with the other Italian selections we will be pouring this weekend.
Knee-Jerks I
In these pages we have variously lamented that the 2% or so of genes that differentiate us humans from our primate cousins are not as big a step up the evolutionary ladder as we like to believe. We are ever-ready as chimps to jump up and down, shake our fists, and go Stomp those Other Guys, all the while calculating strategies and alliances to improve our position in the Hierarchy and get more Stuff for ourselves and our kin.
So it is not surprising to find something in the dynamic of the Far Right that keeps pushing the Republican Presidential candidates ever further into some kind of Political Black Hole where Reality As We Know It has been Suspended Indefinitely. It is surprising that the dynamic is being so effectively controlled by the Great Bull Walrus, flashing his tusks, Ga-Joobing and clapping his flippers with breathtakingly Uninformed Authority while the Less Dominant males resort to petty growling, eye-rolling, Futile Flipper-Flapping, and appeals to the Zoo Keeper that they are not getting their Fair Shares of Fish. No one should be surprised that the Biggest Psychopath earns front-runner status; like Duh, that’s just our Chimp wiring at work.
Even so, right now is a particularly Bad Time for our Species to revert to its most primitive instincts; more on (moron?) that below…
Knee-Jerks II
We chimps are suckers for Tough Guys. The best of them convince us they will protect us from all the Bad Guys they tell us are Out There and want to take our Women and our Stuff. The worst of them convince us they will stop hurting Us if we give Them our women and our stuff. Either way campaigns are about convincing a plurality of Chimpdom that All will be Weller with them than with the other Walruses in the race. Sadly, these People are All Lying! No One is going to make the world safer by killing people or destroying their communities or stealing their stuff. Fourteen years after 911, endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, extraordinary rendition, drone assassinations, complete destruction of civil infrastructure, tens of thousands killed, and millions displaced, how can people still be asking, “Um, gosh, why do they hate us?”
Can it really be true that in the middle of so much Suffering and Desperation, the best our Leaders can come up with is the still-somehow-popular “let’s bomb them back to the Stone Age!” Really? Again? WTF is wrong with these people? Our policies so far in the Middle East have only been successful at sowing Dragon’s Teeth; each Innocent killed generates a family of warriors bent on revenge. We kill them and we keep killing them and then we ask why they hate us?
It’s really pretty simple, folks: all of us beings are in this Life thing together. We should do our best to keep everyone safe from harm. One of my teachers once suggested a good test for evaluating an action: “Is it good for Children?” Imagine being a drone pilot ordered to fire on an unidentified family in a faraway place: 1) would you do it?, and 2) how would you feel if your family was blown away by a foreign attacker?
Eleventh Annual “East Coast New Year’s Eve” Extravaganza
Well after ten years our “East Coast New Year’s Eve Party” has become an established Tradition. From 7-9pm on New Year’s Eve we provide the wine, you bring something delicious to share, and when the ball drops in Times Square three hours away, we all hoist our glasses and toast the New Year! The Young at Heart can move on to the next party on their dance cards, and we old timers can get to bed at a decent hour! It’s also our chance to thank you for your support this past year, and to look ahead to more fun in aught-sixteen. Mark your calendars and start planning your finger food. And please–RSVP if you are coming! (758-2959 or Email us.)
This week’s wine tasting
Peneca Sparkling Rebula Slovenia $15
Floral and slightly honied with intense meyer lemon aromas, gorgeous bubbles, and a pleasing earthiness. Delicious– and just in time for the holidays!
Villa Sparina Gavi di Gavi ’13 Italy $17
Bright golden color. Scent of overripe pears, spices, citrus fruit and aromatic herbs; Well balanced notes of honey and butter; full-bodied and savory. And a wine bottle worth saving!
Verso Nero d’Avola Terre Siciliane IGT ’14 Sicily $12
Unctuous style with “the structure of Trapani, the aromatics of Siracusa, and ripeness of Palermo.” Plus: 10% of the grapes are raisined, yielding rich notes of cranberry, black fruits, and sage.
Podere Ciona Montegrossoli ’13 Italy $14
Merlot from a hilltop vineyard in Chianti Classico, showing bright red fruit, subtle smoky notes, and a full-bodied, lush, feminine style.
La Quercia Aglianico ‘14 Italy $12
The new vintage of one of our favorite italian reds; full bodied with notes of ripe plum and white pepper on smooth, fine-grained tannins. A lovely match with a wide range of savory dishes.
lummi island wine tasting december 4 ’15
(note: some photos will enlarge on clicking)
Reminder: NO Bread This Week!
But be comforted: there will be bread for the next two Fridays before Christmas!
Trip Images
We are just back from two weeks on the road to Sonoma and back for Thanksgiving, so substituting pictures for words this week…!
Sonoma Valley: Kunde Vineyards at sunset
Reedsport, OR: Umpqua River Lighthouse
Elk Meadow: California coast near Orick
Southern Oregon Coast: cranberry bog
Southern Oregon Coast: heavy surf
This week’s wine tasting
Blanco Nieva verdejo ’14 Spain $15
From 100 year-old vines, this beautiful white shows mineral-driven lime, quince and floral scents with notes of anise and mint. Graceful, focused and pure, with zesty lemon/lime and pear flavors.
Septima Malbec ’13 Argentina $9
Musky, ripe aromas of currants, leather, chocolate and espresso. Supple and generous flavors of sweet currant and tobacco flavors with a note of pepper, soft tannins and good length.
Robert Ramsay Mason’s Red ’13 Washington $16
Easy-drinking cinsault-dominant Rhone blend; subtle nose of black cherry paste with a hint of cinnamon spice that expands on the palate to a soft anise finish.
Tarima Hill Monastrell ’11 Spain 91pts $13
Complex, perfumed scents of dark berry liqueur, cola, incense and smoky oak spices. Plush and expansive, with sweet cherry compote and blueberry flavors with notes of floral pastille and bitter chocolate. Rich and lively, finishing with excellent power, smooth tannins and a late jolt of allspice.
Winderlea Juliard Vineyard Pinot Noir ’13 Oregon $48
Intoxicating aromas of rose petal and lavender lead to a structured palate of black cherry and cranberry, with delicate notes of citrus and orange blossom. Hypnotically and mesmerizingly delicious– a perfect illustration of why we love wine!
lummi island wine tasting Thanksgiving weekend 2015
Closed for Thanksgiving Weekend!
photo credit: “Wild Turkey,” by Rodney Campbell: “A male wild turkey begins to turn blue(!) as it becomes agitated.” (…we can all SO relate!)
This is just a Holiday reminder that we will be closed through Thanksgiving Weekend (November 26-29). Then we will be open the first three weekends in December as usual. Also you Old-Timers should note that we ARE planning to continue our traditional “East Coast” New Year’s Eve Party from 7-9 on December 31. More on that later!
Sonoma
Today’s sky here in Wine Country (seen at the dog park)…sunny and bright, a sweet relief from the rains encountered on the drive down the Coast…! Now…where’s that glass of zinfandel…??
2072 Granger Way