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
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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…??
lummi island wine tasting november 21 ’15
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Friday Breads (email us to get on the preorder mailing list! )
Ciabatta with Whole Wheat – A rustic ciabatta with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat with two pre-ferments– a poolish and an italian biga, yielding such high hydration dough that is simply cut into pieces before baking. – $5/piece.
Cranberry Walnut – This is a yeast bread loaded with eggs, butter, buttermilk and a bit of sugar, and stuffed with dried cranberries and walnuts and a little lemon to enhance the flavor. A great bread for Thanksgiving- $5/loaf.
Individual Brioche Tart au Sucre – Made with a rich, buttery brioche dough that is loaded with butter, eggs and sugar, rolled into individual tart pans then topped with a mixture of demerara sugar, eggs, cream and butter. Yum!- 2/$5
Round the County Race 2015
For some reason it is always a surprise that the second weekend of November brings the annual Round the County (San Juan County, that is) sailing race. Each year about eighty boats gather to begin the race in West Sound near the Orcas Island Yacht Club on Saturday morning, in turn rounding Orcas, Clark, Sucia, and Patos before stopping for the night at Roche Harbor. On Sunday they set out again 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. In November. Rain or shine. (on a personal note, 50 years ago a similarly seasoned all-night race in Chesapeake Bay convinced me ever after to Devoutly Eschew hours and days on end of being Wet, Cold, and Tired…!) So hats off, lads, to these stalwart sailors, misguided yes, but in their own tragic way Heroic as well!
What all this means to us on Lummi with a view toward Orcas is an unexpected annual spectacle in the deepening autumn gloom. More often than not the weather is bright and 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. This year was by far the worst weather in many years, with strong winds from the South gusting over 40 kts under brooding, rain-laden clouds, making the boats fly by in Demon-Driven Droves…
Fall Color
We pass this little tree each day on the noontime dog walk. Today it seems to have something on its mind…something about Bold Color, something about its Turkey-like geometry…
On the Mend
Both of you regular readers of this blog will recall that two months ago our sweet little sailboat Dream Time had rather a Bad Day. Blown onto rocks by an unseasonable gale, she sustained major hull damage, not to mention serious flooding, repeatedly over several days.
So it is with a sense of Relief and, indeed, Affection for this little boat that we can report that she is Almost Ready to come out of the Shop after several weeks of serious Rehab. True, there is still much to do cosmetically, but in the World of Boats, Seaworthy is perhaps the first and Most Enduring Desirable Quality. Stay tuned!
Second Reminder: Closed for Thanksgiving
photo credit: “Wild Turkey,” by Rodney Campbell: “A male wild turkey begins to turn blue(!) as it becomes agitated.” (…we can all SO relate!)
Over the years we have come to realize that Winter unofficially begins around here on Thanksgiving weekend. Though we have variously tried opening the wine shop the Wednesday before, or the day or weekend after, or even for a few hours on Turkey Day itself for the odd Wine Emergency, history has taught us that it’s a good time just to step back and take some Time Off, cuz most of you folks have Other Plans, usually with Family. Well, this year…so do we!
Therefore, please note that we will be open as usual this weekend (Nov 20-21), and then closed Thanksgiving Weekend (November 26-29). 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!
This week’s wine tasting
San Martino Prosecco Italy $11
Pale straw yellow in colour, aromatic and elegant nose (unusual in prosecco), with notes of apple and banana; pleasantly full and harmonious on the palate.
D’Orschwihr Gewurztraminer Bollenberg ’12 Alsace $18
Shows its intensity through its golden yellow color. The mouth shows aromas of peach, passion fruit with cooked fruits. Very delicate, the sweetness can hardly be felt behind the liveliness of the wine.
Airfield Estates Merlot ’13 Washington $14
Slightly muted nose with dill, red cherry and raspberry. There are flavors of red cherry, pomegranate, dill and milk chocolate. Silky texture with good balance.
Le Rote Chianti Colli Senesi ’11 Italy $14
Rich, chewy, dark fruit evolves into a smooth palate with notes of black cherry and sweet tobacco.
Betz Besoleil ’11 Washington 92+pts $45
Grenache-dominant Rhone blend; Sexy aromas of red berries, cherry, lavender and rose petal; suave and weightless in the mouth, with bright red fruit and floral flavors with thyme, lavender and pepper nuances. Lovely and juicy with excellent intensity and saline grip.
2072 Granger Way