lummi island wine tasting aug 9-10 ’24
Hours, August 9-10 ’24
Friday 4-6 pm Saturday 3-5 pm
Both Saturday and Sunday owner-winemaker Tom Stangeland of Cloudlift Cellars in Seattle will be pouring five of his wines for this week’s tasting. Tom and wife Joanie have been celebrating their August wedding anniversary on Lummi Island for decades, and have become long-time friends many of you will remember. We have also helped out with crush and bottling at their winery.
Btw, Tom is also a long-time Craftsman furniture maker, and his meticulous attention to detail carries over into his wine-making. (btw, we have discovered that almost without exception, every top winemaker we have encountered is equal parts chemistry geek and artist (poet, musician, painter, chef…)
Cloudlift Lucy Rosé of Cab Franc ’23 Washington $19
Pale salmon in color, with aromas of fresh nectarine, citrus peel and strawberry; palate is dry, bright, and focused, with lively, mouthwatering citrus and minerality that extend the finish.
Cloudlift chardonnay ’22 Washington $28
Scents of honeysuckle, sweet lemon curd, and pear drift out of the glass. The rich palate brings a mouth watering acidity carrying flavors of crisp green apple and pear with a burst of lemon zest on the finish.
Cloudlift Ascent Cab Franc ’21 Washington $34
74% cab franc and 18% merlot with a bit of cab sauv and Petit Verdot; deep ruby color and a rich, smoky nose of raspberry, cherry, and plum with scents of rosebuds, brambles, tobacco, sage and pepper. The flavors follow the aromatics with notes of licorice, dark cocoa, French roast and scorched earth.
Cloudlift Zephyr ’15 Washington $34
Beautiful blend of 44% Syrah, 28% Mourvèdre, and 28% Grenache presents rich aromas and flavors of blueberry, huckleberry, orange peel, garrigue, raspberry, black pepper and sweet fruit flavors that linger like satin on the finish.
Cloudlift Halcyon Cabernet Sauvignon ’18 Washington $36
From Gamache and Elephant Mountain Vineyards; bold aromas of currants, anise, black cherry, and herbs lead to bright raspberry and dark cherry flavors and a bright, lingering finish.
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 – similar to a bread I sampled in Latvia it is 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…
Bear Claws! – Made with a danish pastry dough rich in cream, eggs, sugar and butter. The dough is rolled out and spread with a filing made with almond paste, powdered sugar, egg whites and just a bit of cinnamon to round out the flavor. Then, because bears love honey, topped with a honey glaze after baking. As always, quantities are limited, be sure to get your order in before you miss out- –2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list at least a week before visiting!
Economics of the Heart: An Appealing Ferry Tale …
PHOTO courtesy incatcrowther.com
Ongoing discoveries and developments in our ferry replacement process have brought us to a multi-dimensional crossroads where what signs we have all point in different directions, and there is a growing concern both here on the island and in County government that the 34-car vessel on the drawing board is neither achievable nor desirable.
There are a lot of moving parts, including:
1. COVID related cost inflation, as reflected in the marine repair and construction price index began a steep climb about two years ago, substantially reducing the buying power of our grant so much that our various grants and subsidies are no longer adequate to pay the new higher price tags for the 34-car vessel and necessary infrastructure updates.
2. County officials are already talking about discontinuing vehicle service to the island altogether, and blaming nit-picky, penny-pinching islanders for the problem.
3. Washington State Ferries is one of the largest ferry systems on the planet, serving all of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. Four car ferries are operated by County governments: Skagit, Whatcom, Wahkiakum, and Pierce. The first two serve small populations of rural residents and related commercial and government service providers getting back and forth from the mainland. Wahkiakum is a small ferry operating across the lower Columbia a bit east of Astoria. And Pierce provides ferry services in the densely populated urban environment of South Puget Sound.
One important takeaway is that Whatcom and Skagit Counties are operating complex systems and schedules like the State Ferry system, but without the tax base and extensive financial resources necessary to meet the rising costs of these services. Indeed, it not a coincidence that both Skagit and Whatcom Counties are “in the same boat” with inadequate financial resources to cover replacement of a vessel and its worn-out infrastructure,.In addition, smaller local governments also face growing demands on local infrastructure from climate-related destruction, homelessness, and addiction. These growing imbalances clearly require ongoing renegotiation with the State and the Feds for financial assistance.
As discussed recently with our State Senator Sharon Shewmake, we need to push forward with USDOT and with WSDOT about additional financial support, beginning with an inflation adjustment to our federal and state grants. We also should explore the feasibility of modifying the vessel plan to a smaller, more affordable, and more climate-friendly vessel…which leads us to…
A New Idea…
Boat Design. While browsing for information on lighter, more efficient ferry designs, we ran into this website. The vessel, Nairana, was built in Australia for a two-mile ferry passage between Bruny Island and the Tasmanian mainland. The vessel has an efficient aluminum “catamaran” style hull, and is powered by four Ro-Pax electric motors, which can all be rotated to provide thrust in the same direction at the same time. The design is state of the art and compatible with our goals of energy efficiency and performance, as well as stimulating our local economy, because…
Vessel Construction. Coincidentally, we have an aluminum shipbuilding company right here in Bellingham that is interested in exploring the project, and preliminary indications are that it is feasible to scale the vessel size down to maybe a 24-car (?) boat to meet budget and design constraints, not to mention…
Vessel Power. And as another coincidence, Echandia, a Swedish startup making batteries and electronics to power maritime vessels, opened a manufacturing and sales facility in nearby Marysville just a few days ago— its first site in North America!
lummi island wine tasting Aug 2-3
Hours, August 2-3 ’24
Friday 4-6 pm Saturday 3-5 pm
Cloudless Mt. Baker
Friday Bread This Week
Fig Anise – One of the more popular breads in the rotation. Made with a sponge that is fermented overnight, then the final dough is mixed with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. Honey, dried figs and anise bring in all the flavors of the Mediterranean. – $5/loaf
Sesame Semolina –Begins with a sponge that ferments some of the flour, water & yeast before mixing the final dough. Made with semolina and bread flour as well as a soaker of cornmeal, millet and sesame seeds, a little olive oil rounds out the flavor and tenderizes the crumb.– $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche Almond Buns – Made with a delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Rolled out and spread with an almond cream filling. The almond cream is not made from pre-made almond paste, but rather is a delicious creamy filling made with lots more butter, sugar and eggs as well as almond flour. –2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list at least a week before visiting!
This week’s wine tasting:
Ryan Patrick Rock Island Chardonnay ’20 Washington $16
A consistent local favorite, with aromas and flavors of wildflowers, crisp apples, honey, and cinnamon roll with a round, crisp, body and a graceful finish of sumac-spiced croutons.
Maryhill Winemakers Red ’22 Washington $14
Aromas of blackberry, cherry, and baking spice with hints of chocolate and dried herbs; ripe black currant and cherries on the palate with hints of tobacco and a rich, chewy finish.
Townshend Cellars T3 Red Washington $18
Bordeaux style blend of cab, merlot and cab franc; fruit forward with hints of black currant and vanilla, with layers of complexity and depth through extensive oak aging in French and American barrels.
Wines of the Week: Washington Wine Bargains
This week our tasting includes three wines which consistently sell out quickly. The broad range of Washington soil characteristics, elevations, daily and seasonal temperature variations makes it possible to find very favorable growing conditions for pretty much any wine grape grown anywhere in the world. Therefore, a lot of Washington wineries make wines not just from grapes they grow on their own land, but also from other vineyards around the State.
Ryan Patrick winery is located in Leavenworth, but sources fruit from several different vineyards and AVA’s (growing regions), each with different soils, rainfall, and temperature ranges, including Elephant Mountain Vineyard, Sagemoor Farms, Red Mountain AVA and Red Heaven Vineyard.)
Maryhill is a well-established, multi-generational family winery situated in the “town” of Maryhill, and overlooking the Columbia River (dine with a stunning view of the Gorge landscape!). It makes dozens of different wines each year to a consistent level of satisfying quality. It sources fruit from over 20 different vineyard locations from about half of the 14 major American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in Washington, effectively displaying the breadth of Washington Stats winemaking prowess.
Townshend Cellar winery is located in Spokane. It is a small family winery that recently lost its founding patriarch and seems to be transitioning its operation. It has also developed a reputation for pursuing sustainable farming and production methods, and donates 2% of its annual revenue to organizations that promote leaving a positive impact through sustainability, innovation, and community.
Economics of the Heart: Harris/Buttigieg…??
www.washingtontimes.com
Two weeks ago we posted Timothy Snyder’s hypothetical analysis of the options available to Democrats for the rapidly approaching national election. His last two involved VP Harris: 1) Joe drops out of the race, leaving her to become the nominee, or 2) Joe resigns, making Kamala the President now and the likely incumbent for November.
Last week Biden made the decision to drop out of the election, and passed the baton to Harris to head the ticket and find a new VP candidate. Since then Harris has garnered the convention votes to make her the Oval Office candidate, and there has been a great deal of speculation and trial ballooning of potential VP candidates. All the chatter and speculation seems to have narrowed to a short list of likely candidates.
Most of the discussion seems to center around which candidate is most likely to nail down a ticket win in a tossup state. However, opinions on the matter are largely speculative, because there are no tools, statistical or otherwise, that are likely to answer this question definitively. However, over the past week we have seen numerous airings of each of these candidates, and to us the choice has become quite clear: Pete Buttigieg runs circles around all of them. His easy-going assurance and positive manner create a safe space for cooperation and mutual benefit.
He has done recent interviews on numerous news programs including WaPo , NYT, CNN, MSNBC, Youtube, and the Daily Show...the list goes on and on, a busy and productive week. In every case Pete has the facts at his fingertips, weaves ideas together smoothly, graciously, and confidently, and slides his points across with an easy-going assurance. As we all saw in the debates for the 2020 election, he is an energetic, charismatic, good-natured, confident, uniquely intelligent, and effective communicator.
Well, that’s our dream ticket: Kamala & Pete. Unlikely. But sooo appealing!
lummi island wine tasting july 26-27 ’24
Hours, July 26-27 ’24
Friday 4-6 pm Saturday 3-5 pm
July morning backyard
Friday Bread This Week
Poolish Ale – The preferment here begins with a poolish made from bread flour, yeast, and ale and fermented overnight…then mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat– a great all around bread with a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – Also made with a poolish of fresh milled buckwheat and bread flours. Buckwheat is not a grain it is actually a seed and closer in the plant family to rhubarb and sorrel than to wheat and contains no gluten, and has an earthy/nutty flavor. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Morning Buns – Made popular by Tartine Bakery in San Francisco…mine are made with the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with a filling of brown sugar, orange zest, butter and cinnamon, rolled up and sliced before baking. 2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list at least a week before visiting!
This week’s wine tasting
Vielle Ferme Blanc ’23 France $12
Flavorful blend of bourboulenc, grenache blanc, roussanne, ugni blanc, & vermentino delivering seductive aromas of jasmine, hawthorn, and pear with flavors of blood orange with delicate saline notes.
La Quercia Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva ’17 Italy $19
From 50-yr-old vines; rich, full-bodied and rustic in expression, with rich notes of cocoa, rhubarb, blackberry, and herbs; long, lingering finish of juicy black cherry, with a silky/velvety mouthfeel.
Domaine Chibaou Surnaturel Merlot ’22 France $25
Complex nose of black fruits, candied strawberries and caramel; round, rich and concentrated, balanced, with good length in the mouth. No sulfites.
Wine of the Week: La Quercia Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva ’17 Italy $19
https://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/la-quercia-winery
We buy many of our Italian wines from our friends at Small Vineyards, an importer in West Seattle with family ties to Lummi Island. This wine is particularly special, and we are down to the last few bottles until our next shipment in the late fall. This is a big wine with lots of character and flavor. The importer describes the winemaker as follows:
A “true blue,” grizzled farmer-type, winemaker Antonio Lamona is both utterly likeable and totally invested in his wines. Although his father also grew grapes, Antonio is the first in the family to bottle his own and, beginning in the late sixties, began cultivating vines that are entirely organic. As Antonio says, “I would rather forgo an entire vintage than put man-made pesticides in my soil.”
Ownership of La Quercia is shared with three of his lifelong friends – it’s a gorgeous, rustic estate in a tiny Adriatic town where sea, sun and wind abound. The farm is entirely self-sustaining: they produce their own salami, bread, vegetables, olive oil, and cheeses. Regardless of what may be happening elsewhere in Italy, Antonio’s estate remains steadfast, renowned for its consistency in terms of both style and quality from one vintage to the next.” read more
Economics of the Heart: The Game is Afoot…!
As we have all seen, the response to Uncle Joe’s decision not to run has been surprisingly electric, evoking $millions in campaign donations to VP Harris and tens of thousands of new voter registrations, particularly in the 25-35 age group. The mood is ebullient across the nation in support of Biden’s decision and of Harris’ rapid collection of enough convention votes to clinch her candidacy.
Meanwhile, the Maga Party has been caught flat-footed by Biden’s decision just days after celebrating their Tweetster/Vance ticket and their Project 2025 commitment to shredding the Constitution, eliminating women’s rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, color of skin rights. Not to mention ignoring Climate Change, crushing Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, and more while transferring wealth and opportunity from everyone who needs it to the top 1% who don’t but feel entitled to it. Make no mistake; theirs is a Dark Dystopian vision in every sense of the world, deliberately centered around their frightening vision of making our country a totalitarian, white, male, Christian, and planet-killing hell.
Political writer Thomas Friedman just posted this view of the strangeness of this present moment in our history. Democrats are energized, engaged, organized, ad excited about possiblities, a mood in stark contrast to the recent chaotic Republican convention, which deliberately (again) had no party platform except to take rights away from women, immigrants, elders, the sick, the poor. (…you know, the tired and hungry masses that seek the same freedom and opportunity that most of our ancestors sought when they came to this country.)
As Friedman suggests, this pivotal Campaign has begun in earnest with one side cheering opportunity, inclusion, freedom, and unity for all while the other claims boundless opportunity for the Few and smug indifference to the needs of the many.
It’s a promising starrt!
lummi island wine tasting july 19-20 ’24
Hours, July 19-20 ’24
Friday 4-6 pm Saturday 3-5 pm
looking south from Legoe Bay
Friday Bread This Week
Multi Grain Levain – Made with a sourdough culture and using a flavorful mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A nice mixture of flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and some oatmeal add great flavor and crunch. And just a little honey for some sweetness. – $5/loaf
Rosemary Olive Oil – Made with bread flour and freshly milled white whole wheat for additional flavor and texture. Fresh rosemary from the garden and olive oil to make for a nice tender crumb and a nice crisp crust. A great all around bread – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Rum Raisin Brioche: A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with golden raisins and chunks of almond paste and as if that wasn’t enough, topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like?!– 2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list at least a week before visiting!
This week’s wine tasting
Domaine Chibaou Sauvignon Blanc ’22 France $19
Herby aromas of pastis, anise, papaya, with notes of hay and tropical fruits; smooth, nuanced palate and lingering finish, and completely delicious.
Argento Malbec ’20 Argentina $13
From organically grown grapes; deep purple hue; inviting aromas of red berries and flowers, and flavors of plum and sweet blackberry; finishes with ripe, balanced tannins– way over-delivers for its modest price.
The Wolftrap Syrah Mourvèdre Viognier ’21 South Africa $13
Syrah-mourvèdre blend; aromas of ripe plum, red currant, violets, Italian herbs and exotic spices; vibrant flavors of dark berries and spicy plum with hints of orange peel that linger on a juicy finish. (read more)
Wine of the Week: Wolftrap Syrah-Mourvèdre-Viognier ’21 South Africa $13
Boekenhoutskloof farm was established in 1776 in the furthest corner of the beautiful Franschhoek Wine Valley of South Africa, about 50 km east of the Cape of Good Hope.
The farm’s name means “ravine of the Boekenhout” (pronounced Book-n-Howed), which is an indigenous Cape Beech tree greatly prized for furniture making. In 1993 the farm and homestead were bought and restored and new vineyards planted for Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Semillon and Viognier.
When the farm was founded over 200 years ago, the Franschhoek valley was far wilder than it is today. Though the mountains are still alive with indigenous animals, including the majestic leopard, the only evidence that wolves once roamed here is an ancient wolf trap found here long ago . This wine was named in homage to the mysteries and legends of those days long gone by.
Most of the Syrah in The Wolftrap comes from the Swartland region (photo, left), where it develops its robust character and elegant aromas of violets, ripe plums, and spicy, peppery profile and juicy, fruity character. The Mourvèdre, also from the Swartland, lends a red fruit character and smoky body while a dash of Viognier adds perfume and verve for a rustic Rhône-style blend that seriously over-delivers for its modest $13 price point.
Economics of the Heart: Timothy Snyder’s Four Scenarios
A couple of weeks ago authoritarianism history expert Timothy Snyder posted a very interesting set of scenarios to address the tumult about President Biden’s continuing fitness as the best candidate to assure the defeat of convicted felon and far more mind-impaired Candidate Tweetster in the November election.
If you have been conscious over the last several years, you already know that the fate of human civilization and indeed our entire planet is at stake in this election. This has been spelled out in great detail in Project 2025, the detailed plan of the Heritage Foundation to end American democracy completely. Their new vision for America is an authoritarian state no longer ruled by a Constitutional balance of power among the President, Congress, and the Courts. Instead it will be controlled by a Unitary Executive recently endowed by the Supreme Court with the limitless powers of a King, including the arrest, confinement, and/or execution of any citizen for any reason…even, we presume, a passing moment of petty ennui.
Metaphor #1: Some years ago Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki gave a presentation here in Bellingham about the growing dangers of climate change. Someone in the audience asked “should we be worried about Climate Change…?” Suzuki’s immediate response was “You should be shi**ing your pants!!”
Metaphor #2: Also many years ago I read a read a great book called “Heavy Weather Sailing” by very experienced British sailor K. Adlard Coles. One unforgettable quote spoke with great authority and humility that experiencing a hurricane at sea in a sailboat was something “most devoutly to be eschewed.” Ah, the British penchant for understatement…
So let us make no mistake: There never has been a election anywhere in the world more important than this one. A Tweetster win would realign our country away from our traditional allies and into service to the Bad Guys. It would radically change the global political balance of power. Everything we care about is at stake.
So, with that preface, let’s go back to Timothy Snyder’s proposal. Called “Biden Experiments,” his essay describes, in a curiously calming way, the main challenges of the moment, and four options for addressing them. We found his analysis clarifying and helpful enough to suspect that it is already guiding discussions at the highest levels about campaign strategy between now and November.
So look it over, think about it, and let’s talk about it this weekend at wine tasting!
2072 Granger Way