Lummi Island Wine Tasting November 24 ’12
Thanksgiving recap
We are home after a lovely dinner in town with family. It is amazing how, like wine vintages, every year the same meal can be so different while still conforming to the tradition of turkey and trimmings. This year was no exception: delicious turkey and stuffing, but this year sweet potatoes cooked with grapefruit, spicy cranberry sauce with a bit of a kick, lovely salads, and a surprisingly tasty yet simple stir fry of very fresh snow peas hot out of the pan.
For wines we brought two from our recommended list: the OS riesling and the rosé prosecco. Unfortunately the riesling disappeared long before dinner, but we did just fine with the Rosecco and a lovely bottle of Cougar Crest viognier that our hostess provided.
All in all, in the larger context of the great human struggle to survive its ongoing Darwinian competition, we can be grateful to live in this time, in this place, blessed with an economic situation most of those who have gone before us would surely see as unimaginable luxury.
The “big” wine we are pouring this weekend, like the other three (see below), just arrived with our semi-annual shipment of Italian wines from Small Vineyards, an importer of mostly Italian, but lately some French and Spanish wines. The Lonardi Privelegia is an unusual blend of corvina and cab franc, and corvina is the primary grape is several lovely Italian wines: valpolicella, ripasso, and amarone.
In making amarone, the grapes are allowed to dry toward raisins before pressing, yielding a wine that is deep, rich, and full. Ripasso is made by adding the once-squeezed grapes already used to make amarone to valpolicella blends to add depth, body, and flavor. We have featured several ripassos in the past year or two, and they have been very popular with their seductive flavors and soft texture.
This wine knocked us out when we tasted it in August, so we couldn’t resist bringing in a few bottles for you to taste.
Okay, friends, it is after all Thanksgiving evening, so this is a short post. Hope to see many of you this weekend!
This week’s wines
Altarocca Arcosesto Orvieto ’11 Italy $14
A crisp, clean, fragrant white wine (grechetto, procanico, malvasia), bright and sunny with minerally notes of flowers, citrus, and dried fruits that pair well with savory dishes.
Bibbiani Treggiaia 09 Italy $10
A smooth and satisfying blend of sangiovese, canniolo & cab, serious but friendly, delightful with anything from pizza to lamb chops.
Palama Negroamaro 08 (Italy) $10
Elegantly expansive, rich and robust. Although it is 100% “rustic” Negroamaro, it is amazingly balanced; silky mouthfeel, aromas of violets, plums, fresh ground pepper and blackberry jam with accents of cinnamon, leather, tobacco and smoke.
Lonardi Privelegia ’08 Italy $36
A blend of Corvina (the primary grape in Amarone)and Cabernet Franc; intense, medium to full-bodied, and loaded with ripe dark fruit, spices, sweet herbs and earthiness, with lingering notes of sweetness from the dried Corvina that linger on the finish. Recently recognized by the Italian Sommelier Association as the top wine in Italy.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving Hours
The Thanksgiving Holiday is special not just for its historic significance or iconic symbolism or even the Ultra-Commercialism that kicks off the day after. Most especially for many people it means a rare and coveted opportunity for a four-day weekend, which is definitely something to be thankful for!
Curiously, as iconic as the Thanksgiving holiday is in our American culture, you will find, if you Google Thanksgiving images, a puzzling and vaguely unsatisfying array of banal pictures of turkeys, cornucopias, and other kitsch. At some level, I suppose we all have some nostalgia for the Thanksgivings of our childhood, some sort of annual anchor for the idea that we were part of some larger family, and it is hard to capture in a photo. Still, in our hearts we want it to be a real occasion for gratitude and feasting.
So this Thanksgiving, we wish you all a rich sense of community, a rooted sense of place, a warm sense of tribal belonging, and the luxury of leisure and community.
For our part, this post is to let you know that we will be open for your last-minute wine needs, Wednesday 4-6, Thursday 11-1, and the usual hours Friday (4-7) and Saturday (2-6). We have the wines we recommended last week for your holiday meal, plus the recent arrival of our semiannual shipment of Italian wines (including a lovely rose prosecco) and more.
Cheers, friends, and bon appetit!
Lummi Island Wine Tasting Nov 17 ’12
Thanksgiving wine pairings
Choosing wines for a smorgasbordy feast like Thanksgiving or Christmas is tricky because of all the traditional rich fare that gets piled up on the same plate. It’s a lot to ask that one wine will work with that many flavors, spices, and fats. In a way, because of the variety, almost any wines will do, but some will definitely work better than others. I think the primary criterion is for the wine to have a nice, mouthwatering acidity. Beyond that, I personally like some fruity complexity that will complement the richness of the meal while maintaining an accompanying role.
Bubbles
A chilled glass of Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, or your favorite champagne is always a good choice with big, rich meals because of its light flavors, festive bubbles, and crisp acidity. And of course it’s always a celebration to start any meal with savory appetizers, a cheery toast, and a flute of fizz..!
Rosé
Similarly, although we usually think of rosé as a summer wine, its light flavors and bright acidity make it a good match for rich holiday fare as well. And although we have dismantled our summer Rosé Shrine, we still have a wide variety of dry rosés to chose from, from France, Italy, Spain, and right here in Washington. A minute ago I just poured some from a nearly empty bottle that has been sitting around for a week or two, and am surprised and happy to report that it tastes really good!
Riesling
Another delicious direction for a holiday dinner wine is a dry or slightly off-dry riesling. Good rieslings are not, as many fear, “sweet wines.” One of the lovely things about riesling is that whether it is bone-dry (i.e., no residual sugar at all), or has a little or even a lot of residual sugar, it is usually beautifully fragrant and fruity, and balanced with bright acidity that effectively cleans the palate of any lingering sweetness. Because of its combination of complex white fruit flavors (like pear, apple, peach, and pinepple), riesling pairs well with almost everything. For the same reasons, other German or Alsatian varietals to consider for Thanksgiving include an Austrian gruner veltliner, an Alsation pinot bianco, or a Washington gewurztraminer– all of which we have in stock! Read more about riesling
Roussanne and Grenache Blanc
Roussanne and Grenache Blanc are two of my current favorite white varietals; we tasted and enjoyed several during recent visits in southern France and also in Spain. To our delight, we have also found a number of delicious roussannes right here in Washington, and I only recently discovered that some vineyards in Washington are also trying out grenache blanc. That was pretty exciting since I had enjoyed the varietal so much last year, and felt that it was likely to become the Next Big Thing in white wine in America (we’ll see about that). Right now we have delicious Washington roussannes from Mt. Baker Vineyards and from Syncline, which also happens to make– wait for it– a grenache blanc with fruit from one of Washington’s premier vineyards, Boushey. These tend to be full-bodied white wines, soft and fruity, rich on the palate, yet still with enough crisp acidity to stand up to a full-flavored holiday dinner.
Pinot Noir
Another versatile favorite for the holidays is pinot noir, the grape made famous in America a few years ago in the movie “Sideways.” Pinot has many different faces, but all of them should work well (in different ways) with a big holiday dinner. California pinot tends to be big, ripe, rich, and fruity, with notes of both red and white fruits and berries. It should stand up well to turkey, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Oregon pinot can be big like California, but usually tends to be less fruit forward, more acidic, and more balanced, making it more food-friendly in general, while French burgundy is often the most acidic, but can vary wildly according to vintage and vineyard location.
This week’s wines
Calcu Rosé ’11 Chile $11
Unusual blend of malbec, syrah, and petite verdot; beautiful pale pink-arange color, crisp acidity, and nice minerality with notes of citrus and green apple. Not to mention, a really great label!
OS Riesling ’11 Washington $14
Here’s a nice video of winemaker Bill Owen talking about this riesling. A few years ago we had an earlier vintage with Thanksgiving dinner, and it was, if I may say so myself, a brilliant pairing!
Syncline Grenache Blanc ’11 Washington $22
A lovely wine that manages to combine a sense of rich earthiness with fine acidity, with fruit flavors of nectarine and green papaya.
W. H. Smith Maritime Pinot Noir ’09 California $35
While in Napa two weeks ago we got a great deal on one of our favorite California pinots, and had a case shipped up. It’s here, it’s delicious, and it’s $20 less than usual. Come check it out!
Lummi Island Wine Tasting November 9-11 ’12 Artists’ Studio Tour
A Toast to our Default Art
After we took down our great show from Labor Day weekend featuring works by Kathy, Gerry, and Ryan, we had, as usual, reverted to our default wine posters, which we really like. Most of them are from a series commissioned by Longoria Winery in Los Olivos. As we have mentioned at various times over the years, they produce a cab franc blend each year called “Blues Cuvee,” and every other year they commission an artist to paint yet another interpretation. So far we have liked them all. It’s really a great series, and we like how they look in the gallery.
Studio Tour Featured Artists
At the same time, we also love having different Island artists show their works at our place. It’s a great way to change the decor, tweak the atmosphere, provide a venue for local art, and meet new people. This weekend we have new watercolors from Meredith Moench and recent works by Brendan Dunn. We dropped by Meredith’s studio during Labor Day Studio Tour and fell in love with many of her new watercolors, which feature great light, color, and composition, and are happy to have many of those same works in the gallery this weekend. Sorry we don’t have photos of her new work to post here (remember…? our camera is kaputsky!). I am also sure most of you will remember Brendan’s vivid oil paintings of Hawaiian flowers that we showed last year, and we have more of those on display. I also found a picture of one of his newest works on his Facebook page (left) , and have already started lobbying to get it in the gallery before Thanksgiving…we’ll see! We are open Friday (4-7), Saturday (10-6), and Sunday (10-5) this weekend, so come on by, take a look, taste some wine, and hang out!
Blue Rodeo
As I write this tonight, I have turned on the radio here in the back room, at random, really, and got hooked into the music on CBC Radio 2, (somewhere around 92 FM), and have very much been enjoying the music while I write. When I first tuned in, I had no idea what I was listening to, but it turned out to be a 25-yr anniversary concert (I may have the number wrong) by a group I have never heard of (Okay, okay, I lead a sheltered life!) but whom I am sure Everyone else has been enjoying for, you know, decades. The group is “Blue Rodeo,” and their harmonies and acoustic music have a really nice sound, very reminiscent of the “late sixties-early seventies,” or in Old People parlance, “back when music was actually, you know, Music.” Anyway, chances are we can find them on Pandora and play them in the wine shop this weekend… Check them out
California Notes
Yesterday we returned from a week in Napa (see last week’s post). The fall colors are still developing, but definitely present, soft yellows, oranges, reds, and greens under a perfect deep blue autumn sky. During the day the temperature got up into the 70’s, sometimes close to 80 (yes, fellow Islanders, way too hot for the likes of us!), then dropping to 50’s at night. Grapes are now mostly harvested, and wineries are rich with the smell of fermentation. We did visit a few wineries (yum!) and several delightful restaurants, and in the process took in a lot of lovely scenery. I have to confess that if rent weren’t three to five times what it is here we might even think about moving there someday. That said, it is nice to be home, and we are looking forward to visiting with you all this weekend.
This week’s tasting:
Legoe Bay Viognier ’08 Washington $8
The new release of Lummi Island’s only winery’s flagship wine offers subtle floral and fruit notes with lots of fruit, great texture, and balanced acidity.
Honoro Vera Monastrell ’10 Spain $9
Tank aged 100% Monastrell. Its pleasing nose reveals notes of underbrush, mineral, and blueberry leading to a savory, spicy, nicely balanced medium-bodied wine.
Kiona cab-merlot ‘08 Washington $10
Rich, earthy, spicy, and crisp; good showing of Washington fruit at a real bargain price; great for sipping or with any meal.
Urban Ribera ’07 Spain 90pts $14
Deep purple in color with an inviting perfume of violets, Asian spices, black cherry, and blackberry, on the palate it is layered, plush, and intense
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