Lummi Island Wine Tasting May 21 ’11
still warmWine Tasting Classes begin this Sunday–still room for a few more!
Join sommelier and new Island resident Ryan Wildstar, who will present a series of four wine-tasting classes every other week beginning Sunday afternoon, May 22, from 2-4. The first workshop will be:
Introduction to Wine: The Five “S’s” of Wine Tasting Sunday, May 22nd, 2-4pm $20
We will discuss the principles of wine history and culture with a focus on the basic principles of wine tasting and analysis. An introduction to wine terminology, wine-pairing, and how to buy great inexpensive wine based on reading the label and knowing the region. Enjoyed with: 1 Sparkling Wine, 2 White Wines, 3 Red Wines. Paired with Artisan Cheeses and Charcuterie. (That’s six wines, tasty bites, good company, and wine education, all for 20 bucks! This is gonna be FUN!)
In case you missed the delicious Anne Amie Amrita white blend last weekend, there are just a few left (and most of those promised!) and I am trying to get more…but they are already sold out, so could be difficult. As a small consolation, we expect to be getting more of “The Other” white, which we poured a few weeks ago, and which is also really tasty!
Our three reds last week were delicious, alleviating my reservations about the new vintages. The Venta Morales tempranillo and the Altos Hormigas malbec are old favorites around here, and the trend continues as both tasted great. A new wine for us is the just-released Isenhower Purple Paintbrush, a cab franc-based blend from Walla Walla that delivers big flavor. We have more of all three wines in stock.
We went to a great French wine tasting a few weeks ago, wines arriving next week, so expect a French tasting soon. And then there was an awesome Italian wine tasting this past Monday at Il Graniao in Mt. Vernon (check it out, great food!), so you can expect a great Italian tasting soon…maybe two, as some past orders will also be arriving in June.
Studio Tour is next weekend and we will be open all day both Saturday and Sunday for Memorial Day weekend. In the “wine bar” part of the gallery we will continue our showing of Mary Beth Watkins’ photos of the Doors of Lyon— the more I look at them the more attached to them I become, so don’t miss them. In the “window” part of the gallery we will be showing a selection of Ryan’s (yes, our sommelier!) constructions from found objects. We are also working on a couple of winemakers to come and pour their wines for us for Studio Tour– wish us luck– so be sure to check next week’s posting for to see how we did!
This is someone’s Front Door...??
You know…it might actually be drinkable…!
Fyi, most Thursday nights while I slave over this blog the neighborhood “ladies” are playing Mah Jong in the wine shop…!!
OMG! Two More “Talls“…and now they have secret hand signals!!
I should take my daughters to Lummi Island more often!
This Week’s Saturday Tasting:
Shaya Verdejo ’09 Spain 91pts $13
Barrel-fermented and aged on its lees. Medium straw-colored, if offers up an alluring aroma of baking spices, spring flowers, and peach. On the palate it has a creamy texture, vibrant acidity, and intense flavors leading to a lengthy, fruit-filled finish. Just in time for summery weather!
La Quercia Aglianico ‘09 Italy $11
Believed to be an ancient Greek wine grape, aglianico is a full bodied with notes of ripe plum and white pepper on fine-grained tannins.
Sorenson Malbec ‘07 Washington $18
Discovered this little winery in Port Townsend recently, and this was my favorite wine. Complex aromas of bright black cherry, juniper, and smoke lead to a satisfying palate with intriguing layers of fruit, berry, and spice flavors.
Urban Ribera Ribera del Duero ’07 Spain 91pts $14
100% Tinta del Pais (Tempranillo), four months in French oak. Purple-colored, it offers up a fragrant bouquet of scorched earth, violets, and black cherry that leaps from the glass. Smooth-textured and suave on the palate, it has loads of succulent black fruit, silky tannins, excellent depth and grip, and a juicy finish.
Lummi Island Wine Tasting May 14 ’11
Wine Classes beginning next Sunday!
Beginning May 22, we will be collaborating with sommelier (and new Island resident) Ryan Wildstar, who will present a series of four wine-tasting classes every other week beginning Sunday afternoon, May 22, from 2-4. The first workshop will be:
Introduction to Wine: The Five S’s of Wine Tasting Sunday, May 22nd, 2-4pm $20
We will discuss the principles of wine history and culture with a focus on the basic principles of wine tasting and analysis. An introduction to wine terminology, wine-pairing, and how to buy great inexpensive wine based on reading the label and knowing the region. Enjoyed with: 1 Sparkling Wine, 2 White Wines, 3 Red Wines. Paired with Artisan Cheeses and Charcuterie. (That’s six wines, tasty bites, good company, and wine education, all for 20 bucks! We must be crazy!). Please call 360.758.2959 to reserve your place–space is limited!
Ryan will also be our featured artist for the artists’ studio tour on Memorial Day weekend…he does constructions with found objects that I think you will find interesting. That also means you only have two more weekends to come by and see Mary Beth’s photos of “French Doors.” And no, in this case they are not “French doors”as in the movies or how you get from the living room to the garden. No, they are actual doors in Lyon, chosen for their character. All YOU need to know is that all of them had more character a hundred years ago than probably any door you (any of us) has ever used regularly in this country since then.
Which is interesting, because there is an important lesson in this, about who we are, what we value, and in some sense the shallowness of our national roots. And lately I have had the impression that there are huge corporate interests working diligently at keeping our roots shallow, keeping us, like some kind of cultural tumbleweeds, today grasping at this idea, tomorrow at that new product. Why build a door that will last for hundreds of years when you can deliberately build doors (any everything else) so poorly that they will either fall apart or bore you into replacing it as often as possible so they can keep selling you new ones and landfilling the old ones. So yes, try to come in this weekend or next to see the “door show.” Hopefully we will put it up again during the summer.
We recently spent a few days in Oregon, and visited one of our favorite wineries, Anne Amie. The first wine we tasted is the first one on this weekend’s list, a lovely white blend of Chardonnay 32%, Viogner 38%,
Pinot Blanc 29%, and a hint of Riesling 1%. Trust me, folks, it’s a knockout, and I wasn’t able to get much. So some early this weekend, or it will certainly be gone!
“you won’t believe this, but I manage all of Alaska’s fisheries from right here on Lummi Island!”
This week’s wines:
Anne Amie Amrita white blend ’10 Oregon $13
Sense-filling aromas of quince, grassy, passion fruit, gooseberry, and white flowers leads to rich flavors of kiwi, white peach, coriander, and key lime that taper into a dry, minerally finish. Pair with oysters, shellfish, Thai food, crab cakes; delicious, but don’t wait– VERY limited supply!
Venta Morales tempranillo ’09 Spain $8
100% Tempranillo raised in stainless steel. Deep crimson-colored, it emits aromas of spice box and fragrant black cherry. On the palate licorice and other black fruits emerge leading to a finish with no hard edges.
Altos Las Hormigas Malbec 09 Argentina $10 WA88pts
This fleshy, round red offers spicy black cherry, cocoa, plum and raspberry notes laced with a modest touch of roasted vanilla and balanced, long, ripe tannins; a solid crowd-pleaser.
Isenhower Purple Paintbrush ’08 Washington $25
A blend from a long-time favorite Walla Walla winemaker, Brett Isenhower, made up of 62% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, each varietal from a single vineyard. It was aged in seasoned French oak for 13 months. Medium ruby-colored, it proffers a nose of sage, thyme, olives, crushed blackberries, bing cherries, black plums, and black currant.
Lummi Island Wine Tasting May 7 ’10
LOTS of announcements today!
#1. Okay we finally had dinner at the Willows last night, our first experience with Maestro Blaine, and we sat in the “library,” which used to be the office, and which is separated from the kitchen by a pair of French doors. So you can see what’s going on in the kitchen, and it is a lot of nonstop action. There are about six guys running around in there kinda like old silent Keystone Cops movies where everyone is moving too fast. Blaine is putting finishing touches on plates, someone is warming plates at the threshold of the flaming oven, and several others are running around at high speed, perhaps just for choreographic expression. There is a LOT going on!
All YOU need to know is that, yes, each morsel is a work of art, the flavors a revelation. And of course we took a couple of bottles with us that worked very well indeed; the Turley White Coat blend of Marsanne, Viognier, and Rousanne carried loads of intense tropical fruit/honeysuckle aromas, golden delicious apples, and a hint of nuts, with a full-bodied and viscous texture, and paired beautifully with the buttery aioli (“to die for!) on wild veggies and flowers served on heartbreakingly fragile and delicious bits of something bready-toasty, and with little bits of slightly smoked salmon (still smoking in a little cedar box!), prawns, razor clams, AND oysters–all separately presented, of course, like the distinct works of art they were.
Somewhere in the parade we slid into the beautiful Winderlea pinot noir we brought back from Oregon last week, and it was so delicious I might have imagined how well it went with the halibut dish or the amazing horseradish ice shavings, even the dessert. Bottom line?…the meal was a work of art from start to finish, and I was very pleased with the wines we brought. It is of course ideal when the wine you take to a meal is perfect; but with a complex, multi-course pageant such as Blaine presents, no one wine is going to cover all the bases, and it is a lucky thing if you can catch at least some of the pairings well. And I think we did! Make your reservations now, folks, cuz the prices are still really low for what you get, and that can’t last!
#2. The next thing you need to know is that beginning May 22, we will be collaborating with our new Best Friend (see recent posts) Ryan Wildstar, who will present a series of four wine-tasting classes every other week beginning Sunday afternoon, May 22, from 2-4. The first workshop will be:
Introduction to Wine: The Five S’s of Wine Tasting
Sunday, May 22nd, 2-4pm $20
We will discuss the principles of wine history and culture with a focus on the basic principles of wine tasting and analysis. An introduction to wine terminology, wine-pairing, and how to buy great inexpensive wine based on reading the label and knowing the region. Enjoyed with: 1 Sparkling Wine, 2 White Wines, 3 Red Wines. Paired with Artisan Cheeses and Charcuterie.
#3. Finally, we have a new show for your viewing pleasure until Memorial Day weekend. Our friend and neighbor Mary Beth Watkins has traveled to France numerous times in the last several years, visiting lots of towns and villages and tasting lots of regional cuisine and wines. She has also taken a lot of really interesting photos. Her show includes photos of many of the magnificent doors one sees in French (and Italian) villages. These are not just portals in and out of your house or apartment; they are aesthetic statements of their own, each one unique. Don’t miss it!
oo-ooga oo-ooga, clear the bridge, all hands brace for Dive…
Well, that was close but we made it!
Yep, a great glass of wine is the perfect accompaniment to a Narrow Escape…whew!
This week’s wines:
Lost River Pinot Gris ’09 Washington $13
Another charmer from our friends in Winthrop…Enticing aromas of citrus, pear and tropical fruits with a bit of residual sugar balanced by crisp acidity.
Four Graces WV pinot noir ’08 Oregon $22
Reminiscent of blackberries, luscious damson, warm red roses, and wild mushrooms, the 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is vibrant and delicious in its youth yet has the soft, focused tannins to suggest ageing with grace.
Tarima monastrell 09 Spain $10
100% Monastrell sourced from 25-35 year old vines and raised in stainless steel with lees stirring. Medium crimson-colored, the nose reveals fragrant blueberries and underbrush. Firm on the palate with plenty of savory fruit.
Pend d’Oreille Bistro Rouge 07 Washington $13
Very aromatic blackberries and a chocolate note on the nose. Blackberry, blackcurrant, and blueberry flavors fill the palate and continue through a longish dry finish that includes modest oak and a cinnamon highlight.
Lummi Island Wine Tasting April 30 ’10
This week we are on the road, visiting friends and a few wineries in Willamette Valley in Oregon. We have dropped in on a few wineries, and will be bringing back a few interesting wines we have found at Anne Amie and at Winderlea. We also spent some time today at the Evergreen Aviation and Space museum, a curious and enjoyable collection of old aircraft and space race memoribilia. Lots of well-restored displays, including of course the infamous “Spruce Goose” designed and built by Howard Hughes in the 40’s, possibly the biggest airplane ever built, at least in some ways. It did manage to fly once for a mile or so before touching back down on the water. It’s HUGE, and made of wood in a method similar to today’s “cold-molding” of boats with epoxy laminated layers of wood strips.
Really nice crowd last week for another very satisfying tasting. Our first guests were Chris and Misty, here for a couple of days for, you guessed it, dinner at the Willows. He is the chef at the Four Seasons in Seattle. So we had a wide-ranging discussion about food and wine. There were also, of course, many of the Usual Suspects who give this place its quirky charm (just my opinion).
Probably the wine of the day was the ’03 Casa Lapostolle cab from Chile. We have had this around for some while, and it never showed particularly well. This time, however, it was big and complex and satisfying. Unfortunately we only had a few bottles and they sold quickly.
Okay, T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-that’s about it, hope to see you all this weekend!
This week’s wines:
Peirano Estates The Other White ’07 California $10
Aromas of apples, pears, & tropical fruit, with hints of coconut and vanilla. Lush flavors of fresh ripe pears, apples, tropical fruit and homemade lemon pie lead to a long, seductive, finish. A fantastic buy!
Terre Rouge Tête-à-Tête Syrah 02 California $16
A likable and out-of-the-ordinary blend, with aromas of cedar, plum and spice and zesty yet supple flavors of licorice, coffee and blackberry.
Peirano Estates The Immortal Zin ’08 California $10
Hand selected from 113-year-old vines; deceptively subtle aromas of this wine combine red and black cherry, mineral, earthy rhubarb and slightly spicy red fruit; palate is wrapped in velvety layers of sweet red cherry, strawberry, cocoa and juicy red fruit leading to a lengthy, almost breathless finish.
Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero ‘04 Spain WA92pts $21
Dense ruby/purple color is followed by a projected nose of blackberries, currants, cherries, smoky oak, and crushed rocks. Terrific texture, super purity, an opulent, full-bodied palate, and a long, heady finish.
2072 Granger Way
