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lummi island wine tasting sept 14 ’18

(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)

Bread Friday this week

Rosemary Olive Oil – made with bread flour and a bit of freshly milled white whole wheat for a little more 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

Oatmeal Pan Bread: A new bread to introduce into the rotation. Made with bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and, of course, oatmeal. Plus a bit of honey. This bread has great flavor and makes perfect toast – $5/loaf

and pastry this week…

Morning Buns! – These have been made popular by Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, I use the same laminated dough as my 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

 

Needle in a Haystack

One challenge of the last few weeks has been to get the Honda 9.9 outboard working on our little sailboat Dreamtime. We confess a broad lack of understanding of modern outboard motors, which seem fickle and moody, prone to random fits of pique today when they were running just fine yesterday.

Most of our marine engine experience for the last few decades has involved diesel engines, which, despite their many idiosyncracies, tend to run as requested despite their mood of the moment.

So it is that for the last several weeks we have been in a little dance with our outboard, trying to sort out why, after showing a willingness to start, it preferred to run with the choke engaged and with too high an rpm to allow easy shifting. Therefore it felt like the end of a long journey today finally to find and successfully adjust the idle adjustment screw that had been eluding us.

In the photo at left, in bottom center, there is visible a silvery bolt. At the right end of the bolt there is a dark opening. Inside the opening is located the idle adjustment screw. Because of the recess, the screw is not visible except from the left side at eye level. From above or forward the screw is not visible at all, which is to say, it is not visible from the boat it is mounted on. So it is with a great sense of aha! satisfaction today to have found and adjusted the previously invisible idle adjustment screw, the result of a fortuitous accident of having taken this photo that revealed it. Mystery solved…you know, for the moment…!

 

Pasanau

In the classic film “Sideways,” there is a scene where our male anti-hero asks our female heroine (as I see it) what was The Wine that did it for her, i.e., made her Love Good Wine. And frankly, I don’t remember what she said. What is important here is that the phrase “did it for you” roughly translates into, OMD, I never knew Wine Could Taste This Good! With the implication, of course, that Life would be Changed Forever from this experience, something between Transcendence and Addiction.

For us, it was a Frog’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon, probably around a 2000 vintage, which Pat’s son Donald offered as an antidote for my futile quest to find the perfect $7 wine. Bear in mind this was around 2004, when dollars bought a lot more, and that this wine at the time was about $40, Way out of our experience or comfort zone. I remember wanting to be able to inhale more deeply because the aroma was So Seductive. Life has not been the same since.

In Donald’s case the wine that did it for him was Pasanau Finca de Planeta, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and garnacha from the iconic Spanish wine region of Priorat, about two hours west of Barcelona. Pasanau is located in the Northwest corner of this very dry, rugged DOC very reminiscent of the American Southwest. It is famous for the complexity of its wines. Because its old vines have had to grow deep into the ancient schist, limestone, and licorella soils to survive and produce fruit, they have developed a certain profundity. We visited the winery a few years ago and were moved by its gnarly old vines and spectacular setting.

More important for you, by chance we have acquired a few bottles of the 2012 vintage of this wine at a substantial discount, allowing us to offer our limited supply for $35 each.

 

Mar a Lago Update: The Emperor’s New Clothes

In the original fairy tale, the scenario was that the Emperor was apparently not the Brightest Bulb in the Box, suffered from an Excess of Hubris, and liked Adulation. And for whichever of those reasons, the Emperor bought some Very Sheer Invisible Clothes and wore them in a Parade. The Moral Takeaway from the story was that only a young boy was free enough from Cultural Inculcation to be able to Name what Everybody Knew.

This week is a landmark because, after so many years of Silence, so many Witnesses have come forward on the subject. These include: 1) a fascinating NY Times OpEd about the Chaos in the White House that reeked of  misguided self-righteousness and martyrdom; 2) Bob Woodward’s methodical exposé of the Chaos in the Tweetster’s Government; 3) the Bizarre Senate Judicial Committee interviews with the Tweetster’s latest Federalist Society pro-Life, pro-Gun, Pro-Corporate Supreme Court pick; 4) the Tweetster’s claim of Total Success in rehabbing Puerto Rico after last year’s devastating Hurricane, despite troves of Evidence that the US Response was underfunded and understaffed to the point of Indifference; and 5) the Imminent Arrival of Hurricane Florence, just downgraded to Category 2 (100 mph winds instead of 130), but still LOTS of Rain and likely $100 billion damage, only the latest uptick in the now-inevitable-for-the-next-75-years annual Worsening of Storm Damage.

One is reminded of the Old Saying, “to Judge the Direction of the Wind, it is enough to look at a Single Blade of Grass.” On the other hand, as with the boy Naming the Emperor’s Nakedness, it won’t work until enough people are willing to open their eyes…

Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 4713 as of 9/1/18

 

This week’s wine tasting

Popolo di Indie Bianco ’16 Italy $13
100% Cortese; aromas of white fruits blended with sweet citrus and a hint of tropical fruit that dance delicately on the palate, intertwining with fine acidity, a touch of mineral flavor and a long, soft.

Pech Celeyran Ombline Rosé ’15 France $10
Nice fruity nose, and palate of red fruits, strawberries, and raspberries, with an appealing freshness ideal for summer afternoons.

Portteus Bistro Red ’15    Washington    $13
Fun, smooth and easy drinking blend of Malbec and Merlot. A food friendly wine with delicate, elegant texture. Notes of blackberry, pomegranate, cocoa, honey and licorice, with a creamy finish. Over-delivers for the $.

Martoccia Poggio Apricale  ’17    Italy  $14
Sangiovese Grosso with a little Merlot and Cab Franc; Fruity and persistent nose of wild berries and spice. Soft and balanced with fine tannins this Sant’Antimo Rosso works well with any meal!

Celler Pasanau Finca La Planeta Priorat ’12   Spain $35
Crisp, focused aromas of ripe berries, asphalt, and spice; flavors of spicy plum, crushed peppercorn and mineral-rich schist; thorough and complex; drink through 2028.

lummi island wine tasting oct 13 ’17

 (note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)

Bread this week

Whole Wheat Levain –  made with levain and bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat and then a long, slow, cool overnight ferment in the refrigerator, giving it a nice ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf

Breton – From the French Breton region. Bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat and rye flour with and ‘sel gris’– the grey salt from the region– that brings more mineral flavors to this bread. – $5/loaf

And for pastry this week…

Chocolate Croissants – a traditional laminated french pastry made with a bit of sourdough flavor and a pre-ferment to help strengthen the dough to create the traditional honeycomb interior. Rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5

 

 

October Hours: Open Fridays Only Till Nov 10!

A long time ago in a barely remembered Galaxy we were all Really Young– some of us maybe Younger than others! In my case from 1963-67 I attended the U. S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1967. This month is the 50th Anniversary Reunion of my class, and Pat and I will be attending. We will be leaving in the middle of next week. Our friends Roger and Deb (from whom we bought our boat Dreamtime two years ago), will be house- and dog-sitting while we are away– but they will NOT be Wine Shop Sitting…except maybe dropping by on Fridays to say Hi…please give them a Big Welcome!

Instead, for the rest of October the wine shop Will Be Open Fridays Only  from 4-6:30 or so for Bread Pickup, wine tasting, and Of Course Wine Sales— Janice presiding As Usual. After a few days in Annapolis we will be spending a week on the Maine Coast visiting family, and then five days in Montreal wining and dining with The Ryans and a representative group from– I’m Not Making This Up– Lummi Island! (you know who you are!).

However, Please Note, the wine shop will NOT be open for the Next Three Saturdays, Oct 21, Oct 28, and Nov 4. We regret any inconvenience, and look forward to catching up with you on Nov 11-12. 

 

Seguret

As with the above paragraph, it is hard to believe it’s been six years since we visited Seguret, arguably the Most Picturesque Village in France. Washington winemaker Bob Betz had suggested it was not to be missed, and so we made a point to visit. Like many Designated Picturesque Villages in France, there is little Industry beyond Being, well, Picturesque, constantly Posing in a way. Every turn of an alley, every stone stair climbed, every archway-framed view has its Finger on your Cute Button before you can even begin to shrug and exclaim Jacques Robinson!

This photo was taken from the window of a (of course) Charming Little Tea Shop about halfway up the steep, narrow, and winding cobbled walkways of the village. It was great to sit down, have a little something, and explore the interesting selection of teas. I settled on an Oolong tea called Tung Ting (aka Dong Ding), which has become a Favorite Late Afternoon soother.

I bring this up today because this weekend we are pouring a white wine from Seguret which blends some of our favorite white varietals (see notes, below). Hopefully it will taste as good accompanying the view from our wine shop window as it would if you were actually there!

 

Mar a Lago Update: Chickens Blow Home to Roost

Climate science is not really that Complicated. Even Republicans should be able to Grok the Basic Mechanisms. Either they actually do, and are deliberately Choosing Short Term Personal Gains over Long Term Global Survivability, or they Really Doh!-n’t grasp the Basics of Earthly Thermodynamics, and it falls on All of Us to Set Them Straight.

The Basics:  Solar heating evaporates water from the Earth’s Surface and moves it to Higher Latitudes where it condenses  and falls as Rain. Increasing Heat in the Atmosphere means it can Hold More Water and can carry More Kinetic Energy. As has been predicted by Climate Models for the last Forty Years, that means more evaporation (some latitudes get much drier); more Rainfall (and more Floods), and more Kinetic Energy in the Atmosphere (More Wind).

We have many friends in Northern Califonia. Right now many of them are on mandatory Evacuation from their homes, and this only one week after the worst series of Hurricanes in memory have Devastated the Caribbean.

Donald Trump’s America is the Only Country in the World that finds it politically and economically Convenient to Deny that these Catastrophic changes in Global Temperature and their Systemic Effects on Evaporation, Rainfall, and Winds are Directly Causing more intense Hurricanes, Increasingly serious and more frequent Flooding, and More and More Costly Wildfires. It’s hard to imagine what kind of Accounting Stance can find a Profit Motive in Refusing to Acknowledge what the Entire Rest of the World Accepts as Fact, and what our fellow Citizens in Texas, Lousiana, Florida, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Northern California are presently Experiencing.

 

This week’s wine tasting

lummi island wine tasting august 4 ’17

(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)

Bread this week

Sonnenblumenbrot – aka Sunflower Seed Bread made with a pre-ferment that is a complete dough itself. It takes a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast that ferments overnight before mixing the final dough. The final dough is made with bread flour and freshly milled rye, then loaded up with toasted sunflower seeds and some barley malt syrup for sweetness. This is a typical german seed bread- $5/loaf

Honey, Wheat, Lemon & Poppy seeds – Made with a poolish that ferments some of the flour, yeast and water overnight before being mixed with the final ingredients which includes a nice mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. Some honey, poppy seeds and freshly grated lemon peel round out the flavors in this loaf. A great all around bread – $5/loaf

And for pastry this week:

Pan de Cioccolate – A delicious chocolate artisan bread. Not a typical enriched sweet pastry dough made with plenty of eggs, butter and sugar, but rather a rich chocolate bread made with bread and freshly milled rye flours, honey for sweetness, vanilla, and plenty of dark chocolate. Makes fabulous french toast! $5/loaf

The Italians are back!

It is now an established tradition each summer– the arrival of our semiannual special order shipment from our friends at West Seattle importer Small Vineyards. As most of you know, they specialize in family-owned wineries mainly in Italy, but in recent years also in France and Spain. Many of their member wineries have been  handing down traditional methods of farming and winemaking for generations. Virtually all of the SV imports vastly outperform their modest prices, and we always look forward to their arrival.

Over the next several weekends we are offering some old favorites as well as a few new imports. The old favorites are the Perazzeta Sara Rosato, a delicious rosé made from sangiovese grosso, the grape that made Brunello di Montalcino one of the most sought-after wines on the planet for the last hundred years. In addition, this weekend’s Italian representatives also include Sanguineti Cannonau Di Sardegna, which is basically grenache (a French Southern Rhone varietal) grown in Sardinia, where it develops its own distinctive and lingering notes of pomegranate to the more traditional red fruit notes. Locals claim grenache (cannonau) originated in Sardinia long before being exported to Spain and France, when the island was part of the kingdom of Aragon.

Moon and Tides

A few days ago I got Dreamtime out for a bit of a sail with my friend Mike, a former Army pilot who understands navigation principles, but the Army being what it is, never had to think much about tides.(!) We discussed my ongoing project to learn to predict where the Moon is in the sky by observing the Tide, and similarly, knowing where the tide must be if you know where the Moon is in sky.

Those of you who have been bored enough with your everyday lives that you have actually read any of these “Moon and Tides” musings the last several weeks should have picked up the basic tenet: when the Moon is highest in the sky the Tide will be pretty close to Low , and when the Moon is near the horizon, the tide has to be pretty close to a High. So imagine my Consternation as we were sailing, noting that the Moon (just past First Quarter) was High in the sky, and yet precious little of the shore was showing. In fact, it looked a lot like High Tide! Huh? Whazzat?

So of course when we got back in I checked my Tide App and was comforted by an interesting revelation, something I sort of knew theoretically, but hadn’t actually observed before. That is, when the Moon is at First or Third Quarter, it Is high in the sky at dinner time and the Tide is Low. However…I forgot that we also know that the tidal range between High and Low is at a Minimum at the Quarter Moon. Indeed, the day we were sailing there was only about a half-foot difference between the afternoon high tide (5.6′) and the evening low tide (5.1′)…! So yes, after Due Consideration, we are Happy to Report that it IS Intuitively Obvious!
Time   Tide   Height
0702    low    1.57′
1406    high   5.64′
1725    low    5.11′
2400    high   8.07′

 

Thimbleberries

Thimbleberries are a local curiosity, growing in banks alongside the road, often alongside salmonberries, another Northwest native. According to Wilipedia they are, like other raspberries, not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. The drupelets may be carefully removed separately from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit which bears a resemblance to a thimble, perhaps giving the plant its name.

We often find wines with flavors reminiscent of thimbleberries, definitely raspberry-like, but somehow brighter and more acidic, and often with a sort of dusty quality (probably from dirt blown onto them by passing cars!). Today is the first day we have found some bright red ripe ones, and lots of hard pink ones which may or may not reach maturity.  This summer has been very dry, so pickings are slim. Look for them along roads or driveways or around the edges of fields. And yes, they are a perfect match for the many dry rosés we have in stock right now!

 

Mar a Lago Update: New Hall Monitor?

Things have happened very fast the last week or two. Let’s just call it a series of “Staff Adjustments.” The thing one would expect about Staff Adjustments is some Overall Rationale, you know, “Okay, we are not meeting our goals so we need a Change in Strategy.” But that implies that you Actually Have Goals and a Strategy for Achieving Them! So somewhere in this picture we would expect “Tweetster and Team” to be able to Articulate their Goals and Strategies and gather Data to Assess their Progress.

But, to our Immense Relief, six months into Ruling the Most Powerful Nation on Earth, these Clowns haven’t even figured out where the bathrooms are, and who gets to use which ones at what times. No Wonder they’re Frustrated! It is, as Any Observer might note, Time for some Discipline. It’s Time for some Leadership. It’s Time to Send In the Marines!

And so it is that Arch-Republican Priebus is Out and New Chief of Staff and retired Marine Corps General John Kelly is In. The Question on the Floor is whether Kelly, by all accounts an accomplished Leader, yet lacking Political Experience, will be able to Establish Discipline in the Chaos that Follows the Tweetster like a Burlesque Theater Company with Trailerfuls  of Baggy Pants, Feathered Boas, and Rhinestone Pasties. Stay tuned!

 

This week’s wine tasting

Finnriver Apple Abbey Belgian-inspired Craft Cider     Washington   $11
A silky, full-bodied cider. Lingering apple sweetness with tropical aromas of ripe banana and hints of pepper and clove spice. Nutty, bread-like finish.

Emmolo Sauvignon Blanc ’16   Napa      $18
Aromas of honeydew melon, cashews, apple, which continue on the crisp palate with notes of nougat, tangerine, and peach, with good minerality on the finish.

Perazzeta Sara Rosato ’15     Italy     $14
From the same grape as Brunello (sangiovese grosso), this beautiful rosato is rich, bold, and flinty while also crisp, summery, and light.

Cecilia Covolo ’13   Italy    $16
A blend of cab and merlot aged in concrete; lush and mouth-filling, sunny expression of  Cab with engaging aromas of spearmint  and warm cocoa. Palate  of extured black currant fruit, dark chocolate, and a lively acidic core.

Sanguineti Cannonau de Sardegna    ’15     Italy      $12
This cannonau– a Sardinian varietal known elsewhere as grenache– offers dry and dusty aromas and flavors of cherry, pomegranate and plum that leave lingering, crisp, earthy and briny flavors that beg for food.

Ramirana Cab Reserva ’15    Chile    $12
Expressive notes of red and black berries, with notes of black pepper, chocolate, and tobacco. Nicely balanced body, acidity, and tannins, with a pleasing finish.

lummi island wine tasting june 30 ’17

(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)

Bread this week

Whole Wheat Levain – This particular dough is made with levain and bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat. I like to say it has a ‘toothy’ crumb, it has great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. A nice artisan loaf that is a great all around bread – $5/loaf

Pear Buckwheat – the preferment here is a poolish, made with bread flour, a bit of yeast and fermented overnight. Mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat. The addition of toasted walnuts and dried pears soaked in white wine makes for a really flavorful bread – $5/loaf

And for pastry this week…ooh la la)

Chocolate Croissants – Croissants are made by mixing a dough with a bit of sugar and butter and then laminating the dough with even more butter and, in this case, rolling it out and filling with dark chocolate. The end result is a delicious flaky pastry with rich dark chocolate. – 2/$5

 

Reality Check

Despite the Relentless Coverage of Every Tweeted Syllable, Every Tweeting Day in our present Alternative Reality, precious little has been said about the Alternate Alternative Reality we were Hijacked from last November. While lots of Pols emphasize Over and Over that Oh, No, No, No, Monsieur, Russians Did Not Tamper with our Precious Voting in the last election, it has been widely implied but rarely discussed that there was a substantial  Russian effort to discredit Candidate Clinton, and that it was Successful Enough to have turned Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania for Trump.

About a year ago I posted  that I had become Increasingly Puzzled by the Hateful Rhetoric aimed at Hillary Clinton, especially by those who have long professed to be Progressives. Fast forward to what is generally referred to as “Now” here in Liberal Purgatory, and it is as good a time as any to reflect on What Exactly was Wrought under the guise of “Free and Fair” Elections. The required Reading Assignment for this Reflection can be found here on Daily Kos, and raises dozens of questions framed as “Would Hillary Clinton have Done This: (see list).”  The Surprising Takeaway from scrolling down this long list of things we can be Sure she would Not have Done is the Sudden Realization of How Much we have lost as a Nation from the Russian Interference. While scholars may quibble about what behaviors rise to the level of being Presidential, a glance at this list will grab you in the Gut. OMD, you’ll think, how can we all keep pretending This is Normal?

More On Tides

This weekend the moon is at First Quarter. That means it is halfway between New and Full. When the Sun is overhead (aka “Noon”) the Moon is just rising over the Eastern horizon, and the tide is therefore High. This is not because the Sun is overhead. Rather it is because the Moon is just rising in the East, and the Tide is six hours behind the Moon. You could think of the High Tide as a kind of a Wave, or Bulge of Water trying to get to the Moon. Think of the Moon as a Magnet, and the oceans as piles of iron filings, and though the magnet is not nearly strong enough to pull the filings across space, it is strong enough to pull a Ripple of filings behind it.

Tides at the First and Third Quarter are called Neap Tides, when he difference between High and Low tides approaches a monthly minimum. When the Moon is Full or New, Moon and Sun pull along one axis, making for the Month’s Highest High Tides and Lowest Low Tides. Right now, while the Moon is at First Quarter, look for smaller differences between High and Low tides, with High Tides at Noon and Midnight, and Low Tides at morning and evening.

So this is a Takeaway: when the Moon is Full or New, tides are Low at Noon and Midnight, and High at morning and evening. When the Moon is at First or Third Quarter, Tides are High at Noon and Midnight and Low at morning and evening.

 

Dreamtime Update

Dreamtime has been in the water for two months now; didn’t get nearly enough necessary work done at her temporary slip in Bellingham. But it has definitely felt Summery the last week or two, and tomorrow we sail  her out to the Island for the Summer on a secure mooring.

Here’s hoping for an uneventful crossing!

This week’s  wine tasting

Domaine Girard Chardonnay ’14   France $13
Medium- bodied with fleshy notes of fresh-picked apples and pears; no oak, but spends time on the lees to give it richness; clay soils at a higher elevation impart a delightful freshness.

Borsao Rose ’15 Spain $9
Spicy aromas and flavors of ripe red berries, orange, and pungent flowers; nicely concentrated and supple,gaining weight with air, picking up bitter cherry and melon notes and a lingering red fruit liqueur quality.

Spindrift Pinot Noir ’14   Oregon   $16
Aromas of red fruit, cherry, earthy and toasty notes. Big cherry flavors with some oak, sweet tannins, bright acidity and lingering finish.

La Mijane Arpege ’13    France    $14
Oceanic influences  create an alternation of warm sun and cool breezes, which develop complex, original and balanced wines.

Celler Can Blau Can Blau ’14         Spain      91pts    $15
Aromas of ripe black and blue fruit with smoky mineral and licorice notes; Seamless texture, with sweet boysenberry, floral pastille and snappy spiciness. Finishes silky and long, with a sneaky tannic grip.

 

 

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