lummi island wine tasting sept 1-2 ’23
Hours this weekend: Friday & Saturday, September 1-2, 4-6 pm
This week’s wine tasting:
J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux Rose France $16
A longtime favorite here at AWG–Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Pinot Noir; shows a gentle yeastiness, effusive effervescence and rich, tangy, mouth-filling fruit. Makes just about anything Festive!
Montinore Borealis White Oregon $13
Aromas of orange blossom, honeydew, guava and kiwi; sumptuous flavors of stone fruit, Meyer lemon and juicy pear drizzled with caramel.
Chapoutier – Cotes-du-Rhone Belleruche Rouge ’21
Intense black currant and raspberry notes with hints of white pepper; juicy, lovely palate with silky, delicate tannins; good pairing for grilled meats, pizza, pasta, and and (someone says) especially lamb ragu!
El Nido Clio ’19 Spain $45
70% monastrell, 30% cabernet sauvignon; glass-coating opaque purple with an expressive nose of pain grille, underbrush, brier, mineral, blueberry, and blackberry fruit leading to a plush, opulent wine with great density, savory flavors, and a lengthy finish.
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Breton – Incorporates the flavors of the french Brittany region. Bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat and rye make for interesting flavor and the salt is sel gris -the grey salt from the region that brings more mineral flavors to this bread. Goes great with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
Four Seed Buttermilk – Includes all the elements of whole wheat, adding cracked wheat and bran in to the bread flour instead of milling whole wheat berries. It also has buttermilk and oil for a tender bread and a little tang, and finished with a bit of honey and sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds and toasted millet $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 (wait there’s more!) topped with a chocolate glaze before baking! – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: El Nido Clio ’20 Spain $45
Though we have had a few of these stashed in the cellar for some years, we rarely let ourselves drink one…it’s that…um...covetable.! It used to be very hard to get because of the high demand and low production. But on occasional nostalgic whim we order some, and this week it happened again, so you can all get to taste it this weekend!
Clio is a blend of 70% monastrell (known as mourvedre in France) and 30% cab sauv. Monastrell, a somewhat demanding grape to cultivate, has been developed to a high standard in the Murcia wine region in recent years. At the same time international demand for wine has also led to widespread planting of cabernet sauvignon in many parts of Spain, where it has thrived and developed its own Spanish footprint, which this wine showcases very well. Lucky for us…come on by and try it!
Economics of the Heart: Climate and Local Infrastructure
Whew…after having been a bit over-focused on our local ferry financing for the last eight months or so, we are finally coming up for some much-needed air. During these months we have said relatively little about the relationship of our ferry issues to climate change; but actually it is a fairly central issue which these days most communities, including ours, increasingly find themselves forced to consider in most infrastructure investments.
A look at Google Maps makes it clear that the Gooseberry Pt. ferry landing is at the end of a peninsula on the mainland, about a mile, ten-minute passage from the Lummi Island landing. The east side of the peninsula extends into the southern estuary of the Nooksack River, while the west side of the peninsula forms Lummi Bay bordering the northern estuary.
Geologically speaking, the Gooseberry Pt. peninsula is also a sort of island, connected by a natural low bridge to the mainland which allows vehicle traffic most of the time. However, periodic flooding, super-high tides caused by combinations of high winds and full and new moon tides periodically cause road flooding that prevents vehicle traffic between the mainland and the G. Pt ferry dock.
Since these flooding episodes are expected to become more frequent and last longer over the next several decades, we should expect more frequent periods of days or even weeks when ferry service might require 8-mile trips to Bellingham, sharply diminishing the number of vehicles carried and the weather conditions under which service would even be possible.
For the foreseeable future, every public finance activity in every community is going to be increasingly impacted by climate change, with most of the financial burden falling on local, county, and state governments where most local infrastructure is built, operated, and maintained. These include roads and bridges, public transportation (ferries, buses, and trains), water supply, sewage treatment, and fire and emergency services. In recent years– and this year in particular so far– we have seen across the world atmospheric and ocean temperatures reach and maintain levels rarely seen by humans. As a friend memorably observed, “things are getting worse faster than we’re getting older!”
So not only are we hubris-driven human beings seeing damage getting worse and worse and the bills getting larger and more frequent from the accelerating climate impacts WE have wrought; we will also be bearing the ever-increasing expenses of rebuilding after each devastating hurricane, tidal surge, tornado, flood, heat wave, deluge, drought, and population displacement.
In earlier posts we have coined the term “economic uninhabitability” to describe the increasing number of geographic locations where changing local and regional climates are becoming too expensive to allow sustainable habitation or the large scale post-disaster reinvestment for their current populations. The emerging economic reality at many points on the Earth’s surface is that for at least the next several decades (assuming we work hard to turn the tide) it is becoming a fool’s errand to rebuild after a climate disaster without a solid likelihood the new structures will survive the increasing risks of record floods, fires, and high winds.
Many historically habitable subregions of the planet are becoming incapable of sustaining the local population in some places. In others rival communities must compete for increasingly scarce resources even to maintain the most basic subsistence. Such conditions are potential incubators of various forms of genocide, isolationism, and authoritarian minority rule. Dystopian conditions that were once the fictional hyperbole of post-apocalyptic sci-fit are now looming realities across the planet, and dire ones in the Third World.
Maintaining sustainable habitability in this era of rapid climate change will require a global commitment to preserving the ability of our planet to sustain cultivable land, adequate water, a livable climate, and a sustainable population.
We can all now see clearly that we have been both clever enough to survive and reproduce like rabbits for tens of thousands of years, and stupid enough to disrupt planetary cycles in ways that now pose an existential threat to the ability of our planet to continue to support life at all.
Maybe this is an appropriate time to ask ourselves as a species whether all the profits made by all the fossil fuel companies over the last century or so should be considered Social Benefits or Social Costs…
lummi island wine tasting aug 25-26 ’23
Hours this weekend: Friday & Saturday, August 25-26, 4-6 pm
This week’s wine tasting:
Lyrarakis Plyto Psarades ’21 Crete $20
This is a very old grape varietal saved from extinction when planted in the Lyrarakis Psarades vineyard at 480m elevation. It makes a lively, fresh, citric wine with bright, mineral-streaked lemon fruit; subtle, complex, and pleasing texture; unique freshness; and a lovely, complex, crystalline purity.
Chateau de Montfaucon Lirac Rose’ 21 France $18
Fine, translucent ruby in color, and aged mainly in concrete tanks, it offers up attractive floral aromas, hints of crushed stones, strawberries, cherries and a hint of lime.
Argento Malbec ’20 Argentina $12
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.
Sea Sun Pinot Noir ’21 California $19
A deep, alluring pinot, strikingly soft and rich on both the nose and palate, with scents of baked cherries and pie crust, and silky notes of brown spice and vanilla.
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Black Pepper Walnut- made with a nice mix of flours, bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this bread great flavor with just a bit of peppery bite to it. Works well with all sorts of meats and cheese- $5/loaf
Four Seed Buttermilk – Includes all the elements of whole wheat, adding cracked wheat and bran in to the bread flour instead of milling whole wheat berries. It also has buttermilk and oil for a tender bread and a little tang, and finished with a bit of honey and sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds and toasted millet $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
To get on the bread order list, click the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Lyrarakis Plyto Psarades ’21 Crete $20
The varietal’s name derives from the laurel (bay leaf) plant, which is called “Dáfni” in Greek, as the wine shows distinctive herbal nuances, a clean and refreshing mouthfeel, and a clean, lingering, aromatic aftertaste. Its unique characteristics offer great food-pairing versatility, pairing very well with almost anything served outdoors in the summer.
Our take is that this lovely white wine is unique in its “palate palette,” with complex, enjoyable nuances that are unique to this rare and unusual grape.
Economics of the Heart: More Democratic Than Voting…?
A recent essay in the NY Times argues quite convincingly that “free and fair” elections as currently practiced in the United States produce significantly worse results than if offices were filled by a raffle among qualified candidates. The most familiar example of that practice is the selection of jurors from a pool of randomly selected citizens. In addition, numerous psych experiments have demonstrated that lottery-selected public officials take more personal responsibility for the results of their actions, and as a result try harder to deliver benefits for the whole electoral community, not just their party constituents, donors, and political allies…what we might call “the usual cronyism.” Not to mention the predictable gang of narcissists, psychopaths, and everyday egotists who crave public attention.
The ancient Greeks used such a method, called“sortition,” in which a lottery was taken by qualified candidates who had passed an examination of their capacity to understand and exercise their duties consistent with the rules and values of the community. Of particular interest in this discussion is what research has revealed about the comparative personalities and resultant capacity for public service demonstrated by people who actively campaigned among the public for their votes vs. those who were selected by raffle. To paraphrase Woody Allen, “I would never want to vote for the kind of person who would campaign for office.”
As children of the fifties and sixties we old-timers were taught that the United States represented a kind of ideal democratic system, and we have all felt very fortunate to enjoy its benefits, serve in its military, and take part in civic affairs. However, since about 1980 there has been a national slide away from “one person, one vote” to “one dollar, one vote” that has pushed the poorest into homelessness, the struggling into poverty, and the middle classes into varying levels of economic struggle. And, of course, the Citizens United case.
In recent decades Republicans have courted the prejudices of white evangelical Christians by establishing oppressive restrictions on women’s rights, courted corporate donors by denying the threat of climate change, and turned national media and the internet into propaganda generators of “alternative facts” that have successfully convinced millions of Americans that up is down, dark is light, and bad is good.
We watched Reagan throw the poor and insane out on the street and open the door for unrestricted media lying on talk radio and Fox News. We saw Gingrich declare war on Congressional comity by openly insulting Democrats and orienting the Republican Party toward obstructionism, brinkmanship, and harassment of Democratic colleagues. And we have watched Republican legislatures use outrageous gerrymandering, restrictive barriers to voting, a concerted attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election, and an ongoing policy of having no policy except expecting to stay in power by the sheer volume and theatrical excess of their official proceedings.
So…at this point in time it is undeniable that our system is officially broken. And it will likely stay broken as long as Red States are permitted to make it harder for their opponents to get to vote or have their votes counted, and wealthy corporations and individuals are able to buy political and judicial influence with “campaign donations” or “free vacations.”
So sure, bring on the competency tests and the raffles, and do away with elections! Although, if one were really skeptical, one might wonder, “um…tell me again exactly how these raffles will be supervised..?.”
lummi island wine tasting aug 18-19 ’23
Hours this weekend: Friday & Saturday, August 18-19, 4-6 pm
This week’s wine tasting:
Abacela Albarino ’22 Washington $22
Bright fruit with aromas of pineapple, pear, lemon and nectarine, crisp acidity,and juicy stone and tropical fruit flavors.
Cala Civetta Sangiovese di Toscana ’21 Italy $13
Earthy nose of red plum accompanies a vibrant yet mildly tannic palate of tart cherry with a hint of smoke and ocean brine – a true expression of Scansano, nestled halfway between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Mt. Amiata.
Toso Reserve Malbec ’18 Argentina $21
Elegant and balanced with good concentration and ripeness; focused, clean notes of blackberry, plum, and ripe, dark cherries; a plush, elegant mouthfeel, easy tannins, and lingering notes of leather and Spring soil.
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Buckwheat Rye – Fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for several hours without any yeast in a method known as an autolyse to start the fermenting process and really gets the enzymes going before the final mix – which is then fermented overnight in the refrigerator. The buckwheat, rye soaker is mixed with bread flour, salt and yeast and a bit of honey.– $5/loaf
Whole Grain Spelt Sweet Levain – Made with a levain preferment of freshly milled whole wheat and whole spelt before mixing with bread flour along with dried apricots, golden raisins, slivered almonds, and sunflower and flax seeds. Chock full of flavor!
and pastry this week…
Chocolate Babka Rolls – A sweet pastry dough full of eggs, butter and sugar, rolled and spread with a chocolate filling, rolled up and cut into individual rolls that are placed in baking forms for baking and then brushed with sugar syrup after baking. 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Abacela Albarino ’22 Washington $22
Abacela founder Earl Jones wanted grow Spanish wine varietals in the Pacific Northwest, after his comprehensive research taught him that the the climate in Spain where tempranillo thrives couldn’t be matched in California. Tempranillo vines need a hot growing season between mid-April and October, but cool nights and little rain before harvest in late October, and before the first frost.
His comprehensive research led him to plant Tempranillo (1995) and Albariño (2000) grapes at his Fault Line Vineyards near Roseburg, OR, chosen for its specific micro-climate and soils proving that the varietals can thrive in the Pacific Northwest. Since then, the vineyards have expanded to 25 acres of tempranillo and 12 acres devoted to albariño, along with other site/climate-matched varietals including grenache, malbec, and syrah.
Currently Abecela produces about 2,000 cases of albariño each vintage. It makes a bright, lively, and flavorful white wine with typical aromas and flavors of apple, pear, and white peach, with bright acidity and a pleasant salinity that spreads out the finish: a great summer sipper with lots of afternoon dishes.
Economics of the Heart: Fascism Comes to America
The past 100 years of human history have shown us the pros and cons of various socio-political systems. Much of the last century was a transition from monarchy to various forms of “elected” government. After all, any social system requires a set of rules that its members are either content to follow (or are forced to follow) in the interest of meeting the population’s needs. In our own nation there has been an ongoing philosophical division between Republican support for the business/finance interests of the wealthy, and Democratic support for the interests of everyone else.
In the past decade or two we have seen increasing conflict of values about what is important or not, what is fair or foul, true or false, right or wrong, cruel or just, legal or illegal, deserving or undeserving, noble or corrupt, worthy or unworthy. We have seen our two-party political landscape morph from reasoned argument to entitled assertion, from structured discussion to infantile rant, from conducting the people’s business to keeping the people’s business from being conducted. All of these things are brought even more starkly into relief by the fascisization of Republican politics and the resultant multiple criminal charges against the Tweetster, who meets or exceeds all the qualifications for a Fascist leader.
Every Fascist leader of the last century built around themselves a cult of personality, and this is not lost on fascism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat who gives Mussolini credit for creating the mold: “Mussolini would strip his shirt off in newsreels, engaging cheering fans in idolizing their leader.” link
“The primary way the early fascists got to power was by killing off and intimidating their primary rivals, the Socialists, with their own “Squadrists” — terrorists who would descend upon towns in trucks, uniformed in black shirts — had knives and they killed thousands of people in the years 1919 to 1922. The killing went on after Mussolini became prime minister…landowners and businessmen in particular supported the suppression of socialism.” link
Today in our own country and around the world we see an increasing number of world leaders that bear these Fascist characteristics —the hyper-nationalism, the leader cult, the undermining of the independence of the judiciary. And it is happening right here, right now in our own country. Today’s Republican Party has no platform other than Trumpism and limiting the rights of women, immigrants, and people of color, while bowing to the wishes of Corporations and billionaires.
Pretty existential stuff…
lummi island wine tasting aug 11-12 ’23
Hours this weekend: Friday & Saturday, August 11-12, 4-6 pm
stork nest outside our window in Haro, Spain, 2013
This week’s wine tasting:
Maryhill Viognier Washington $14
Carefully picked and slowly pressed to extract vibrant aromas of melon, pear, and apricot with traces of pineapple and grapefruit, continuing into a sensational and crisp fruit finish.
Chateau Cabirau Cotes de Rousillon ’19 $17
The backbone of the Syrah and Carignan ally perfectly with the opulent Grenache, giving a medium-bodied wine of intense black fruit flavors, redolent of mountain herbs.
Muga Anden Estacion Rioja Crianza ’19 Spain $21
Tempranillo/Garnacha blend matured in French and European barrels for 14 months, making for a floral, juicy, open and approachable rioja. read more
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Pain Meunier -aka “Miller’s Bread”— made with pre-fermented dough it contains all portions of the wheat berry: flour, fresh milled whole wheat, cracked wheat and wheat germ, always a favorite and a great all around bread. It makes the best toast! – $5/loaf
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, 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
and pastry this week…
Black Sesame & Candied Lemon Brioche: A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with fresh lemon zest and candied lemon and as if that weren’t enough, topped with a black sesame streusel before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like…–? 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Muga El Andén de la Estación Crianza ’19 Spain $21
same stork nest in Haro
Pied de cuve is a technique used by winemakers to develop a local wild yeast indigenous to a particular vineyard to ferment wines made from that vineyard’s grapes. Muga uses this process int the fermentation of this week’s featured wine. The process begins by picking a small amount of grapes shortly before the full harvest which are crushed and allowed to start fermenting from the native yeasts already present on the grapes. This culture is then added to the rest of the grapes when they are picked to initiate fermentation. In organic and biodynamic viniculture, it is part of the local conditions that define every vineyard…its terroir.
We visited the winery at Muga some years ago. Unfortunately, we also had some kind of bug that forced us to cancel several other winery visits we had scheduled. So we laid low, took some short walks through Haro’s narrow streets, and…during our convalescence we were entertained by the stork pair that were nesting on a rooftop directly across the narrow street from our little second-floor apartment. Curiously, despite being under the weather, our memories are fond ones. Haro is a small community, in a pretty arid landscape surrounded by vineyards, with good food, charming and friendly people, and a surprising number of rooftop stork nests. What more could you want??
By the way, just tasted this lovely Rioja for the first time about an hour ago…it is big, luscious, nuanced, and powerful, from new vineyards acquired and developed by Muga over recent decades. Seriously tasty!
Economics of the Heart: Climate Crisis Deepens
photo courtesy NOAA/NWS
We have known for nearly 50 years that burning fossil fuels was a Faustian bargain. Early models in the 70’s were remarkably accurate in predicting how increasing concentrations of CO2 and other hydrocarbons produced by the combustion of fossil fuels would affect global climate. As models and data got better, our predictions got better; and as our predictions got better, giant energy companies found ways to subvert any attempts to decrease the rapidly growing production and use of the gas, oil, and coal that were adding heat to the atmosphere and more wealth to people who already had plenty.
A warmer atmosphere does all of the things that heat does on a bigger and bigger scale each year. Increasing evaporation of oceans, rivers, and lakes takes more water into the atmosphere and moves it to a cooler latitude, and releases it as rain. The increasing heat in the atmosphere also creates higher winds with more kinetic energy and increasingly destructive winds, rainfall, catastrophic flooding in some places, and stifling drought in others.
Every living thing is threatened by these changes. Entire ecosystems that had slowly developed symbiosis among the life forms around them and thrived for millennia are now threatened. And we humans, we who are causing all this stress and destruction, keep acting as though it’s no big deal, someone will find some way to adapt.
Over the last week or two I have found myself picturing Q, the cynical-yet-God-like-powered character from the Star Trek series, looking down his nose at us deceptive and self-serving human beings and observing with a cynical sneer, “Well, now, isn’t that Convenient for you!” as Corporate Mindlessness rationalizes the continued destruction of the living systems upon which all life depends.
Many places in the world have already experienced devastating climate-related disasters, and this summer has been a particularly sobering Slap in the Face to our short-sighted selfishness. For some reason, yesterday’s sudden, catastrophic, and heartbreaking wind-driven fire-storm in Lahaina, is particularly shocking: so fast, so brutal, so complete, a worst nightmare in a place we all think of as a paradise.
We swear and sob at these things that are happening more and more frequently, with worse and worse destruction, in more and more places. The fires and floods and winds are getting worse and worse, and the prospects of rebuilding are becoming less and less rational in more and more places. The ice is melting rapidly at both poles. People in Arizona can only leave their air-conditioned homes between sunset and sunrise.
Given the human penchant to revert to feudal/authoritarian political economies under enough stress, the rapidly increasing costs of climate disasters, within our nation and across the world, are made even more poignantly disturbing.
2072 Granger Way