lummi island wine tasting sept 19 ’20
click on photos for larger images
Saturday Outdoor Wine Tastings By Appointment!
While Covid constrains and good weather continues, we are offering limited Saturday afternoon outdoor wine tastings by appointment for two parties of up to five people each. To minimize overlap between groups we are scheduling the first group for 2:30 and the second at 4:00. Tasting fee is $5 each for a flight of four wines. Social distancing rules will be observed, and hand sanitizer will be provided. See guidelines below.
NOTES:
1.Call early, as the two slots sometimes fill early in the week;
2. Due to the outdoor venue, reservations are weather-dependent. (We are exploring ways to extend our season a bit, we’ll see how that goes…)
Social Distancing Guidelines:
1. Everyone must wear a mask when they are not seated;
2. Groups sharing a table must be a “pod” that regularly share space together, or otherwise take responsibility for managing social distance within their group; and
3. Everyone agrees not to arrive before their appointment begins and to leave before it ends.
To make a reservation, call number next to our logo (above, right).
Wine of the Week: Marietta Old Vine Red
This wine is billed as a sort of a “field blend,” but not exactly. A true field blend is when several varietals are planted in the same vineyard and exposed to the same soil, climate, and water conditions over the same growing season, and can be harvested, crushed, fermented, aged and blended together.
It’s a blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet, Petite Sirah, and Syrah from different vineyards near Geyserville (California) near the north end of the Dry Creek Valley, and “field blend” is a bit of a misnomer. Also, we know nothing about the differences among the vineyards these varietals come from, but whatever we call it, it is a festive and enjoyable wine at a modest price.
Predominantly Zinfandel, this wine combines hand selected fruit from multiple vineyards, resulting in a unique, bright red wine with solid structure. For decades the groundbreaking combination of grape varieties and multiple vintages in this wine has set the bar and blazed the path for red blends all throughout North America.
Marietta Old Vine Red Lot 70: A pleasantly bright and lively red wine, plump with blackberries and black cherries. Secondary notes of wild mint, dusty earth and even a hint of mocha provide an alluring, grounded experience in the glass. Comforting and irresistibly familiar, this is one of the original and best known red blends produced in California; a ‘drink now, enjoy often’ wine that can easily be taken more seriously as the moment demands)
Mar a Lago Update: Forty-five Days
We are now a mere six weeks till the Presidential Election on November 3. The whole world is feeling the tension, because the outcome will have a profound effect on the future of our entire planet. It is a little like how you would feel as the Dark Side’s Death Star goes into orbit around your planet and starts taking aim; like, Everything is On the Line.
Still, these days we welcome comfort whenever we can find it, and there are a few hopeful possibilities in the news despite the constant weight of the Virus, the Fires, the Hurricanes, the Economy, and the incessant Tweetsteria headlining. Here are a few to ponder.
The Problem Solvers Caucus
Since 2017 there has actually been a bipartisan group of 50 (25-25) Congressional Representatives dedicated to working across the aisle to produce workable compromises that will have a chance to push past the many entrenched barriers to compromise that have made legislative collaboration nearly impossible. Two days ago the group placed a compromise Covid Stimulus package before Congress. It is the result of a great deal of the kind of work we expect our legislators to do but which has become rare. Their comprehensive bill is putting a lot of pressure on the rest of their Congressional colleagues, and might therefore have a good chance of passing. That would be a Good Thing.
Securing the Election
Former White House Intelligence Chief Dan Coats just posted an op-ed in the NY Times underlining that the stakes in this election together with the distrust and animosity between the two parties make it an immediate imperative for Congress to implement a robust election oversight system across the country to insure confidence in the validity of the results. As emotions and rhetoric now stand, without such a well-organized and carefully designed nonpartisan oversight process, many will question the results: “We must firmly, unambiguously reassure all Americans that their vote will be counted, that it will matter, that the people’s will expressed through their votes will not be questioned and will be respected and accepted.” Although time is now very short to create that kind of oversight structure, his idea has a great deal of merit.
Um…in full disclosure, some of us have long been convinced that the Republicans have had a built-in fudge factor of about 4% in several states (FL in ’00, OH in ’04, and WI in ’16), and only huge voter turnout let Obama prevail in ’08 and ’12. But then again, some of us ( the hopelessly naive) think gerrymandering, purging of voting rolls, and making voters wait for many hours to vote are criminal acts.
Unrest at the Dept of Justice
Meanwhile, at the DOJ, the recent resignation of long-time federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy seems to be yet another senior staff resignation in protest to Attorney General Barr’s misuse of his office to manipulate investigation findings to be more favorable to Trump’ s (and Barr’s) political desires. This follows numerous other such resignations, including prosecutors working in the Michael Flynn and Roger Stone cases. Because Ms. Dannehy resigned from DOJ (rather than just withdraw from that investigation) “she can warn Congress and the rest of us about what prompted such a dramatic move by a highly regarded career public servant.”
Well, that would be nice, but the deck seems loaded against it. Everybody now knows that Barr is a dedicated co-conspirator who seems increasingly dedicated to putting the power of the Presidency “Above” (but in reality Below)— the Constitution.
lummi island wine tasting sept 12 ’20
click on photos for larger images
Saturday Outdoor Wine Tastings By Appointment!
All of you Regulars know our friend Anne who lives a few hundred yards down the street. In the early days of the wine shop there were more than a few hours when she was our only guest. Many of you also know her daughter Julia who visits periodically from England, and her long-time-ago preppie classmate Jonathan who lives on Cape Cod. They were dimly acquainted back then, “re-met” at a school reunion a few years ago, and are now an established trans-Atlantic “item.” We always look forward to and enjoy their visits, and were pleased to join them on Anne’s flower-rich patio Monday night for wine and catching up.
As can happen these days, conversation centered on politics, and at some point they departed the scene to fetch something. About ten minutes later they came back wearing these Yo! Semite! T-shirts designed and distributed to friends by an iconic schoolmate. You may recognize the featured phrase from recent political news…and sorry, not available in Stores! Fun!
While Covid constrains and good weather continues, we are offering limited Saturday afternoon outdoor wine tastings by appointment for two parties of up to five people each. To minimize overlap between groups we are scheduling the first group for 2:30 and the second at 4:00. Tasting fee is $5 each for a flight of four wines. Social distancing rules will be observed, and hand sanitizer will be provided. See guidelines below.
NOTES:
1. Note that the two slots sometimes fill early in the week;
2. Due to the outdoor venue, reservations are weather-dependent. (We are exploring ways to extend our season a bit, we’ll see how that goes…)
Social Distancing Guidelines:
1. Everyone must wear a mask when they are not seated;
2. Groups sharing a table must be a “pod”of family or close friends that regularly share space together, or otherwise take responsibility for managing social distance within their group; and
3. Everyone agrees not to arrive before their appointment begins and to leave before it ends.
To make a reservation, call number next to our logo (above, right).
Wine of the Week: Pomum Red ’15
For this weekend’s tasting guests we return to an old favorite wine from a favorite Washington winemaker, Javier Alfonso of Pomum Cellars in Woodinville. The wine is his Pomum Red, a compelling blend of cab and cab franc, rounded out with malbec, petite syrah, and merlot. Javier grew up in Spain’s Ribero Del Duero region, and brings his heritage to his winemaking here in Washington. His wines show his preference for highly drinkable wines with rich, evolving, and lingering flavors, silky tannic depth and length, and a Muse that beckons “hey, Amigo, un vaso mas!”
A few years ago (OMD, just realized it has been eight!) Javier and wife Shyla made a surprise visit to the wine shop on a Saturday afternoon, and it was great fun. We remember this now because this weekend we are pouring his Pomum Red, and this vintage (sampling at this very moment!) is really Quite Delightful, with contrasting aromas and flavors of rich nectarine and blackberry fruit and a juicy, lingering finish.
He also has a second label we have carried for some years called Idilico. At the moment we have his Idilico Garnacha on the shelf, and in warmer weather we generally carry his Albarino as well. Both bear the fingerprints of his winemaking style, which generally means “yes, you’re gonna like it!”
Pomum Red ’15 Washington $19
Mostly cab and cab franc with malbec, petite verdot, merlot; aromas of both fresh and leathery red fruit and exotic spices; On the palate shows black cherry, cranberry and garrigue, fine elegant tannins and a long finish.
Dreamtime For Sale
For whatever reasons, the way our lives have gone in the last few years has not provided much support for sailing, and with some ambivalence we have made the difficult decision to put our Montgomery 23, Dreamtime on the market. She is presently moored at Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, probably until the end of Drydock, when she will likely go back on her trailer for the winter behind CityMac in Bellingham.
This is a sweet boat to sail, but there never seems to be the time and commitment actually to get underway. Click on the Dreamtime Pics button at top of page to see more photos.
Only about 20 of these boats were made, all between 1979 and 1984. They have become something of a cult classic in a certain circle, along with their smaller counterparts, the Montgomery 17 and Montgomery 15.
Current asking price has been lowered to $15,500, which includes boat, custom trailer, Honda 9.9 outboard, and 8 ft Westmarine inflatable dinghy (with its ever-handy fold-down wheels!). Call or email for additional information (see logo area, above).
Mar a Lago Update: Economic Extinction
This morning, listening to the News on the radio, we had a hard time getting our heads around the number and extent of active wildfires in Washington, Oregon, and much of California. Huge swaths of forests, grasslands, and meadows have provided explosive fuel under conditions of scorching temperatures, tinder-dry fuel, and high winds. 400,000 acres went up in flames in 24 hours. Even the recently devastated California town of Paradise was revisited by yet another Fire. These fires have come on so suddenly, caused so much damage, and destroyed so much infrastructure so quickly that it is feeling increasingly Apocolyptic. Yet in the midst of it all, the Tweetster doubles down on subsidies for fossil fuel development on the fragile continental shelf and in sensitive wildlife refuges.
A warmer planet increases atmospheric temperatures and kinetic energy in the atmosphere, causing greater evaporation, more rainfall, and more flooding. We saw it last year in the Caribbean, and we saw it last week as first a tropical storm and then a hurricane hit the Gulf Coast in the space of a week.
As these risks increase, insurance rates and lending rates will be driven upward. At some point well before a property becomes physically uninhabitable, it will have already become economically uninhabitable as both buyers and lenders grow less and less willing to invest in it. Let’s face it; there is no undeveloped habitable place where 7 billion people can all go to find food, water, and shelter. The only sensible thing for us humans to do is to pull the emergency brake on our destructive habits.
lummi island wine tasting sept 5 ’20
click on photos for larger images
Saturday Outdoor Wine Tastings By Appointment!
While Covid and good weather continue, we are offering limited Saturday afternoon outdoor wine tastings by appointment for two parties of up to five people each. To minimize overlap between groups we are scheduling the first group for 2:30 and the second at 4:00. Tasting fee is $5 each for a flight of four wines. Social distancing rules will be observed, and hand sanitizer will be provided. See guidelines below.
NOTES:
1. Note that the two slots sometimes fill early in the week;
2. Due to the outdoor venue, reservations are weather-dependent. (We are exploring ways to extend our season a bit, we’ll see how that goes…)
Social Distancing Guidelines
1. Everyone must wear a mask when they are not seated;
2. Groups sharing a table must be a “pod”of family or close friends that regularly share space together, or otherwise take responsibility for managing social distance within their group; and
3. Everyone agrees not to arrive before their appointment begins and to leave before it ends.
To make a reservation, call number next to our logo (above, right).
Drydock Wine Supplies
We have been stocking up our wine shelves a bit for Annual Drydock, which we all know means passenger traffic only from Sept 12 – Oct 3. Even when we are NOT in a Pandemic most of us old-timers try to avoid the close quarters on the passenger ferry and hole up here on The Rock till the car ferry returns, all spiffed up and ready to serve yet another year. So this year it should be Very Quiet around here, except for the occasional strange chugging, coughing, pinging sounds from the “Island Cars” that come into service while the Real Car in on the mainland in case you need to go to town for some reason.
In preparation for the inevitable Claustrophobic binging needs that Drydock evokes (each week it gets a little worse) we have stocked up on popular favorite wines and added a few new ones that presented just too good a deal to pass up. See our current list on the “Order Wine” tab at the top of this page.
When you have made selections, you can submit an order as follows:
- Send an email with the names and quantities of each wine you would like to order;
- Phone: call us at the number next to our logo, above right, and leave a message.
- Appointment: If you would prefer to shop in person, call to make an appointment. You bring a mask, we will provide hand sanitizer, and sorry, no more than two visitors in the shop at a time.
It’s that Simple!
Dreamtime For Sale
For whatever reasons, the way our lives have gone in the last few years has not provided much support for sailing, and with some ambivalence we have made the difficult decision to put our Montgomery 23, Dreamtime on the market. She is presently moored at Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, probably until the end of Drydock, when she will likely go back on her trailer for the winter behind CityMac in Bellingham.
This is a sweet boat to sail, but there never seems to be the time and commitment actually to get underway. Click on the Dreamtime Pics button at top of page to see more photos.
Only about 20 of these boats were made, all between 1979 and 1984. They have become something of a cult classic along with their smaller counterparts, the Montgomery 17 and Montgomery 15.
Current asking price has been lowered to $16,000, which includes boat, custom trailer, Honda 9.9 outboard, and 8 ft Westmarine inflatable dinghy (with it ever-handy fold-down wheels!). Call or email for additional information (see logo area, above).
Mar a Lago Update: On Dignity
A friend recently loaned us his copy of the recent New York Review of Books to read this article by Joseph O’Neill, in which he reviews at some length Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country, a new book by well-known Washington Post journalist E.J. Dionne.
O’Neill begins with this: Somewhat unexpectedly, ensuring the success of the Democratic Party has become the most important political project in the world…(U.S.) leadership is essential if the climate crisis and other world-historical dangers are to be overcome. This can happen only if Democrats dominate the national government for the best part of the next ten years (because)…the contemporary Republican Party is (according to Noam Chomsky) “the most dangerous organization in human history.”
Thus ensues a detailed summary of Dionne’s arguments in support of these ideas, beginning with the catastrophic confluence of the irresponsible hubris of Trumpian Republicanism with the Perfect Storm of the global Covid pandemic, Global Warming, accelerating species extinctions, desertification, sea level rise, the increasing uninhabitability of large portions of the Earth due to flooding, heat, and increasingly destructive storm winds; the ever-increasing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands while the human population grows exponentially beyond what the planet can sustain; and the ongoing physical violence against and economic disenfranchisement of entire subgroups of our fellow citizens solely from self-serving habits of prejudice.
Because it has become increasingly clear over the past four years that Republicans are All In with Denying that any of these things exist or matter, Dionne’s working Hypothesis is that the only way Life as we Know It can be saved is with the leadership and example of the United States, the only country in the world that can (or could at one time) organize and lead such an effort. The key to such a major shift in American politics, says Dionne, is a new kind of Democratic Party, in which the petty squabbles among the Myriad Interests (after all, Democrats are by default Everyone who is Not a Republican) can be put aside in recognition of and commitment to a broadly defined concept of Dignity.
By this he means a broad philosophical commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” The concept links issues of justice; recognition; the distributional effects of taxation, economic, and environmental policy; workers’ rights; and equal opportunities. In short, Dignity seems to focus what we usually think of as Equality from the more abstract to more measurable kinds of outcomes. An interesting idea…
lummi island wine tasting august 28 ’20
click on photos for larger images
Saturday Outdoor Wine Tastings By Appointment!
We have tidied up the wine shop entrance area to accommodate limited Saturday afternoon outdoor wine tasting appointments for two parties of up to four people each. To minimize overlap between groups we are scheduling the first group for 2:30 and the second at 4:00. Tasting fee is $5 each for a flight of four wines. Social distancing rules will be observed, and hand sanitizer will be provided. See guidelines below.
NOTES:
1. The two slots sometimes fill early in the week;
2. Due to the outdoor venue, reservations are weather-dependent. (We are exploring ways to extend our season a bit, we’ll see how that goes…)
Social Distancing Guidelines
1. Everyone must wear a mask when they are not seated;
2. Groups sharing a table must be a “pod”of family or close friends that regularly share space together, or otherwise take responsibility for managing social distance within their group; and
3. Everyone agrees not to arrive before their appointment begins and to leave before it ends.
To make a reservation, call number next to our logo (above, right).
Stocking Up for Drydock
We are now two weeks away from annual Drydock for our trusty Whatcom Chief. As usual there will be a passenger-only boat making regular runs across Hales Passage from Sept 12 – Oct 3. And due to the risks of Covid transmission in the close quarters of the passenger cabin, it is likely that many of us will not venture off the island at all during this year’s Drydock.
Therefore we want to alert you to check if your wine inventories might need a little padding to get you through. We will be stocking up a bit as well, hopefully enough to assure that No One will have to go Without Wine (OMD, the Horror!).
Use the Order Wine link above, or call, or email any orders!
We have been stocking up a bit for Annual Ferry Drydock which will run for three weeks beginning Sept 12. We all know the close quarters on the passenger ferry, so chances are most of us Old-timers will try to hole up here on the island till the car ferry returns in early October. We have stocked up on popular favorite wines and added a few new wines that presented just too good a deal to pass up. See the current list on the “Order Wine” tab at the top of this page.
When you have made selections, you can submit an order as follows:
- Send an email with the names and quantities of each wine you would like to order;
- Phone: call us at the number next to our logo, above right, and leave a message.
- Appointment: If you would prefer to shop in person, call to make an appointment. You bring a mask, we will provide hand sanitizer, and sorry, no more than two visitors in the shop at a time.
It’s that Simple!
Dreamtime For Sale
For whatever reasons, the way our lives have gone in the last few years has not provided much support for much sailing, and with some ambivalence we have made the difficult decision to put our Montgomery 23, Dreamtime , on the market. She is presently moored at Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, probably until the end of Drydock, when she will likely go back on her trailer for the winter behind CityMac in Bellingham.
We confess some ambivalence about this decision. This is a sweet boat to sail, but there never seems to be the time and commitment actually to get underway. Click on the Dreamtime Links button at top of page to see more photos.
Only about 20 of these boats were made, all between 1979 and 1984. They have become something of a cult classic along with their smaller counterparts, the Montgomery 17 and Montgomery 15.
As of today (8/27) asking price has been lowered to $16,000. Call for additional information.
Mar a Lago Update: Authoritarians and Hungry Ghosts
Today’s interview with Nixon White House Counsel John Dean on Democracy Now! focused on the release of his new book ,Authorian Nightmare, with co-author Bob Altemeyer, a psychology professor with long experience studying the subject. In a way the book follows the theme of Dean’s earlier book a decade ago, Conservatives Without Conscience, which explored the increasing domination of the Republican Party by authoritarian personalities, both leaders and followers.
Authoritarianism is Scary Stuff. You can get a feel for it in this video clip from the classic 1972 film Cabaret. The scene chillingly captures the authoritarian fervor of the Nazi Youth movement in Germany in the early 1930’s. It is not unlike the MAGA movement of today’s Trump supporters, who cheer whenever he denigrates or punishes Blacks, Immigrants,Women, Democrats, long-time European allies, Reporters…everyone and anyone who dares to criticize him or hesitates to do his bidding.
Before our eyes, Trump (like all of us) is acting out his inner psychology with every word and action, and these words and actions tell the story behind the story. All of his actions point to a person (as his niece suggests in her book) who, like his siblings, experienced enough neglect and abuse as an infant and very young child as to deeply imbue two Unconscious Core Beliefs that have shaped his entire life. First: No One is Ever Really Going to Be There for Me. Second, by inference; There must be Something Terribly Wrong with Me. Thus has ensued a lifetime of his particular Dumb Cycle (we all have our own):
Seeks Approval by getting Attention –> Can’t absorb Nourishment from resultant Attention –> Seeks Approval by getting Attention –> etc.
While it may be a bit of a stretch, this feeling is curiously well-illustrated in the first 1:25 of this song from Superstar, which can easily be taken as a narcissistic lament from a Hungry Ghost. It is a metaphor for all of us who yearn for something so deeply that there is not enough of it in the Universe to fulfill our hunger. Trump seems more like a Hungry Ghost than a Dark Lord. But that doesn’t mean the Dark Lords (those who choreographed the Republican “convention,” four nights of Outright Lies) do not find him Useful. On the contrary, it is entirely likely They are using Him to their own self-serving ends. As the old saying goes, “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the Flag and carrying a Cross.”
Certainly there is one unmistakable takeaway from the recent Conventions: the Democrats are all about Unification and Inclusion, while the Republicans are all about Division and Exclusion. The Democrats appeal to our Better Angels, and the Republicans to our Worst. What the World needs right now is a global commitment to save our planet from the damage we humans have already caused. The Right has made it clear they would rather end all life on the planet than give up the short-term gains from undiminished fossil fuel use. Their attitude is remarkably well portrayed by the image of Hunter S. Thompson as described in this interview with (we’re not making this up!) Johnny Depp.
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