lummi island wine tasting aug 24 ’18
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread Friday this week
Cinnamon Raisin – Made with a nice mix of bread flour, freshly milled whole wheat, and rolled oats. Some honey for sweetness, a little milk for a tender crumb and loaded with raisins and a healthy dose of cinnamon. This is not a rich sweet bread with a swirl of cinnamon sugar, instead the cinnamon is mixed into the dough and flavors the entire bread. It is a hearty rustic loaf. Great for breakfast toast, even better for french toast – $5/loaf
Spelt Levain – Spelt is an ancient grain with a nutty, slightly sweet flavor and has gluten but it isn’t as strong as the gluten in modern wheat. This bread is made with a levain, or sourdough, traditional bread flour and about 1/3 spelt flour, fresh milled whole spelt and fresh milled whole rye. It is a great all around bread – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Gibassiers – A traditional french pastry that incorporates the flavors from the south of France. Made with a delicious sweet dough full of milk, butter, eggs and olive oil. The addition of orange flower water, candied orange peel and anise seed bring great flavor to these pastries. After baking they are brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with more sugar. Ooh La La! – 2/$5
Wine Shop Hours Next Two Weekends
This weekend:
OPEN Friday (8/24) 4-6 and CLOSED Saturday 8/25
Next weekend (Labor Day Artists Studio Tour):
OPEN Friday (8/31) 4-7, Saturday (9/1) 1-6, and Sunday (9/2) 1-5
Studio Tour Artist Preview!
As mentioned a few weeks ago, our Island Quilters are not all that into displaying their work. And while that is very disappointing for those of you who did not get a chance to see their Show, those of us who did should all count ourselves Fortunate to have had this month’s Brief Opportunity to visit with their latest creations for a bit. In any case, the IQ’s have taken down their all-too-short show, but on the positive side have made room for a new Studio Tour artist at the Gallery this year, Kim Obbink, showing her latest series of finely detailed drawings and paintings of island botanical and marine life subjects.
These are multimedia images using mostly watercolor and colored pencils to capture not only the visual details of each subject but also to project its feeling and energy. And as she pointed out while hanging the show, like Audobon’s birds, their beauty is of their husks, the bodies they leave behind. We organic beings are so fleeting.
Some images she painted from microscope viewing, affording intriguing, detailed views of tiny forms we rarely see.
Don’t miss it!
Found Button
Last Friday this very attractive button was found on our floor. Looks like the back is a snap fitting of some kind. As you can see from the highlighted reflections, there is a lovely mother of pearl element. This is a little Treasure that someone is probably missing…and we have it for you!
Mar a Lago Update: Approaching Target Acquisition
The Tweetster’s “Witch Hunters” have shown Great Discipline. Like our favorite winemakers, half Geek and half Aritst, they have followed the Money; they have Unraveled the Lies; they have Deconstructed the Tweets. Coach Manafort and Manager Cohen have been tracked, trapped, and sent to the Penalty Box. The Tweetster and Staff are headed into the last of the Eighth with a Tied Score, the opposing team at bat, nobody out, opposing runners on First and Third, and half their starting team thrown out of the game. The fans are all standing.
Probably the next Strategy will be somehow to make it necessary to Call the Game due to Rain. Everyone will be issued a Rain Check to gain admission to a Future Game of their choice, you know, if there ever is one. What could be More Fair than that?
There was perhaps a brief period, through ought-Sixteen and -Seventeen, when it seemed Inevitable that the accumulated Lies, Scandals, and Incompetences would soon be the Final Downfall of the Tweetster’s so-called Government. But we have seen repeatedly that the Reasoning faculties of the Forty Percent who support him No Matter What and the political exigencies of Republican Leaders who pander to him because he keeps delivering that 40% predispose them to remain in Denial about the Existential Danger they and Our Country are in. Like Alfie, their ongoing koan is “what’s it all about…?…Is just for the moment with you..? What’s it All about…is it wrong to take More than you Give…?”
Which is a pretty good summary of the fundamental Existential Question of our Time, something of a litmus test for identifying Party loyalty.
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 4229 as of 8/1/18
This week’s wine tasting
Anne Amie Amrita White ’17 Oregon $14
Palate-tickling blend of riesling, pinot blanc, muller thurgau, viognier, gewurz’, and chardonnay; and ; aromas of elderflower, starfruit, Rainier cherry, and lemon; palate of white strawberry, kumquat, golden raspberry and St. Germain, and pairs nicely with Asian spices.
Sable de Camargue Rosé Gris ’17 France $15
70% Grenache Gris, 20% Grenache Noir, 10% Syrah; taste sea and sand from the Camargue in this lovely, fresh rosé that has a nose of fresh-picked strawberries and cherries with hints of maritime air and a clean and simple finish.
Domaine La Croix Belle Caringole ’14 France $10
Syrah, Carignan and Merlot blend from Languedoc’s Cotes de Thongue region; fresh and supple with flavors of cherry, and black olive, and herbs.
Monte Tondo Valpolicella ’16 Italy $15
The grapes are dried for about a month in a well ventilated “fruttai” before pressing, and ultimately aged for five months in oak. Not a frivolous wine, it packs loads of sour black cherry aromas, spices, violets, and rosves.
Kerloo GSM Majestic ’15 Washington $24
Aromas of leather, black cherries, plums, black pepper, and earth. On the palate smooth and silky with bright, spicy-salty red cherry notes, dusty roses, tobacco, light baking spices, and wet stones.
lummi island wine tasting aug 17 ’18
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread Friday this week
Barley, Whole Wheat, & Rye Levain – A levain bread where the sourdough culture is built over several days and allowed to ferment before the final dough is mixed. Made with bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat, barley and rye flours. A hearty whole grain bread that is a great all around bread – $5/loaf
Buttermilk Currant – A really flavorful loaf made with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. A little honey for sweetness balances the flavor of the whole grain, buttermilk makes for a soft and tender crumb. Then lots of currants and just a little rosemary round out the flavors. This bread makes great toast and even better french toast- $5/loaf
and for 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 as if that wasn’t enough, topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like?! – 2/$5.
Quilt Show
Our habit in recent years has been to display the same show in our gallery for several months at a time. However, our Quilters are more, um, modest, so this weekend will likely be the last weekend of the show. Our artist for Fall Studio Tour on Labor Day Weekend (Sep 1-3) will be Kim Obbink showing a selection of her very detailed botanical drawings. Meanwhile, here are some more photos from the Quilt Show…if you haven’t had a chance to stop by, it is worth making the effort! (click on photos to enlarge!)
Vinho Verde 101
As our dear Portuguese-fluent friend Myra taught us years ago, the correct way to pronounce “vinho verde” (literally ‘green wine’ for its youth, not its color) is “veeng-yo vaird.” We should also note that when she says it, she moves her head and hands in space, painting the words in the air like a Samba. So you know this has to be, you know, Something Special. Which is true.
This little region of Portugal has been making this wine for some 2000 years. It’s in the blood, it’s in the landscape, it’s in the long cultural history of the region. There are some 19,000 individual “vineyards” spread over 51,000 acres. A quick calculation reveals that on average, that’s about 2.6 acres per vineyard. But many of those are even much smaller family vineyards grown on stone walls, fences, and pergolas on whatever land is available.
Located on the Atlantic west coast of the Iberian Peninsula in northern Portugal, the Vinho Verde region resembles the Pacific NW with its lush, green landscape and temperate climate. Grape varietals permitted in vinho verde include Alvarinho, Avesso, Azal, Arinto, Loureiro, and Trajadura, which all grow well in the area. Usually bottled within three to six months after harvest, “green wine” pairs beautifully with summer salads, seafood and Asian cuisine, and is meant to be enjoyed young. Often it shows a light frizzante on the palate; this year’s version is a off-dry with a discernible sweetness that it balanced nicely by mouth-watering acidity.
Mar a Lago Update: Jefferson, Franklin, and the Role of a Free Press
Thomas Jefferson: I am…for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.
Ben Franklin: The press has the power to judge, sentence, and condemn to infamy…the accused is allowed no grand jury to judge the truth of the accusation before it is publicly made, nor is the Name of the Accuser made known to him, nor has he an Opportunity of confronting the Witnesses against him.
The tension here, as described at some length last year by Arthur Milikh, follows from an inherent contradiction in the very concept of a “free press.” On the one hand, as revered by Jefferson, an open press informs public dialogue with facts uncensored by government. On the other hand, as cautioned by Franklin, the uncensored nature of the press invites the excesses of all manner of bias, ax-grinding, character assassination, political motivation, personal hubris, and outright lying– you know, our primitive Chimp instincts we all deal with every day.
Indeed, in some 90% of the world, everybody knows the press is an arm of government, and therefore not to be taken seriously. In our country, while the current role of the press in the Internet Age is ideologically multidimensional, creeping politicization and financialization of Public Information has been moving further and further toward Autocracy and Oligarchy. So the question before us right now is not whether some theoretical Free Press is Good for America, but rather whether the Constant Information Stream that is Drowning us in Noise 24/7 has anything at all to do with our Idealistic Notion of a “Free Press.”
Our gut feeling is that the Tweetster declared War on the press as soon as he became a candidate in 2015. To be more precise, he declared war on any press coverage about Him Personally that wasn’t Flattering and dubbed it Fake News, and there is a recording somewhere of his saying outright that it was his deliberate objective to delegitimize all such comments. On reflection, it may be that his Only Motivation is Global Adulation, so the Tweets, the Appearances, the Meetings are interesting to him NOT for their political impact, but for How Many People Were Watching Him Today, and how he might get More to Watch Tomorrow…
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 4229 in 558 days
This week’s wine tasting
Quinta de Aveleda vinho verde ’17 Portugal $10
Loureiro, Trajadura and Alvarinho blend; apples, lemons and a touch of ripe pear fill the palate. It is an off-dry very young white wine, refreshing and crisp with a mineral aftertaste.
Sable de Camargue Rosé Gris ’17 France $11
70% Grenache Gris, 20% Grenache Noir, 10% Syrah; taste sea and sand from the Camargue in this lovely, fresh rosé that has a nose of fresh-picked strawberries and cherries with hints of maritime air and a clean and simple finish.
La Mijane Arpege ’13 France $14
Grenache/merlot blend; nose of blueberries and chocolate, flavors of black fruits and toast, full on the palate with lingering finish.
Tenuta Rubino Oltreme Susamaniello ’14 Italy $14
Fresh, fragrant notes of cherries, pomegranate, raspberries and hints of ripe plum; fruity, minerally, and round on the palate with soft, pleasant tannins, a versatile and seductive pairing with richer dishes.
Juggernaut Hillside Cabernet ’15 California $20
Huge, rich, and opulent, with complex flavors of chocolate, coffee, blackberries, cassis, mint, and velvety tannins. New French oak adds notes of vanilla and toast; concentrated, rich, and smooth on the palate.
lummi island wine tasting august 10 ’18
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread Friday this week
Cranberry Walnut – Made with a nice mix of bread flour and freshly milled buckwheat and whole wheat flours. Orange juice and olive oil are a unique combination in this bread that add flavor and keep a soft crumb, then loaded up with dried cranberries and toasted walnuts. Makes great toast- $5/loaf
Pain au Levain – Made with a nice mix of bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat and rye flours. After building the sourdough and mixing the final dough it gets a long cool overnight ferment in the refrigerator. This really allows the flavor to develop in this bread. A great all around bread – $5/loaf
For pastry this week…
A baker’s choice surprise! Sometimes inspiration for pastry comes later in the week than the email. Be assured it will be delicious! $5
Montagne d’Alaric
We have spoken before of our attraction to the wines of Chateau La Baronne in the Corbieres region of France, which we visited several years ago on a whim, passing by and knowing nothing about it. We met Andre Lignères, second generation winemaker on the verge of retiring, who poured his wines for us. He talked of the attention they paid to site selection and triage of the grapes. They have been registered with Qualité France for organic viticulture since 2007.
La Baronne makes numerous wines from several properties in the Corbieres region, with its broad vistas, long slopes, and rocky canyons. High pinnacles with the ruins of Cathar castle refuges stand as lonely markers of an entire people exterminated over many decades by opportunistic Papists who probably saw them as economic opportunities more than religious or political threats. As the nastiest of these is often quoted as he ordered the execution of thousands of Cathars at Perpignan over the concerns of his officers about how to tell Cathars from Catholics, “Kill them all and let God sort it out.”
Now hundreds of years later, these lands produce lovely wines. Today’s wine from La Baronne is the 2012 Alaric, a blend of 60% Syrah with 20% each of Mourvèdre and Carignan from vineyards on Montagne d’Alaric, a limestone mass that creates its own microclimate by cooling the air and maintaining optimal acidity and balance in the grapes, grown between 270 – 300 m. Alaric is aged in older neutral oak barrels to keep it unmarked by oak.
Looking for the New Normal
But as Michael Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State pointed out after Brown’s statement, as long as we keep building up the stock of CO2 in the atmosphere by burning things to create energy, we will continue to see more and worse fires, floods, storms, droughts, habitat destruction, species extinctions, food shortages, killing heat waves…you know, pretty much Hell on Earth.
According to a recent report from the Dept. of Commerce, the annualized economic burden from wildfires
is estimated to be between $71.1 billion and $347.8 billion, including annualized costs from $7.6 billion to $62.8 billion, and annualized losses from $63.5 billion to $285.0 billion.And this is just the Beginning…they will continue to increase until many decades or even centuries even if we stopped using fossil fuels tomorrow.
Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution a mere century ago, the average global temperature has risen some 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Most climatologists agree that another mere 0.4 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature, representing a global average atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) of 450 parts per million (ppm), could represent a Tipping Point of No Return. Continued below…
Mar a Lago Update: The Economics of Global Climate Disaster
The above Facts are agreed upon by some 97% of the World’s Scientists (including us), and every other country on the Planet but ours. Some while back we mentioned the alarming comment of environmental journalist David Suzuki at a public appearance here in Bellingham almost ten years ago when asked if we should be worried about Global Warming. His immediate response was, “You should be Shi#*ng Your Pants!,” which roughly translates into an old Zen line, “Awake, Awake, be Mindful in Practice…Time flies like an Arrow, It will Not Wait for you!”
Fast forward to Today, after we have all witnessed across the Globe many consecutive Years of increasing temperatures, worse and more frequent hurricanes, storms, floods, tornadoes, droughts, wildfires, landslides, and heat waves, more and more species at the brink of extinction, increasing food and water scarcity at lower and mid-latitudes, and the expansion of resource-based conflict and upheaval. Yet despite this Overwhelming Evidence, Tweetster and Company continue to recruit converts to their Baseless, Lemming-Leaning Mantra that Global Warming is a Vast Left-wing Conspiracy to take away people’s guns, give their jobs to illegal immigrants, and cripple the US economy with silly environmental regulations.
At some intellectual level we have all known for many years that Propaganda is an effective tool– an Art really– for convincing people that Lies are Truth. But we have tended to think of it as in some other Time and Place, nothing to do with Our Safe American Cocoon. Yet here we are today, with Neo-Nazis marching in our streets, middle-aged White Men wearing T-shirts proclaiming “I’d Rather be Russian Than Democrat,” and Supreme Court nominees who support the concept of the Unitary Executive. We see a wide swath of our population more than willing to surrender their autonomy to a Central Government Authority under the paradoxical auspices of protecting their Freedom from Liberals, Intellectuals, and Immigrants, all of whom seem to them More Threatening than the Comforting Reassurance of Big Brother’s Fake News.
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 4229 in 558 days
This week’s wine tasting
Disruption Chardonnay ’15 Washington $13
Beckons with aromas flavors of apple, pear, and lemon; calcium-rich soil adds complex minerality, and eight months on the lees adds creamy texture and notes of brioche, balanced perfectly with a zing of acidity stitching it all together.
La Croix Belle Caringole Rosé ’14 France $11
Syrah-Grenache blend; intense nose of rose petals and pear-drop candies; palate of alpine strawberries, raspberries, and cranberries, with a citrus accent on the crisp finish.
Popolo di Indie Rosso ’16 Italy $14
55% Nebbiolo, 30% Barbera, 15% Dolcetto; the Barbera brings the acidity and bright fruit, the Nebbiolo brings the tannins and the aromatics, and the Dolcetto brings the softness and rounds out this harmonious blend.
Maryhill Winemaker’s Red ’11 Washington $11
Fruit-forward and smooth with hints of cherry, blueberry and red fruit. Off-dry with fruity notes on the palate accented by cherry and vanilla. Food-friendly and perfect for everyday enjoyment.
La Baronne Alaric ’12 France $27
Made from 120 yr-old Carignan vines (1892); aromas of plum, pepper, toast and spicy oak; palate is smooth, complex, and long on the finish with cask aging of great class (12 months in Taransaud/Darnajou barrels). Organic culture. Ideal with rich meat dishes.
lummi island wine tasting aug 3 ’18
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread Friday this week
Both breads this week use “pre-fermented dough,” aka “old dough.” Historically, bakers would hold some dough back from the daily bake and then add that old dough into the next day bake. Since I don’t bake everyday I make a preferment that incorporates some of the flour, water, yeast and salt, so it is a complete dough by itself.
Sonnenblumenbrot – Otherwise known as Sunflower Seed Bread; made with a pre-fermented dough mixed 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
Pain Meunier – aka “Miller’s Bread;” made with pre-fermented dough including all portions of the wheat berry, plus flour, fresh milled whole wheat, cracked wheat and wheat germ. A consistent favorite – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Fruit & Spice Rolls – About half whole wheat with plenty of butter, sugar and egg for flavor and a tender crumb. Dried cranberries, golden raisins, fresh orange peel and juice plus anise, cinnamon, mace and cardamon. Topped with demerara sugar before baking for that extra bit of sweetness and crunch. An interesting and flavorful bun to have with your morning coffee. – 2/$5
Island Quilters Opening!
Today from 4-7 Pat, Mary, and Myra unveiled their more recent works to a warm and appreciative gathering. Shown at left are a few samples from the showing, which will be on display through August.
Don’t miss it!
Mary Boire, quilt
Pat Hayes, embroidery
Pinotage
There are famous wine grapes, the ones so popular (mostly of French origin) even most Americans have heard of them: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc. Then there are many more with which lots of Americans have some familiarity: cab franc, grenache, mourvedre, sangiovese, pinot noir, viognier, even marsanne or roussanne. Beyond that there are thousands of other varietals we seldom encounter, such as, for example the Slovenian Refosco we poured for you a few weeks ago.
Like politics, to some degree all wine is Local, meaning not only does it come from a specific Place, but also it has probably been coming from that place for a Long Time. Such is the case with a South African varietal that is an everyday wine in South Africa but unfamiliar to most Americans: pinotage. It was created as an experiment in 1925 by crossing pinot noir with cinsault, then known in South Africa at Hermitage. The experiment was forgotten for a number of years, but on a Twist of Fate the resulting varietal was noticed and resuscitated a few years later, when it proved somewhat easy to grow but more difficult to harvest and translate into desirable wine. On the one hand it tends to show nice concentration of fruit, but has a tendency to develop odd aromas and flavors.
This weekend we are pouring a nice example of South Aftrican pinotage with flavors and textures we hope you will find interesting.
Mar a Lago Update: The Dumb Cycle
A basic Characteristic of Human Childhood is to develop a toolbox of mental/behavioral Shortcuts to help us deal with Stress. On the Plus Side, it is very helpful to have Strategies on hand to deal with Unanticipated Stressors, particularly familiar ones. On the Down Side, most of us keep repeating Strategies we learned as children despite abundant evidence that they Don’t Work.
A consistent strategy of the Character many schools of psychology have labeled a “psychopath” is Lying. In the endless quest for Approval, because the Psychopath has an instinct for knowing what people want to hear, he goes to great lengths to woo their Approval by Lying their Truth to them. According to an ongoing tally by the Washington Post, the Tweetster has told some 3500 Certified Public Lies since pretending to Take Office some 18 months ago– pretty convincing Evidence that we do in fact have a Psychopath on our hands.
Since all habitual Character Strategies are formed in early childhood, they become Unconscious Habits of thought and behavior as long as they work enough of the time with parents, teachers, or siblings to deflect or defuse Punishment or Judgment. Indeed, from the standpoint of the Psychopath, the Truth IS what people Want to hear, not some abstract principle. The resulting behavioral Dumb Cycle is:
Tell a lie–> Get caught in the Lie –>
Tell a Bigger Lie –> Get caught in the Lie –> , etc.
In an ordinary world, a very few cycles are enough to get your Garden Variety Psychopath Thrown Out. In today’s world, we seem to have 40% of our population Committed to Not Seeing the Lies. So in Today’s World, where the Lies have been Repeated Far More Often than the Truth, the Tweetster’s Disciples Still Believe Him, no matter what he says, which suggests another Dumb Cycle:
Hear a Lie–> Ignore enough facts to believe the Lie –>
Hear a Bigger Lie –> Ignore enough facts to believe the Bigger Lie –> , etc.
Weird times…
This week’s wine tasting
Mer Soleil Unoaked Chardonnay ’15 California $1
A pure, clean expression of Chardonnay, fermented and aged in a combination of stainless steel and small concrete tanks. Aromas of flower blossoms and crisp pears, round and layered on the palate, with vibrant acidity and depth.
Casal Garcia Vinho Verde Rose
Fruity notes of raspberries and strawberries on the well balanced acidity and the youthful, nouveau-beaujolais-like freshness which makes white vinho verde a perfect match for warm afternoons and fresh summer fare.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’16 South Africa $11
Dark berries, plum and a whiff of woodsmoke on the nose. Rustic yet silky and juicy, with wild cherry on the palate; smooth, pleasant tannins and well-controlled acidity. good intensity to the plum and mocha flavors. Finishes broad, with a fine dusting of tannins and a hint of chocolate.
Zenato ‘Alanera’ Rosso Veronese ’13 Italy $15
Dark, inky color; rich and focused nose, with ripe berries, dusty oak and a precise note of waxy vanilla bean. On the palate delivers extracted flavors of cherries, strawberry, clay and even a hint of crushed mint. Soft tannins, rounded finish.
Kerloo GSM Majestic ’15 Washington $24
Aroma of leather, black cherries, plums, black pepper, and earth. On the palate smooth and silky with bright, spicy-salty red cherry notes, dusty roses, tobacco, light baking spices, and wet stones.
2072 Granger Way