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Comments Off on lummi island wine tasting sept 12 ’20

lummi island wine tasting sept 12 ’20

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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.

 

 

Wine Tasting
Comments Off on lummi island wine tasting sept 5 ’20

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:

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…

 

Wine Tasting
Comments Off on lummi island wine tasting august 28 ’20

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:

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.

 

 

 

Wine Tasting
Comments Off on lummi island wine tasting oct 12 ’18

lummi island wine tasting oct 12 ’18

Bread Friday this week

Black Pepper Walnut- Bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this bread great flavor with a peppery bite. Goes well with all sorts of meats and cheese and makes a great grilled cheese sandwich – $5/loaf

Flax seed currant Ciabatta – Made with an overnight poolish ferment mixed with the final blend of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye flours, flax seeds and dried currants for a really flavorful artisan loaf – $5/piece

Pastry this week…

Pumpkin Spice Muffins – Delicious autumn muffins made with pumpkin and all the spices that go with it, and topped with a streusel made with butter, brown sugar, pumpkin seeds and a cream cheese filling. Yum! some have called these crack muffins because they are so addictive…! – 4/$5.

 

St. Peray

Here is is Year 13 in our little wine shop adventure. And over those years, following whatever Eccentric Muse has caught our fancy, we have developed a curious fondness for wines from a number of small and vaguely obscure growing regions. One such region is St. Peray, which sits at the southern end of the Northern Rhone Valley of France, and which totals only 130 acres of vines, most of which are Marsanne and the rest Roussanne. Marsanne is the most popular white wine grape planted in the Northern Rhone wine region.

In Saint Peray the best vineyards are found high on steep hillsides of granite, limestone and clay. In the nineteenth century wines from St. Peray were in high demand but gradually fell from favor.  Now they are again being produced by serious producers willing to make the investments necessary to extract the unique characteristics of this tiny region.

Then again, we have established over these many years that there are certain wines that we really enjoy but which turn out to draw only puzzled expressions from our Faithful. In any case, we did just open a bottle, and yeah, okay, it Definitely Strikes a Chord. It is quite light in the mouth on entry, with a subtle, minerally, white-peachy, and slightly peppery weight that lingers in a seductive yet refreshing– and habit-forming– way. It will be fun to see how it is received…!

 

October Schedule

We will be here this weekend for our usual schedule, Friday 4-7 and Saturday 2-9 pm. However please be advised that we will be away and the wine shop will be open Fridays only between Oct 12 and Nov 6, and closed Saturdays during the same period, Oct 19, 26, and Nov 2. We regret any inconvenience, but know you will be comforted by the continuing Luxury of Bread Fridays during our absence. We will keep you posted on our adventures.

 

Hauling Out

see photo

Well, as it turned out it wasn’t a great summer for sailing. Actually, it was a great summer for sailing, but very little sailing happened. Nevertheless, a number of little projects got completed on Dreamtime, including some veneer replacement in the cabin that had been damaged a few years ago, replacing some failing shrouds, and learning more about tuning the #@8% outboard, which has been very finicky. The lesson learned, or “re-learned,” is that time “simply messing about in boats” is a relaxing distraction, whether it is actually sailing or rowing out to pursue maintenance chores.

Yesterday we sailed her into town for haulout this morning. Both went well, and she is now safely moored on her trailer in town for the winter. The trip to town from the Island was marked by light winds and sometimes glassy seas and abstract reflections.

 

Mar a Lago Update: Power and Women Scorned

Heav’n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn’d,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn’d. — William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, 1697

It is difficult not to see the recent confirmation of Judge K to SCOTUS as an affront to the last fifty years of Feminist Progress in our Country. True, there has been some learning in the Senate since Anita Hill confronted Clarence Thomas 25 years ago. Then, as now, the Witness was poised, intelligent, thoughtful, courteous, dignified, and Credible, while the Accused was none of those things. And then, as now, the Nominee was confirmed to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court as if the Woman did not exist, or even worse, Existed but Did Not Matter.

This time feels a little Different, with a few Signs of Minor Progress. This time comes after a year of MeToo has marked the Fall of many men from high positions. This time it touches More Deeply than MeToo, beyond workplace discrimination to the day to day cross-cultural Battlefield that girls and women face every day in growing up and going about the business of living as Prey in a world of Predators. This is discussed eloquently in an article read earlier this week (sorry, can’t remember where) that makes a compelling case that This Time, as with PTSD, it is evoking deep resonance and personal memories in ways that are empowering Rage in women across every cultural Divide.

While we cannot remember the name of the article or the author (or as former Poet Laureate Billy Collins put it in an amusing poem):

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones…

All you need to know for now is that the Article we can’t remember ends with the compelling line that prompted this note: “Before Kavanaugh, I was just Angry; Now, I’m F~#king Furious!” Here on Lummi Island, where all the women are Strong, and most of us Old Guys are more Handy than Handsome, that sounds like a Mantra we can all Get Behind.  see more

 

This week’s wine tasting

Paul Jaboulet Aine Saint-Peray Blanc Les Sauvagères ’15    France     $22
100% Marsanne; A pure, fresh, mineral style of Saint-Peray, saline and citrus driven – a true Rhone revelation from steep hills of pure limestone.

Montes Classic Merlot ’13   Chile     $11
Bright and complex, with blackcurrant and black cherry flavours and a rich, juicy finish. Aged in oak for six months before release.

Atalaya Laya ’17     Spain     $11
70% Garnacha and 30% Monastrell; Cassis, blueberry, pungent herbs and mocha aromas lead to an open-knit palateof fresh cherry, dark berry, and a hint of black pepper and a subtle floral note.

Colome Amalaya  ‘16    Argentina       $12
From one of the highest and most remote vineyards in the world (8000 ft). Dark, with a core of crushed currant and plum fruit laced with black tea, fig, raisin and cherry with hints of mesquite and fruitcake. Stays fresh on the finish. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Tannat.

Glaetzer Wallace Shiraz Grenache  ’15    Australia   $22
From century-old vines; heady aromas of dark berry liqueur, candied licorice and mocha; supple, broad and seamless, with sweet blueberry and cassis , and lush, decadent style, smooth and long, with repeating spiciness and velvety tannins.

 

Wine Tasting