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lummi island wine tasting groundhog weekend ’20
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No Friday Breads This Week
Baker’s week off. Bread returns next week!
(breads must be pre-ordered by Wednesday for pickup here at the wine shop at our Friday wine tasting, 4-6pm. Planning a visit to the Island? Email us to get on the mailing list!)
Fior D’Arancio
This week we bring back an unusual sparkling dessert wine from Colli Euganei, a series of ancient volcanic hills north of Venice, where 50-million year old mineral deposits add depth and character to local wines.
The wine is a clone of muscat from this region, which either through its own genetic identity or from some kind of symbiosis from nearby orange orchards, has strong scents and flavors of orange. This wine is unusual, surprising, and pleasing in many ways, with its lovely orange blossom bouquet, fine perlage, and fluffy mousse. It makes a great afternoon treat on the deck, or a fine accompaniment with fruit tarts, pies, puddings, or cakes.
We poured this wine a year or two ago, and it sold out quickly as people tasted it. As the season gets colder, it’s a great wine to have on hand for cozying up to a fire!
Wine Club Membership Renewal Time!
Thanks to all of you have already re-upped for Aught-Twenty; it is gratifying to have your continuing support! Our membership renewal campaign will continue for another couple of weeks.
Annual membership is $50 per person, for which you get $5 weekly tastings (save $5/week!) AND we pay the sales tax on all purchases, a hefty 8.7% discount!
Yes, yes, we must be Crazy to offer this incredible Bargain, but there it is, time to sign up for another year to enjoy this great community AND great savings!
Lemberger
Around here we know it as lemberger, a lesser-known red varietal with flavors that always remind us of ripe thimbleberries– yes, those weeds that line many of the roadsides here on Lummi Island and which usually ripen in mid-Spring. In Austria lemberger is more commonly known as Blau Frankisch, literally “blue grape from France.” In the past we have found that under either name it goes really well with spicy food, a revelation a few years ago when we were pouring it along with a tasting of jalapeno cheese– one of those Perfect Pairings one occasionally discovers.
This week’s version is from Kiona winery on Red Mountain here in Washington. Rumor has it that Washington winemakers love the varietal but universally hate the name because too many people imagine some relationship with the famously smelly cheese (limburger) of similar name. We were impressed with this one at a tasting a few months ago. The warmer weather in Eastern Washington provides this version with an enjoyable richness. (photo by Richard Duval)
Mar a Lago Update:
4pm: As we write, the Senate Impeachment hearings are nearing a close for the day, leaving on the table a modest proposal from minority leader Schumer to bring in additional witnesses, while limiting additional testimony to one additional week. While there is little doubt that the Tweetster will not be impeached, there is still at this moment a slim possibility that the four Republican Senators (Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Alexander) necessary to join Democrats in favor of additional testimony might step forward. If they do, there will be witnesses, possibly including Bolton, Mulvaney, and a few others. But if even a single one does not, the trial will be over.
Republican pressure for party conformity being what it is, each of these Senators is facing enormous pressure from McConnell and the rest of the the Hive Brain they all share not to allow witnesses under any circumstances. So chances are that not even a single one of them will dare defy the Pack. But whether there are additional witnesses or not, it is certain that this Fake President will be acquitted, setting the stage for the coming year which is in many ways shaping up to be the World’s Last Chance to save Life As We Know It.
8pm: Home from a lovely dinner break at neighbor Anne’s; six people present, and for statistical purposes, I was the youngest person there at 74. So we are all people with, shall we say, an “experienced historical perspective.” Over dessert I asked everyone to comment on their feelings about the day’s political developments. The common thread was an increasing sense of unease and shock at the relentless Republikan spouting of Orwellian Newspeak. Paraphrasing Orwell: The political purpose of Newspeak is to reduce the expression of ambiguity and nuance to simplistic concepts of pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness, goodthink and crimethink, linguistically reinforcing the State’s totalitarian dominance. Or, as we quoted Hitler recently, “Their character, thought, and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than reasoning, and neither their intellect nor their sentiment is differentiated enough to understand more than a childlike binary view of love and hate, right and wrong, truth and lie.
We share a growing disbelief that every day since the disaster of the 2016 election has brought yet another outrage, another 50 Outright Lies (see Latest Count below), another full day of Tweets belittling his latest target, destroying yet another American institution and its values, alienating another historic ally, appointing yet another unqualified but subservient cabinet member or another twenty-five Ultra-Conservative federal judges, or conspired to rig the next election.
The basic feeling we share is this: there has been a War. Our side has done our best, and we have Lost, and it Hurts All Over. So let’s take a little break, exhale for a few days, then regroup and come back with Determination. A majority of Americans still believe in the Constitution as our guiding moral principles, but Republicans have shown in the past two weeks that they would repeal the Bill of Rights in a heartbeat. They continually turn upside down Maury’s famous words over a century ago: “Where principle is involved, be deaf to expediency…” Every day of these hearings it has become increasingly clear to all that Republicans have neither honor or principle, and we are depressed because we need our country to be better than that.
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date : 16,241 as of 01/24/20
This week’s tasting
Lovo Fior d’Arancio Sparkling Moscato ’18 Italy $15
A very rare clone of Moscato with an unmistakable citrus scent from nearby orange groves for a sparkling wine with refined bubbles and beautiful, pearlescent color, a perfect accompaniment to dessert, or maybe dessert all by itself!
Kiona Lemberger ’18 Washington
Perfumed aromas with traces of orange zest and flower, along with notes of blueberry.
Marchetti Rosso Conero ’17 Italy $11
Rich and inviting aromas of flowers, plums, brown spices, and hillside brush. On the palate, round notes of cherries, blackberries, cocoa and spice. Culminates in a satisfying, lengthy finish.
Lagone Aia Vecchio ’16 Italy $15
“Super-Tuscan”blend of Merlot, Cab Sauv, and Cab Franc. Rich and expressive, with aromas of cherry, vanilla, raw beef, and herbs; structured palate of plum, wild berries, and hints of spice, with a long finish that begs for food.
Alexander Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon ’17 California $20
Nose of black plum, blackcurrant and black cherry fruit open to leather, graphite and cast-iron pan with red cherries and chocolate; medium to full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a long, refreshing finish.
lummi island wine tasting oct 18 ’19
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Friday Breads
Pain au Levain – Made with a nice mix of bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat and rye. 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
Sweet Corn & Dried Cranberry – Made with polenta and bread flour, then enriched with milk, butter and honey for a soft and tender crumb. Then loaded up with dried cranberries. Has great corn flavor but is not a traditional quick cornbread. A delicious bread that makes great toast – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche Almond Buns – Made with a delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Rolled out and spread with an almond cream filling. The almond cream is not made from pre-made almond paste, but rather is a delicious creamy filling made with lots more butter, sugar and eggs as well as almond flour. Yum, yum – 2/$5
( breads must be pre-ordered by Wednesday for pickup here at the wine shop at our Friday wine tasting, 4-6pm. Planning a visit to the Island? Email us to get on the mailing list!)
Fior D’Arancio
This week we bring back an unusual sparkling dessert wine from Colli Euganei, a series of ancient volcanic hills north of Venice, where 50-million year old mineral deposits add depth and character to local wines.
This week our tasting includes a clone of muscat from this region, which either through its own genetic identity or from some kind of symbiosis from nearby orange orchards, has strong scents and flavors of orange. This wine is unusual, surprising, and pleasing in many ways, with its lovely orange blossom bouquet, fine perlage, and fluffy mousse. It makes a great afternoon treat on the deck, or a fine accompaniment with fruit tarts, pies, puddings, or cakes.
We poured this wine a year or two ago, and it sold out quickly as people tasted it. As the season gets colder, it’s a great wine to have on hand for cozying up to a fire!
Wine and Climate Change
People have been growing grapes and making wine over much of the world for thousands of years, despite challenges from famine, flood, drought, social unrest, and war. Through it all, meticulous grape farmers have, like seafarers, “kept an eye to weather,” (Arrrrrr!) continually expanding their ability to adapt their vinicultural experience to seasonal weather variations. For the last thirty years, vignerons around the world have have had to work hard to address changing temperatures and rainfall as the Earth warms.
In the short term, some of these changes have actually benefited certain regions, where warmer growing seasons have made it far easier to produce consistently exceptional wines, while overall the pace of climate change has been pressuring wine growers to find the best ways to respond to the shifts. Since the 90’s grape growers have been edging north in the Northern Hemisphere and south in the Southern Hemisphere in search of cooler growing conditions. As the climate has warmed, regions that were once considered too cold are now demonstrating that they, too, can produce fine wine, as long as the other elements are in order.
In addition, many growers are planting vines at higher altitudes. Although peak temperatures are not necessarily much cooler, daily heat lasts for shorter periods, and nighttime temperatures are colder than at lower altitudes, helping grapes to ripen more evenly– the same phenomenon as occurs along marine coasts.
In regions which have been more typically hot, the key problem for winemakers has increasingly become over-ripening. This has caused many growers to explore different regional varietals in their familiar vineyards, and to seek new vineyards further north...(like, you know, Washington State.) At the same time, changes in rainfall and temperature patterns have been increasing forest fires in Washington and Oregon, offering yet another challenge for growers. Bottom line: because wine grapes are extraordinarily sensitive to soil and sunlight, the industry as a whole is a canary in the mine for food crops of all kinds.
Mar a Lago Update: A Bridge Too Far
The dominant news item this week has been (see last week’s post) the Tweetster’s decision to abandon our Kurdish allies in Syria by giving the Green Light for Turkey to invade the region, which the Kurds won from ISIS with great effort and sacrifice. This Betrayal has been deeply and widely disturbing across America and across NATO. Every rational American feels shamed by this bizarre betrayal of our national honor; thousands of Kurds fought and died in Our cause and now our so-called President has abandoned them.
Today’s New York Times featured an op-ed by retired ADM William McRaven, who oversaw the mission that captured Osama Bin Laden in 2011, and who at the time of his retirement in 2014 was then the longest-serving active member of the Navy Seals…and who still believes and fights for the idea that “We are the Good Guys.”
In his current op-ed, he asks, “If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us?”
His words reinforce our feeling that the Sheer Shock of the Tweetster’s public betrayal of our values will continue to take an increasing toll. Even Post-Morality Republicans may be growing increasingly uncomfortable with his ongoing Word Salad and be longing for an alternative. Meanwhile, the Impeachment Fires are lit while we search for our collective values as a national community.
A lot going on right now, huh…?
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 12,000 as of 6/10/19
This weekend’s wine tasting
Weingut Gruner Veltliner Austria $16
Notes of ripe Bosch pears surround the palate on this fruit-driven, slurpingly good Gruner.
Marchetti Rosso Conero ’17 Italy $11
Rich and inviting aromas of flowers, plums, brown spices, and hillside brush. On the palate, round notes of cherries, blackberries, cocoa and spice. Culminates in a satisfying, lengthy finish.
La Quercia Aglianico ‘17 Italy $13
The new vintage of one of our favorite italian reds; full bodied with notes of ripe plum and white pepper on smooth, fine-grained tannins. A lovely match with a wide range of savory dishes.
Edi Simcic Duet Slovenia $30
Merlot, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc; bold and compelling, with notes of chocolate, cherries, cheesecake, and coffee on silky tannins and a lush, ripe, fruit-full body that goes on and on.
Lovo Fior d’Arancio Sparkling Moscato ’18 Italy $15
A very rare clone of Moscato with an unmistakable citrus scent from nearby orange groves for a sparkling wine with refined bubbles and beautiful, pearlescent color, a perfect aperitif with or without dessert!
lummi island wine tasting oct 5 ’18
Bread Friday this week
Whole Wheat Levain – Made with a sourdough starter that is built up over several days. The bread is made with levain and bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat, giving it a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Buckwheat Rye – Fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for 8 hours without any yeast in a method known as an autolyse. As buckwheat and rye don’t have much gluten this allows what little gluten there is to start developing 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. Goes well with all sorts of meats and cheese – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche au Chocolate – A rich brioche dough made with plenty of butter, eggs and sugar, fermented overnight in the refrigerator before being rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with dark chocolate. 2/$5
Fior D’Arancio
A few weeks ago we posted a note about a wine from Colli Euganei, a series of ancient volcanic hills north of Venice, where 50 million year old mineral deposits add depth and character to local wines. In that case we were talking about the success of red Bordeaux varietals like cab and merlot in the region.
This week we offer an unusual sparkling dessert wine from the same region, made from a local clone of muscat, which either through its own genetic identity or from some kind of cosmic osmosis (cosmosis…?) from nearby orange orchards, has strong scents and flavors of orange. This wine is surprising and pleasing in many ways, with its lovely orange blossom bouquet, fine perlage, and fluffy mousse. It makes a great afternoon treat on the deck, or a fine accompaniment with fruit tarts, pies, puddings, or cakes.
October Sunset
Mar a Lago Update: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Kavanaugh
Legend has it that the idea for Robert Louis Stevenson’s original story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came to him in a dream, and the first draft was completed in a few days. The basic story is that Jekyll the upstanding scientist has a few flaws, and experiments with a dangerous chemical cocktail that transforms him body, mind, and spirit into the morally corrupt Hyde, through whose debauchery he can explore his own Dark Side. The tension between the two characters, one good and one evil inhabiting the same body, makes for a compelling story.
It is less well-known that late in life Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis and the effects of medicinal cocaine used to treat it, and there is speculation that he was experiencing some of the elements of his own personality split when he wrote the story.
Recently we have all witnessed a similar transformation in the Senate hearings on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In week one of testimony he played a casual game of softball with Republican Senators, while openly defying Democrats. Then we saw an astonishing day of hearings which featured a composed, guileless, and credible Christine Blasey-Ford describing in detail how he assaulted her when they were both teenagers, followed by a disturbing, defiant, bullying, scowling, sneering, self-righteous and infantile Kavanaugh raging against the Gross Injustice of the Obvious Conspiracy by the Democrats, the Clintons, and Blasey-Ford to keep him from his Birthright to be a Supreme Court Justice.
He was painful to watch, and his Schtick was entirely familiar to those of us who grew up in alcoholic families. Self-righteous and self-deceiving, his basic message of How Dare You Question Me? is a classic psychopathic strategy for asserting Power. If you look back at the recordings of his Performance, you will see not Mr. Kavanaugh, but Mr. Hyde, sneering and outraged, blaming and vowing revenge, and wallowing in a strangely defiant self-pity. His demeanor, his language, his rudeness, his disrespect, and his bullying are all Familiar Hallmarks of Being Under the Influence of Something, maybe beer in high school, but something more intense, coke maybe, while watching Blasey-Ford’s testimony.
Retired Justice John Paul Stevens just today withdrawn his endorsement for Kavanaugh’s nomination, saying there’s merit to the criticism that Kavanaugh’s Senate testimony last week showed a “potential for political bias.” Seems like a Fair Assessment and an Understatement. But it ain’t likely to keep Mr. Hyde off the Court. Sad times.
This week’s wine tasting
Ottella Lugana Bianco ’15 Italy $12
Trebbiano di Lugano (Turbiana). Intense straw yellow color with green tinges. Exotic notes of candied fruit and citrus, warm and very deep on the nose. Widespread expressive finesse, with rich and persistent texture.
Château Lamothe de Haux Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux ’14 France $12
A fine wine, with wood and fruit both rich and concentrated, with notes of spice, juicy black fruits and ripe tannins. It is developing slowly and surely and will be ready to drink from 2019.
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.
Betz La Cote Rousse Syrah ’10 Washington $55
Black raspberry, flowers, minerals and spices on the nose; juicy on entry, then sinewy and penetrating, with obvious Red Mountain structure. Minerally, spicy, peppery finish with fine-grained tannins and lovely persistence.
Lovo Fior d’Arancio Sparkling Moscato ’17 Italy $15
A very rare clone of Moscato with an unmistakable citrus scent from nearby orange groves for a sparkling wine with refined bubbles and beautiful, pearlescent color, a perfect aperitif with or without dessert!
lummi island wine tasting aug 31- sep 2 ’18 labor day artists’ studio tour
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread Friday this week
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – Fresh milled buckwheat and bread flour. Buckwheat is a seed not a grain, closer in the plant family to rhubarb and sorrel than to wheat and contains no gluten. Buckwheat has an earthy flavor that in this bread is balanced with a little honey. Some toasted walnuts add a nice crunch. This bread goes well with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
Poolish Ale – The poolish here is made with bread flour, a bit of yeast and a nice ale beer for the liquid, instead of water, and fermented overnight. Mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. This makes a great all around bread with a nice crisp crust – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Chocolate Croissants – a traditional laminated french pastry made with a bit of sourdough flavor and another pre-ferment to help strengthen the dough to create the traditional honeycomb interior. Rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5
Studio Tour Hours This Weekend
OPEN Friday 4-7
Bread pickup and wine tasting
OPEN Saturday (9/1) 1-6, and Sunday (9/2) 1-5
Artists‘ Tour and wine tasting
Our visiting artist is Kim Obbink, showing her latest series of finely detailed drawings and paintings of island botanical and marine life subjects.
She has created 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. Ah, we organic beings are so fleeting…!
Colli Euganei
(click for larger photo)
Colli Euganei (Euganean Hills) were formed from volcanic activity (and they look it) some fifty million years ago. They are just visible from Venice to their South, and have long drawn visitors with their picturesque beauty, hot springs, and calming energy. The poet Petrarch moved there around 1370, late in his life, writing, “I have built me a house, small, but pleasant and decent, in the midst of slopes clothed with vines and olives,”—a house that may be seen there today in the village of Arquà Petrarca.
The Euganean hills also inspired Shelley’s Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills:
‘Mid the mountains Euganean I stood listening to the paean
With which the legion’d rooks did hail The sun’s uprise majestical…
The volcanic history also makes the soils here rich in minerals and trace elements not found in other Venetian subregions, making it attractive for growing Red Bordeaux varietals Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Today’s Rosso from Vignalta is a smooth and powerful blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon from the vineyards of Colli Euganei. Hopefully it will make us all wax poetic!
Vranec
Vranec (pronounced ‘Vran-etz’), is Macedonian for “Black Stallion;” wines made with it are deep red, almost black, and imagined to manifest a stallion-like strength and vigor. Vranec can also means “raven-colored,” which is why the wine is known also as “black wine” in Macedonia. An ancient Balkan varietal, it represents the warmth and strength of the Macedonian people.
Vranec wines have an intense, dark red color and rich aromas of dark ripe fruits. The palate is full and balanced. When young, it shows a light purple color and aromas of strawberry jam and wild berries. With age, vranec develops darker color and complex aromas of wild berries, dried fruits, and chocolate, with rich tannins. It is usually blended with merlot, cabernet sauvignon, or syrah to which it adds a bold intensity. This week we are pouring the Straight Stuff not blended with anything else. It’s easy to develop a fondness for these ancient varietals that have maintained their appeal over countless generations, literally a taste of the Past.
Mar a Lago Update: The Federalist Society and Class Warfare
For some reason over the last bunch of years, probably just not paying close enough attention, I have been laboring under the false assumption that the contemporary Federalist Society has something to do with the Federalist Papers of the 1780’s. So it is pretty surprising in one sense that closer examination suggests that they are to a large degree Philosophical Opposites. Doh!
The Federalist Papers were a series of eighty-five letters (essays, really) written to newspapers in the late 1780s to urge ratification of the U.S. Constitution by celebrated statesmen Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The essays were published as a book, The Federalist, in 1788. Collectively they tried to make the case that conflicting goals and interests among individuals and states could best be reconciled through the representative nature of the proposed Republic and the checks and balances built into the new Constitution, which was specifically designed to upgrade the failing Articles of Confederation. While their impact on the eventual adoption of the Constitution was probably minimal, the papers served to outline for future generations the concerns of the time.
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy is something Entirely Different. It is essentially a Political Action Group that has distilled and bottled the legal philosophies of Antonin Scalia into a Code. Its guiding hand is Leonard Leo, a Conservative Catholic Deeply Opposed to a Woman’s Right to Choose, who has essentially dedicated his life to packing the Supreme Court with Justices supporting the paradoxically-named “Pro-Life” movement Dedicated to Bringing Every Conception, however destined for Pain and Suffering, into Whatever Precarious Existence. To a very large degree, this so-called “society” and its so-called “conservative views” are only the Latest Manifestation of the tendency of Human Societies to revert to its Default Organizational Setting: Feudalism.
By this we simply mean that whenever No One Is Looking, the latest group of Dominant Male(s) will Take Arms, Take Charge, enlist a bunch of Young Toughs by promising them Loot and Maybe Even Women, Kill everyone who resists, and dole out Subsistence Resources by whatever psychopathic rules seem appealing to the Leader. (see Venezuela). Think of it this way: Feudalism is the political-organization equivalent of the Theme Song from M*SH…or as Bob Dylan put it: when you got Nothin’ you got Nothin’ to lose.
Bottom Line: under the auspices of Freedom, the goal of the Federalist Society is to pave the way toward the New Corporate Feudalism, under the Tacit Pact of “YOU make abortion illegal and WE will be your Unquestioning Serfs Forever.” After all: Corporations ARE more important than People!
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 4229 as of 8/1/18
This week’s wine tasting
Naia Naia ’16 Spain $12
100% Verdejo with 12% fermented in French oak. This fragrant, medium-bodied offering displays enticing aromatics of grapefruit, lime, and kiwi, a round, smooth-textured mouth-feel, and a crisp, refreshing acidity.
Saint Nabor Gris de Gris Rose ’16 France $10
Bouquet of red fruit and honeysuckle with linden-tree nuances; light, crisp and easy drinking, with palate of wild strawberries and blueberries with mineral nuances.
Domaine La Croix Belle Caringole ’14 France $11
Syrah, Carignan and Merlot blend from Languedoc’s Cotes de Thongue region; fresh and supple with flavors of cherry, and black olive, and herbs.
Jordanov Vranec ’15 Macedonia $11
Displays ripe berry fruit and an exotic stream of baking spices like clove, nutmeg and cardamom on the nose. In the mouth it is full bodied with ripe dark fruit and hints of herbs with a noticeable dark chocolate edge on the well-structured finish. Enjoy with cheese, beef or lamb dishes or grilled sausages
Vignalta Colli Euganei Rosso Riserva ’09 Italy $21
Merlot and cabernet sauvignon from volcanic hills north of Venice. Rosso Riserva is a true and delicious expression of its terroir, nice balancing of fruit and tannins, softened with two years of oak barrel aging.
2072 Granger Way