Both wines are available in the shop, and both are sensational buys at $8 (red) and $10 (white). Other delicious edibles were provided by a host of other volunteers, and the featured  speaker was Jim Lynch, author of The Highest Tide and Border Songs. I have not read either of his books, but he was a delightfully entertaining speaker, so I guess I’m gonna have to!  All in all: a very pleasant evening, you shoulda been there!

So let’s see, last weekend…what stands out is a long quiet chat with Julie and Bill from Salt Lake City, here for a couple of weeks with no car, so getting around by bicycle (No One Expects Drydock in July!) . Of course we grilled them about Utah and Mormons and Big Love which we have just started watching, and basically they are fun and interesting and we think they should move here because he is cutting back in the general direction of retirement (my guess would be another 20 years first, but I’m just saying and hoping I’m wrong) and they are enjoying a whole bunch of time off and they are even toying with the idea of getting a place here…!!??

They also mentioned they had friends coming who had broken the Code for making the Perfect Limoncello, a delicioso cordial Italians make and serve in chilled little cordial glasses. Somewhere in our Tuscany photos is a picture of Pat sipping her First Limoncello, and despite the fact that it is quite a Simple Thing, at the right moment, on a hot afternoon, after a lovely meal, it is Quite Perfect, if not actually Spectacular. Think: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!…Gooooooooooooooooooooood...(sigh). It turns out we did meet the friends very briefly but no limoncello and no recipe (aaarrrggghhh!), so the quest is on!

Do YOU have the perfect recipe? We have heard that the Key is to have very fresh, Perfect lemons, maybe Meyer lemons, which apparently may not be Real Lemons at all, so you have to wonder about that, but still, it makes sense that the Best Fresh Lemons would be a key ingredient. So let’s just say that anyone who brings in limoncello gets two free tastings, and let the lemons fall where they may!

Btw, I recall now that we conducted an interesting experiment last weekend, pouring the Emilio Moro ‘04 Tinto, a predictably good wine, next to the new Pomum Tinto, a Washington “super-Duero” (has a bit of cab and merlot in addition to tempranillo). I decanted the Moro at about 10 am, and opened (but did not decant) the Pomum. For most of the day the Pomum was the favorite, showing much bigger fruit and a voluptuous mouthfeel compared to the Moro. But somewhere around 4:30 the Moro Tinto had gotten enough air that it had opened up beautifully, and it became the new favorite, showing a suave elegance and depth.

I just bought the last few bottles of this year’s Pomum Shya, their Big Wine, and we will be pouring that in the next few weeks for an additional look at this new Washington winery.

T-t-t-t-t-t-t-that’s all for now, folks! Y’all stop by and see us  now, heah…?

Julie and Bill

This week’s wines:

Viento Riesling  ‘07    Washington   WS89pts  $14
Bright and refreshing, with a lively mouthful of pear, grapefruit and delicately floral aromas and flavors that shoot right through the balanced, barely off-dry finish.

Quinto das Maias Jaen Dao  ‘04   Portugal      $14
The relatively unusual Jaen varietal has a deep, burly color and a lovely, velvety almost overripe nose with hints of prunes and flattering black fruits. . . tannins are very smooth & the acidity is just enough to balance the richness.”  more

Pomum Red  ‘07  Washington     $18
Bordeaux blend from same winemaker as last week’s popular Tinto 65% Cab, 21 % Merlot, 14% Cab Franc; brick-red in color with noticeable graphite and exotic spice aromas. with flavors of cranberries and cherries. The finish, characteristic of all Pomum wines, is long and smooth.

Canon de Sol  Syrah ‘02 Washington  $20
Big jammy dark-fruit flavors, complemented by toasty spicy accents.

REMINDER! NEW SUMMER HOURS SATURDAYS  2-6PM!!

Pat’s chili did very well at the cook-off last weekend; the recipe came from Silver Palate, with a few substitutions, and made for a very savory and nuanced chili. We did win an award for “best name” (”Screaming Seagull”) , which Pat also coined. I concocted our Seagull logo (see last week’s post) as well as the idea of drizzling a bit of red wine (in this case it was an Italian varietal called Marzemino), and it really did make the chili taste even better (I’m not making this up!). I think the wine adds a bit of acidity right up front, which makes your mouth water, which is why wine makes food taste better in general. So congrats to me for my annual Good Idea. Which lets me off the hook for the rest of 2010, kind of a relief!

Mary Beth was the first to identify our chili namesake as Ultimate California cult wine “Screaming Eagle,” and won a $20 gift certificate…it just goes to show you that reading this blog can be worth your while!

Very interesting afternoon at the wine shop. We didn’t open till three cuz of the chili cookoff, and then we had two parties from the Willows who were having such a good time (we were too!) they stayed most of the afternoon, getting to know our “gang.”

All in all a Great Afternoon in our little Island Paradise!

our neighbor Arria discovered ancient ties to chris and his wife, he in the middle

and she in the middle

and charming visitors sake sommelier Malia and mom Marylou

Lee just home after a month of travel and Kim with Big Smile

This week’s wines:

Legoe Bay Pinot Gris ‘09     Washingon     $8
Beautiful aromas and flavors of pear, apple, melon, and honey with a round, mouth-filling texture…delicious!

O’Shea Scarborough “The Rebel” Cab  ‘07   Washington      $14
Lots of juicy black cherry, black currant, and blackberry, with a deep note of bitter chocolate on the finish, new wines from a favorite young winemaking team, Travis and Darryn.

Pomum Tinto ‘07     Washington       $22
Another favorite new winemaker, Javier, a young Spaniard from Ribero del Duero! Dark fruit and licorice aromas, characteristic of Spanish Tintos. Its medium body follows with plum and blackberry flavors and lush tannins. Tempranillo with 16% Cab and 12% Merlot. His second vintage…I LOVE this wine!–compare with the next wine, a classic tinto.

Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero   ‘04     Spain       Parker 92pts     $25
Dense ruby/purple color is followed by a projected nose of blackberries, currants, cherries, smoky oak, and crushed rocks. Terrific texture, super purity, an opulent, full-bodied palate, and a long, heady finish.

Hear ye hear ye! BECAUSE we are entering our World Famous “Screaming Seagull” cult chili (First Annual Tasting) at the Heritage Trust Chili Cookoff from 12-3, the Saturday wine tasting will be from 3-6pm, after the chili cookoff!

the First Thing you need to know is that the wine shop will NOT be open till THREE this Saturday, because we will be hawking our first Chili at the Great Chili Cookoff from 12-3. Actually my limited experience as a client of these proceedings the past few years is that if you arrive much after 1230 many of the contestant chilis will be Gone, so Word to the Wise: Get There Early!

The logo below is well known to wine aficionados, less so to chili enthusiasts. Let’s just say the first person to identify the heritage of our chili’s namesake (in person) gets a special bottle of wine as a prize, especially if that person votes for our chili as Best of the Day. Not exactly a “bribe,” let’s call it a a “promotion”…yes? And NO, it won’t be one of Theirs…in your Dreams!

THEIR logo…formerly legendary

OUR logo…SOON to be LEGENDARY!

Then, after the cookoff, we will rush back to the wine shop and open up for the Usual Festivities, except this will be the debut of our New Summer Hours (make a Note Of It) from 2-6pm each Saturday. Consider it an ode to Drydock, a paean to summer, a whimsical gesture. Good through Labor Day weekend.

Wines for this weekend:

Segura Viudes Cava   Spain   $9
Honestly, haven’t tried it, but Donald (he whose fault this whole thing is) likes it and Judy A extolls its virtues…besides, it’s Cava, for heaven’s sake, how bad could it be?

Chateau L’Estang ‘04  France   $15
A few of these left from a couple of years ago: Merlot, cab franc, cab sauv: Fruit driven, concentrated nose of red fruits, spices, black currants, with rich, full-bodied palate of raspberry, silky tannins, and lingering finish. Real wine. You’ll like it.

Vente Morales Tempranillo ‘09  Spain    $8
I was impressed with the gravitas of this inexpensive offering. It has weight, texture, and flavor, none of which is reasonable to expect from a wine in this price range. Entirely enjoyable!

Pali Inman Olivet pinot noir ‘05   $32
I have a thing for Brian Loring’s style of pinot noir, so I have a substantial stash of his wines, both under his own label (Loring Wine Company) and for the group of wine lovers who bribed him to be their winemaker at Pali, using fruit from various vineards in California and Oregon. He has an unmistakable style, sumptuous and rich even in bad years, that is much to be admired. Usually I don’t pour wines of this caliber at our tastings, but what the heck?

The amazing thing is that this could NEVER happen here, of course. First, we just don’t have enough history. And second, even if we did, some developer would want to tear it down and build condos. And they would do just that. In America, the Aesthetic of the Moment is a passing whimsey, a momentary fashion, expendable. Everywhere are the tailings of our obsession with destruction, a shock wave that moves through time leaving one trail of new goodies, and ten others of Trash and Rubbish.

So there is something reassuringly stable about these stone walls, stone towns, stone streets. Solid. Substantial. Enduring.

SLIDE SHOW : Built to Last  (note: on some pictures the captions disappear for lack of contrast; sorry, could find no way to change font color in Picasa…???)

A little history of Montalcino

Exceptional crowd last weekend…the pictures speak for themselves…it is a wonderful thing that so much Life happens in this funny little shop every Saturday; yes, this is why we are here!!!

This week’s wines:

Aveleda vinho verde    Portugal    $9
Our old favorite– light and refreshing with a bit of spicyness that tempers the melon, green apple and peach flavors…a perfect summer white!

Donjon Minervois Rose ‘09  France      $14
A 60:40 blend of Syrah and Grenache, this Minervois Rosé brims with red raspberry, strawberries, and melon, all tinged with an invigorating hint of herbs, salt, and pepper. Ah, songs of summer…!

Bricco del Tempo Barbera d’Alba   Italy     $9
Modern viticultural techniques and warmer regions have made Barbera a medium-bodied, full-flavored wine with bright, red fruit tones that feature hints of violets, earth and plum with just a whisper of tannin.

One of the wineries this little outfit carried was Longoria, a boutique winery in Los Olivos (think “Sideways”). Fast forward–a couple of years later, we were in Los Olivos with some college classmates, and went to the Longoria tasting room. To make a long story short, they also make a wine they call Blues Cuvee, which is mostly cab franc, and for a number of years they have commissioned a poster for the label. You may have noticed that when we are not showing a particular artist, we have a set of “default” posters, and four of those are the very ones, and I am sure you will agree they are Very Cool! Here is the whole gallery (I just ordered the four we don’t have yet!). 

The other part of that is that every year since then I think “Oh, yeah, Fourth of July…we oughta have an annual tasting called “Reds. Whites, and Blues Cuvee,” and of course it would be even better if we had a blues band or musician…but alas, I have always been talked out of it. NOT THIS TIME! No, this time we are going to do it. I have NO idea where the Blues music is going to come from, might have to dig out some old records, or some of you could bring your bands or your instruments and play on the little deck out front (NOTE: FREE TASTINGS FOR PERFORMING MUSICIANS!). Just in case no musicians show up I may set up the old turntable, though, so bring your old blues records and we’ll give’em a spin!

she’s saying “THAT wine is AWESOME!”

Mandrake gestures hypnotically…(am I the only one who knows what that means..???)
This week’s wines have to match our theme…!
Gordon Bros sauvignon blanc Washington $8
Aromas of citrus, melon and mango; flavors of lime, pink grapefruit and melon; a clean, crisp, versatile partner with fish or fowl.

Ninet de Pena Viognier ‘07 France $8 (remember, if it weren’t for the French, there wouldn’t BE a Fourth of July!)…Straw in color. On the nose, youthful, medium intensity, slate, lilac, dandelion, honeysuckle, frisee, endive, not oaky, with lots of earthy elements. On the palate, off-dry notes of nectarine, peach, & intense floral element. For the price this stuff is fabulous!

Lost River Merlot 06   Washington   $20
Notes of black currant and cassis, cherry, and licorice. 2006 represents a near perfect vintage for Washington Merlot. Tasted this last fall…you’re gonna like it!

Longoria Blues Cuvee ‘02    California     $20
This is the wine featured in the great posters we show in the gallery as part of our “default” art, when we are “between artists.” The wine is from the hills near Santa Barbara, and is mostly  based on cab franc. Only have two bottles left, should be enough for tasting, and of course we can order more (now on the 2007).

Which makes me wonder, okay, so the good news is that you have this secure haven up on the hilltop, which is a hassle to invade, and easy to defend, but on the other hand, you have to schlep EVERYTHING up the hill. Interesting tradeoff…makes me think that whoever the Bad Guys were (it’s always the Other guys’ guys, whoever they are, and other guys’ guys being what they always are, they wanna come in and take your stuff, and mess you up, and take all your women, you know, the usual), you did NOT want to let them in. Like, if you are going to spend CENTURIES schlepping huge stones up a hill like that to build a wall, you have to be SERIOUSLY motivated, that’s all I’m saying.

So today’s slide show (link below) shows a few of the views from some of the hilltop towns, including “our own” Montalcino. (see terrain map), which, as you can see from the image, is the toppiest top in a sea of other tops, an intense landscape, and even if the wine is really good, who is going to go to all the trouble to invade a place like that? Seriously. I think you can get the picture from this photo from Wikipedia, which I am assuming must be taken not from an airplane, but from the top of the walls of the fortress at Montalcino, which, by the way, has in it now one business, at which you can taste and buy from a wide selection of Brunellos and Rossos, sort of the local Chamber of Commerce de Vino.

Montalcino from atop the fortress wall (wide angle Wikipedia photo):

Slide Show: taken from the top

All YOU need to know about this weekend is THE ITALIANS ARE HERE! THE ITALIANS ARE HERE! THE ITALIANS ARE HERE! Which is to say, the semiannual shipment from the little Italian wine importer we buy from (because they invite us to a wonderful tasting and dinner at Ciao Thyme twice a year and all the wines taste GREAT!) have arrived (first contingent, anyway) and we will be pouring three of them this weekend. ONE of those has been particularly popular around AWG the last couple of years, so this year I got two cases of the Marchetti Late Harvest Verdicchio, and yes, it is at least as luscious as in previous years. Be advised that if you want some, feel free to call and reserve it; otherwise take your chances! (see notes below)

The same goes for Marchetti’s Montepulciano (read about him here , and also a new one for us, the Palama primitivo, which I really liked a LOT, and I think you will, too. See notes below.

In addition (as if that weren’t enough, LAST weekend David and Kier brought over a bottle of an Unknown Wine (one of a substantial number sacrificed for the evening), and it was Pretty Tasty: Dynasty Cellars “DC3″ bordeaux blend. It comes in a nicely designed bottle, and is well-crafted –lots of oak– and what’s more, it is made less than a mile away over on Haxton Rd., and the phone number was on the bottle! So of course I called the number and left a message. Twenty minutes later Peter the winemaker called, and on Sunday Pat and I and David and Kier and Brian and Leigh make the trek over to taste Peter’s wines, and came home with a case. All I can say is, you will like it!

As for last week…

This week’s wines:

Marchetti Later Harvest  Verdicchio (Italy) $14
Full-bodied with lush notes of pear and melon, and  beautiful acidity. An extra month on the vine delivers not sweetness, but rather greater body, structure, and fruit essence. Entirely satisfying!

Marchetti Montepulciano  ‘06 (Italy)   $10
Laced with intriguing smoky cranberry spiciness over vividly flavored dark cherry and ripe plums. A joy to drink!

Palama Primitivo 09   (Italy)  $12
This is the same winery on the heel of the Italian boot that gave us the delightful “Arcangelo” last year. This one is lush, intense, bright, and approachable, with notes of dark anise, cedar, and blackberry confit.

Dynasty Cellars Meritage ‘06 Washington $21
Dan Radil, wine writer for the Herald, did a nice writeup on this wine in January, saying (and I agree) “Beautifully textured with layers of cherry and dark fruits, it also displays plenty of oak and a trace of chocolate on the finish. This is a big, well structured wine that will pair nicely with a beef entrée now and it promises to get even better with additional cellaring.”

Maybe chalk that up to the ferry’s being sidelined with the leaky stern tube, although I am still trying to work out the math on having to drive way down the beach to find a parking place Friday night. Given that all the people who move their thirteen cars to fill up the Gooseberry parking lots during dry dock were caught with their cars marooned on the island by the sudden ferry outage, and given that all week there had been oodles of empty spaces, how is it that Friday night the overflow lot was as full as the third week of drydock, and evening arrivals had to drive pretty far down the Point to find a place to park. Who ARE these people?? Where did all these cars COME from??? I like SO don’t get it…

All the wines were lovely last weekend, as many commented. The Secreto sauv blanc drew many an appreciative nod; the Borsao tinto started slow but the crowd warmed up to it as it opened up; the OS red–still the 2006– just keeps getting better and better, the favorite of the day; and the Darnaud Crozes Hermitage was in a class by itself, deep, dark, and brooding.

Zack & friends

Arrrrrrr, here’s lookin at you, matey

Wines for this weekend:

Montinore Borealis White      Oregon      $10
Back by popular demand! Grapefruit, pineapple, peach, and quince with aromas of fresh flowers

Savanha Pinotage-Shiraz ‘08           South Africa          $9
Forward, with cherry jam and pomegranate notes over a backdrop of smoke and leather.

L’Oustal Blanc Minervois ‘04 (France)- Parker 93 pts $25
“Lavender, marjoram, black pepper and black cherry on the nose lead to a velvety, expansive palate full of pure, sweet, almost honeyed black cherry essence. Vanilla, clove, and lavender add complexity…”

Seghesio Zinfandel 08    Califiornia        $19
Copious amounts of blue, red, and black fruits as well as excellent purity, medium to full body, a supple texture, and enough acidity to provide vibrancy. It is pure, elegant, and substantial.