Morning Musings

1. Jane's taking vacay today. On the ridiculous side, we're going to get a dewormer for the dog, and on the sublime side we're going kayaking on the lower Lewis River during the slack neap tide. In between, there will be the last labeling of the 2018 Syrah-Malbec blend that is going to be great.

A neap tide occurs when the moon is about half full; that means it's at right angles to the earth-sun line, and the sun and moon are NOT working together to maximize the tides. So the difference between high tide and low is less, in neap tides, and therefore there is less flow from high to low tide. The perfect time to kayak a river. And the slack tide is the period before and after high or low tide, when the water is not flowing much. (Yes, even when a tidally-influenced river is flowing downstream, it will flow upstream during high tide.)

2. Coffee! My nose, tongue, and I have traveled CoffeeWorld together, and I keep returning to the beans from Guatemala. Sure, there is excellent coffee from Mexico and Peru (my other two faves), but for me Guatemala has the perfect combination of chocolate, nuttiness, and smoothness. If you get the best quality, there's no weediness/herbal notes either. Highly recommended. Try Trailhead, or Luckman's in Woodland. I found GourmetCoffee.com to be low-priced but fairly low quality-quite weedy.

3. Story recommendation: Check out "Gondoliers" by Karen Russell, published in her book of short stories "Orange World." I love the setting (post-climate change southern Florida, which is now underwater), and the setup (four sisters operate gondolas, ferrying survivors around the various wrecked underwater buildings), though the ending is a bit ambiguous and weak for my taste.

4. Wines: I hope you are all drinking a lot of rose wines now. Tis the season!

https://www.trailheadcoffeeroasters.com/coffee/guatemala-cafe-femenino

Maryhill Winery to build a wine tasting room on the Vancouver waterfront!

This is good news. That development is exciting--close to our Vancouver house. It will continue to drive Vancouver forward economically.

I view Maryhill as a sound winery in a great location and with a great business plan. Their "Reserve" wines can be very good.

2009 Chateau Prieure-Lichine, Margaux

We opened this at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, a grand 1920s Italian-style gem right on the cliffs overlooking the Columbia River, with a 200'-drop waterfall just a few feet from the building!). Prieure-Lichine is a Fourth Growth from Bordeaux, and is considered probably better than that ranking, today.

So, the color was vivid purple, still young after nine years. The nose was good: Only faint cassis notes, but lots of coffee and some mushrooms there. On the palate, I thought the wine was delicate (as "feminine" Margaux should be), but for me it was too lean/austere, with not enough fruit or body. I am spoiled by the excellent (and cheaper--this Prieure-Lichine is $100 at retail today) Bordeaux-style wines out of Walla Walla. NO WAY does this wine deserve a $100 price tag or a 93 point score.

And, FYI-Don't eat dinner at Columbia Gorge Hotel. At least in January (very quiet season), the food is very average, though prices are reasonable and the staff is friendly. But they upgraded us to a top-floor corner room with a fireplace, for the same price--very nice! And the building is really a treat.

(photo credit: Google images)