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Finding NEW with you in mind
Susan Wenzel • April 17, 2019
Never a day goes by that we don’t hear one of our discerning bayleaf clientele exclaim, “Where do you find all of these treats?!” or “What an exceptional selection of wine! I don’t recognize any of these labels!” Well, lean in close, discerning bayleaf clientele, and I, humble bayleaf food writer, will reveal to you a bit of what goes on behind the scenes at bayleaf on Whidbey Island.
Our amazing wines, cheeses, chocolates, and specialty grocery items don’t get into the store by mere chance. Indeed, they are the result of countless hours of tireless traveling and searching and tasting (lots and lots and lots of tasting) for just the right quality and style to meet our scrupulous standards. We have sampled our weight in cheeses at Neal’s Yard in London, munched and nibbled our way through acres of chocolate, sauces, snacks, and more at San Francisco’s Specialty Food Association Fancy Food Show and at Good Food Foundation events (where the bayleaf favorites Le Bon Magot condimentsand Island Troller Wild Pacific Troll-Caught Albacore have been awarded the coveted Good Food Award), and sniffed and sipped thousands of fine domestic and imported white, rosé, and red wines in the shop, at the wineries, and at industry tasting events.
Most recently I attended one such event (my first) where I had the pleasure of sniffing and sipping a hundred-ish wines in a room packed full of winemakers from all around the world. I was captivated by several choice rosé and red wine picks and became quickly educated on the proper way to discard the sips in the spit bucket. (Hint: If rendered improperly, the backsplash can be quite treacherous).
Only a small percentage of the items we sample make the final cut and end up on the bayleaf shelves. We often say – and it’s true – that each and every item has been expressly hand selected for the shop because one (or usually all) of us personally tasted it and loved it...and knew you would too.
It may sound arduous and tedious but it is a sacrifice we are willing to make for you, our discerning bayleaf clientele. Come in and reap the benefits of our hard work, and if you are in wine club(What?! Why aren’t you in wine club?!) you may soon have the pleasure of tasting a couple of my favorite picks from this most recent event.
Below are the wines poured at this year's Annual Champagne Tasting. Please reach out with interest.
Success!
Amazing
Spring Cleaning?
Really there is so much to know.
Fall Wine Extravaganza Join us for an afternoon of delicious wines! Unlike our tastings of the past, this will be more like what we call a "trade" tasting. Each rep will be stationed at a table with 4 of their wines - a mix of chilled whites/roses and reds. You are welcome to mingle, pose questions to the reps, bounce back and forth and taste at your own pace. We'll provide solo cups to encourage you to pace yourself and spit. We'll have staff passing bites of food to pair. We'll be joined by Eric, Jesse and Ken in the Coupeville Rec Hall. This will give us all plenty of room to spread out. There will be discounts offered, lots of conversations had and as much education as you would like. This is a standing, social tasting. Wine club members enjoy discounted ticket pricing as well as deeper discounts on orders at the event. Join one of our wine clubs before the event to take advantage of these extra discounts. You don't want to miss this one! A great opportunity to taste before you buy, restock your wine rack and choose a few special bottles for the upcoming holiday season. Saturday 29 October 3 - 5 Coupeville Rec Hall tickets are required Non-wine Club member Wine Club member
Grande Fior di Latte Pasteurized Cow's milk fresh Mozzarella - Wisconsin - USA It's summer and we want to encourage you to eat your weight in fresh mozzarella. Fresh, whole milk, well made mozzarella that is light and delicate. The touch of tang from cheese cultures, the stretch and melt point perfection are why we love this mozzarella over all others. It truly is the flower of the milk! Stop in the shop and mention this post, we'll give you a sweet discount... From the dairy, Our milk is collected daily from cows at dedicated Grande producer dairy farms that have committed to our Producers Assuring Consumers of Excellence (PACE) program to ensure quality, animal well-being and environmental best practices are in place as well as proper employee management and labor practices. After milking, it is quick cooled and taken directly to our nearby state-of-the-art facilities, where our cheese artisans craft it to bring out that great Grande taste. The story, Grande’s story began in 1891, in the small Sicilian village of Montelepre, Italy, where founder Filippo Candela was then born. It was in this warm, agriculturally rich region where he learned the art of making fine Italian cheese. In 1925, shortly after marrying his wife Provvidenza, Filippo moved from the economic instability of post-war Italy to America in search of better opportunities. Initially purchasing a small dairy farm and orchard, he moved to Wisconsin to pursue his passion for cheese making. Speaking only a few words of English, he met an Italian cheese buyer from the Old World. This meeting sowed the seeds of a new cheese company formed by Filippo and a handful of family and friends. They named it Grande – a fitting name as the Italian word for ‘greatness’ – and its authentic cheeses soon became favorites with Italian immigrant families across the United States. A few ways to enjoy your mozz, Caprese Salad PIZZA! Top grilled vegetables A simple appetizer of Mozz with fresh pesto, your favorite vinegar, your favorite EVOO, the list goes on!
Onetik Bleu Des Basques Pasteurized Sheep - Onetik - Midi-Pyrenees, France It's true! Not all blue cheeses are the same, this couldn't be more true of this personal favorite. Most people who detest blue cheese have only experienced strong, often bitter (cheap) blue cheese. An artisanal blue such as this one is a game changer. It's a delicate, rich, toothsome blue expression. You are encouraged to come try it. Located in a small village at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountans, Macaye Onetik has been making delicious cheese for over 30 years. The goal being to preserve and share the bounty of the Basque heritage. The quality of the milk is the most important process of this cheese. Transhumance - the traditional grazing methods of moving livestock in a seasonal cycle is practiced. Three ancient breeds of sheep traditionally kept by Basque farmers are used. Black-Face Manech [manèche] Red-Face Manech Basco-Bearnaise Made with great skill and care the cheeses are crafted and aged at Onetik. This blue has a natural rind (always the strongest in flavor, eating it is a personal choice) and is aged for 2.5 months. It's creamy paste is lined with fine blue veins that give way to a delicate nutty punch of blue. Not over salted this can sometimes present sweet. We love to enjoy this in place of dessert with a glass of Muscat Beaumes de Venise. We carry other Onetik cheeses but this Blue is a treat. When you see it in the case, don't hesitate in bringing some home with you. It will change the way you feel about blue cheese! "Today marks my 10th year as a cheese maker at Onetik and it's still a pleasure to work with this noble ingredient. Milk collected at the beginning, the middle or the end of the animal's lactation period does not behave the same way. We must employ all our skills during the different steps of cheese making from the delivery of the milk until the cheese is sent to the cellars. The high quality of the milk provided by our farmers is what allows us to prepare our cheese under the best conditions, so they develop aroma and taste, so they sing, you know? Today, our cheese makers set themselves apart from the competition through the meticulous care taken by all of us at Onetik cheese dairy. We each contribute our experience towards one goal: to make our cheeses a showpiece of the Basque Country. There is one important thing I learned at the start of my work: cheese is a living thing, and that's certainly true! In my occupation it's important to remain humble and respect cheese: that's the key." Kayet Gastellu Cheesemaker at Onet
American Legacy In 1997, we started with a dream shared between two college friends and business partners, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith : To celebrate organic practices and spotlight the craftsmanship of local sustainable agriculture in Marin and Sonoma counties. Today, we’re carrying the torch of the food revolution that started in our backyard. Organic. Farm-to-Table. Delicious, award-winning cheese. The cheese production business is rough. Expensive, time sensitive and licensing to name a few hurdles. Friends Sue and Peggy started in a renovated barn in Northern California, the first operation called Tomales Bay food, with the thought of featuring foods from West Marin. Cowgirl Creamery was launched in 1997. Smith and Conley created a legacy with these specialty cheeses, all made from organic milk and sourced from surrounding dairies committed to farming practices through regenerative agriculture in Northern California’s Sonoma County area. The awards are many over this time – the most recent - Mt Tam triple cream made with cow’s milk sourced from the Straus Family Dairy won a 2021 Good Food Award – we stock this cheese regularly. They produce eight artisanal cheeses plus fresh cottage cheese, fromage blanc and creme fraiche. In 2016 Cowgirl Creamery was sold to Emmi Group, read more here . The result being good thus far, expanded resources and no compromise made in the end product. We are so grateful that these two women pursued their dream and that we get to share these cheeses with you! This month we feature a specialty spring cheese - Pierce Point. It seemed the perfect seasonal cheese to share from this beloved creamery. We hope you enjoy. Limited in the shop this month. Our Pierce Point cheese transports you to the scents and sights of late spring in West Marin on the Northern California Coast. Named for a ranch on the Pt Reyes National Seashore, Pierce Point starts with single-source organic cow's milk from nearby Bivalve Dairy. Each piece is rich with the aromas of the surrounding pastures. The core and paste unite in their journey to deliver all the herbaceousness of our local milk source, accentuated with sprinklings of stunning field flowers, chamomile, calendula, and Thai basil, Pierce Point captures the essence of the season. Read more here .
Rosés are Reds and Oranges are…Whites?! Anyone in the know knows bayleaf has a remarkable cache of fine red, white, and rosé wine, but few know much about the luscious orange wines sprinkled inconspicuously around the shop. Orange wines, made from white wine grapes, are an oft overlooked alternative to a savory red which makes them the perfect pairing for strong cheeses, red meat, roasted root veggies, and even curry. Skin is in Maceration is a fancy word for soaking the wine with the grape skins, stems, and seeds to extract color, aroma, and tannins. White wine is exempt from this process which ensures it is typically tannin free and best sipped chilled and fresh. For rosé wine, skin contact is brief, measured in hours, long enough for the red grape skins to impart a hint of tint and a touch of tannins. Orange wine, conversely, is left to soak with the white grape skins for anywhere from several days to many months, resulting in hues from golden straw to deep amber. (Red wine, too, macerates for a similar length of time.) In essence, orange wine is made from white wine grapes in the same manner that red wine is made from red wine grapes. Orange is not the new pink While the preparation process is practically parallel, rosés and oranges are two totally different wines. Rosés, because of their brief soak, are generally light and fresh, and like the aforementioned whites, best schlurped when the weather is hot and the wine is cold. Orange wines are better served cool-ish (think cellar temperature) and are far more thought-provoking than their quaffable cousin. Oranges are a savory sipper with astonishing depth, body, and texture courtesy of the tannins gathered during the lengthier maceration period. Orange you curious? Armed with your newfound knowledge, stop into bayleaf and grab a bottle (or two) of this unique but highly versatile style of wine. (And don’t forget the cheese!)