The outside front entrance to the restaurant has a signboard advertising specials on days they are open for lunch. (It should probably be mentioned that famed New York City Chef Mario Batali is the son of Armando and maybe that was why the New York Times became interested in Salumi. Just a guess.)

A couple of plates of salumi some prosciutto and salami on the right.

Another portrait of Armando in his curing room. Here is the beginning of Armando’s description of his Lamb Prosciutto ”
In keeping with the Salumi Artisan Cured Meats family plan, (that of advancing the art of meat curing to some new directions whilst maintaining the traditions of the past), we some time ago decided to develop a cured lamb product — albeit we loved the flavor of lamb – barbequed, grilled, roasted, burgers, shanks, leg, shoulder, tongue, sweetbreads. Perhaps our love goes back to our childhood – when we were only able to get lamb infrequently and thus it was saved for very special occasions or perhaps our love was nourished while living in Europe where lamb is so much more a highly respected food, or perhaps even while picnicking in Spain with the locals in some field on a grand and glorious day grilling lamb chuletas over an open fire of olive branches. Whatever it is/was we loved lamb and the whole family shared that love.

Anyway when we started dry curing products, I often asked why there were so few dry cured lamb products. Even in history there are few and those there are so limited. When one reads SALT (a great book studying the history and culture of Salt), the Scandinavians continue today with maybe two or three, or in Greek History you may read about one or two, same with the Icelanders. Even in the Middle East where salt was so prevalent for so many years for preserving foods and even bodies, very few lamb products were created that came down the time of history to become traditional or available as dry cured products. Even more so here in the United States. Certainly we are aware of the history of lamb and its back burner status in American Ranching, from western movies if not anywhere else.

I was fortunate after retirement to work with a couple of butchers in Tuscany along with Faith Willinger to slaughter, butcher, and make various forms of Salumi, both Salami type ground and stuffed products as well as muscle products like Coppa, Lonza, Lardo. Marilyn and I were as well fortunate while living in Spain to attend the Matanza, the butchering and preparing of the family pigs in Southern Spain. What an experience! This was a great opportunity for me to see again and participate first hand in the whole process. When we were children in the Yakima Valley, our whole family gathered together for many years to slaughter the pigs we had grown and to all participate in the pigs destiny of feeding us during the winter months. We made or cured all wonderful pieces, from snout to tail and including everything in between and in. This effort and joy from this annual affair and which we so fondly remember as children, truly enhanced our feelings and memories of the values of the family together, around the fire, cleaning scraping, grinding and salting. We learned in real time the appreciation of togetherness focused, both on our stomachs and for each other. And we loved it. ” Continue reading Salumi Artisan Cured Meats
on the Salumi website.

Photograph by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations, and Seattle wedding photographers, with a candid photojournalist style.

I had an editorial assignment over in the Yakima Valley last summer so while I was close by, I decided to stop off to make some panoramas of one of my favorite sources of red wine, the Red Mountain Appellation. It is early in the growing season but the vines look very promising this first half of June. Today we have tied the record for the longest stretch without rainfall in Seattle: 29 days. It was also pretty dry over in central Washington. I saw the fire danger signs indicating high.

It’s funny that looking at the mountain in this photograph, you can not see anything red about Red Mountain. Here is some more information on Red Mountain:
The Red Mountain AVA is Washington’s smallest. The region is approximately 4,040 acres with approximately 800 acres currently planted. The name Red Mountain can be misleading for two reasons. First, it does not refer to the color of the mountain’s soil, but rather, some say, to a native grass with a red hue. Secondly, Red Mountain, for those with other mountains in mind, might be a disappointment, since its elevation ranges from only 500 to 1,500 feet. Even so, among the rolling hills of eastern Washington’s desert, Red Mountain’s sloping hillside is a prominent landmark, storing radiant heat for the growing vines of the valley floor. The Yakima River flows nearby, helping moderate climate extremes, as do so many major rivers in wine country regions throughout the world.

In the 1970s, John Williams of Kiona Vineyards and Jim Holmes, originally of Kiona then Ciel du Cheval vineyards, with advice from Walter Clore, (officially recognized by the Washington State Legislature in 2003 as the father of the Washington State wine industry) pioneered grape growing in the area. In the 1980s, wines made from grapes in the Red Mountain area began receiving recognition for their distinct flavor profiles though federal laws permitted only to carry the designation as being from the Columbia Valley AVA or Yakima Valley AVA. In the late 1990s, Lorne Jacobson from Hedges Family Estates started a drive to achieve federal recognition of the area as its own AVA, which was granted in April, 2001. The Hedges Family Estates’ appellation petition was joined by Kiona Vineyards, Blackwood Canyon Vintners, Sandhill Winery, Seth Ryan Winery and Terra Blanca Winery.

In 2007, Chateau Ste Michelle and Marchesi Antinori invested 6.5 million dollars in the appellation to purchase vineyards and establish a winery to produce their joint venture wine, Col Solare.

Some say Red Mountain Appellation has it all: slope, exposure, weather conditions, good air drainage, large swings between day and night temperatures, six wineries within a few miles, plenty of undeveloped land, gravelly soil with high calcium carbonate content and high pH (high alkalinity), both contributing flavor to grapes grown here. Sloping lands beneath the broad Red Mountain lie at the southeast end of the Yakima Valley, overlooking Benton City, where annual rainfall is only about six inches, and supplemental irrigation is usually provided a few months into the growing season. Wines made from Red Mountain fruit express the terroir with great strength and richness, while demonstrating exceptional balance of fruit, acidity, and tannin.

The Vineyards:Red Mountain is home to many of the state’s most prestigious grape growers such as Klipsun Vineyards, Ciel de Cheval Vineyards, Hedges Vineyards, Red Mountain Vineyards (RMV), Kiona Vineyards, Artz Vineyards, and Tapteil Vineyards. These vineyards sell their fruit to some of the state’s most celebrated wineries such as Bookwalter, Barnard Griffin, Soos Creek Cellars, Quilceda Creek, Andrew Will, Woodward Canyon, L’Ecole ^No41, DeLille Cellars, Nota Bene, Matthews Cellars, McCrea Cellars, Washington Hills (Apex, Bridgman), Waterbrook, Seven Hills Winery, and Canoe Ridge.

The area is known for producing powerful, tannic red wines. The wines are known for their balance in flavors, with an intense concentration of berry flavors.Compared to the Cabernet Sauvignon produced in other areas of the states, the Cabernets here are more structured than fruit-driven. Grapes from this area are in high demand and vineyards with notable reputations can receive as much as 30% above market price for their crops. The primary Cabernet Sauvignon clone planted is clone #8, which in Red Mountain produces a Cabernet wine similar in profile to a California wine, while the same clone planted in nearby Horse Heaven Hills AVA produces a wine similar in profile to Bordeaux.

100 point wines

Many of Washington “Cult wines” are produced from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in this AVA including the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, which scored the rare 100 point rating from Robert Parker “The Wine Advocate” Only 15 other wines in the US have received this designation, all made from California grapes. Only five other previous vintages have received consecutive perfect scores in The Wine Advocate’ publishing history. The Quilceda Creek wines were a blends with grapes from three Red Mountain vineyards-Ciel du Cheval, Klipsun, and Taptiel-and one vineyard from the nearby Horse Heaven Hills AVA.

source: Wines Northwest, Wikipedia