This past weekend, Cinnamon and I took a little mini-break up to Tomales Bay. We stayed at Nick’s Cove and made a trip out to the Hog Island Oyster beds, and we brought along a range of wine from star direct import producer Bruno Michel to have with our meals. It was a great success, and I thought I would take a moment to tell you all about them, as some of them are exceedingly rare and won’t last long.
Read MoreOur New Zealand Buyer, Stefanie Juelsgaard, just returned from a two week trip Down Under. She had the chance to stop in and visit with Te Whare Ra (a.k.a. TWR), which is one of our favorite small producers from Marlborough. Owned by a husband-and-wife team, Jason and Anna Flowerday, TWR makes some amazing, hand-crafted wines from their organic estate vineyard.
Read MoreThere are perks to working with the good folks at K&L Hollywood. Namely: they feed me. On Sunday, in honor of Valentine’s Day, Keith had us over for a fondue soirée fit for kings, and Clarissa brought not one but three desserts, including a cake made from aged Moët & Chandon. The others came bearing phenomenal libations. It was a decadent lovefest of the very best kind: one celebrating our long-term romance with cheese and wine.
Read MoreWe’re thrilled to welcome our Bordeaux guru Ralph Sands to the blog, where he revisits vintages past and looks with excitement toward the future.
Read MoreThe Super Bowl is coming up this weekend, and LA is playing in it for the first time since the Rams came back to town. Though I’m not much of a football fan, I am a fan of LA, so I thought it’d be great to mark the occasion with another thing I am a fan of—food. And what better, more perfect Super Bowl food is there than chili?
Read MoreLast night, Cinnamon treated us to some excellent sushi from the local restaurant Kanpai. We paired our meal with the 2006 Charles Heidsieck Brut Champagne, which was just released after 13 years of aging. It was a magical combination for a weeknight treat, and I can’t recommend the wine and the pairing enough.
Read MoreFor Burgundy lovers, there’s a lot to be happy about with the 2017 vintage, especially for fans of whites. After frost damage and small yields in 2016, crops were back to normal in 2017, and quality was pretty consistently strong—meaning there’s some great wine out there and more of it. Neal Martin says of the vintage: “Some quite brilliant whites that, many growers are beginning to opine, equal or even surpass the haloed 2014s”—a lofty pronouncement, but the only way to find out is to drink!
Read MoreOn Thursday, at the Jeremy Hotel on the Sunset Strip, Will Blakely and I found ourselves among about 80 Bordelais and hundreds of thirsty Angelenos who were lined up to sample their wares. The annual Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux Tasting is a marvelous opportunity to meet winemakers and winery representatives, while viewing a Bordeaux vintage in toto. With glass and notebook in hand, we eagerly dove in.
Read MoreThis past Sunday, K&L held its 30th Fête de Bordeaux. What first began in 1989 (originally promoting 1986 Bordeaux), has developed into a perennial tradition featuring representatives from some of Bordeaux’s finest estates. This year, we hosted Châteaux Léoville and Langoa Barton from Saint Julien, Château Lynch Bages and Château Ormes de Pez from Pauillac, and Château Figeac and Petit Figeac from Saint Émilion. The event began with a tasting of the 2016 wines, followed by a four-course meal featuring older vintages.
Read MoreWhat better way to celebrate tonight’s Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse than to drink a biodynamic wine? The 2017 Les Champs de l'Abbaye Bourgogne Rouge is made entirely with biodynamic principles from a Demeter-certified domaine who practices minimal intervention in the cellar.
Read MoreWith lyrical prose and an ability to write convincingly about inspiration, Theise takes readers on a journey through his life in wine. He doesn’t try to teach about terroir (though he contemplates the topic) or about how to find meaning—he just lets us accompany him as he finds his own passion in a glass.
Read MoreIan Brand is one of the hottest rising talents coming out the Central Coast right now. Recently named Winemaker of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle, he is an incredibly passionate winemaker with a vision, not only for his own wines, but for the region as a whole. Wine Enthusiast described him as “innovative, experimental and eager to push the envelope in Salinas Valley and beyond.” He currently has three wine brands, La P’tit Paysan, La Marea, and I. Brand & Family, each crafted to capture the unique beauty of the vineyards, the grapes and the distinctive region. Ian will be pouring his wines this Thursday in our San Francisco store, so I took the chance to catch up with him this week.
Read More
