On Wednesday evening, K&L San Francisco welcomed a dynamic, female-led team for a celebration of one of the most revered pairings: caviar and Champagne. A group of 15 guests joined the K&L team to delve into the complexities of flavor, texture, and terroir inherent in both Champagne and caviar.
Read MoreRyan Moses is one of the quiet forces behind the scenes that makes the wheels turn at K&L… For this year’s Holiday Buying Guide, we got his insight into collectible holiday wine gifts, big and small.
Read MoreWe come across many very exciting wines in our Auction Department, but we launched a listing today that’s truly once in a lifetime: a banded 6-pack of 1999 DRC Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru (OWC) in pristine condition from the original owner. The fact that this 6-pack is still sealed with the original band around its original wooden case from the winery makes this extremely rare. That it’s from one of the most lauded vintages of La Tâche in recent history and has been in the same hands since its original purchase? It’s an astonishing collectible.
Read MoreLast week we were thrilled to host the Best of Bordeaux dinner at One Market in San Francisco, honoring some of the brightest lights in the region. While this event used to be semi-annual, it has been five years since we’ve had one! And what a comeback… owners, winemakers, and representatives from an amazing collection of châteaux gathered in San Francisco for a night of exquisite dining and conversation.
Read MoreTo someone outside of California, saying “North of the San Francisco Bay” would indicate a large territory, including the lumping of Sonoma and Napa Counties together. Being just a quick 30-minute drive apart from each other means that many out-of-town visitors make plans to hit both areas in one go, especially for wine tasting expeditions. Yet, separated by the Mayacamas Mountain Range, these two wine-driven counties are, surprisingly, incredibly different from one another—in personality, in terroir, and ultimately in the wines that they produce. A few weeks ago, the Key Accounts team had an opportunity to spend a day in Sonoma and surrounding areas, and a day in Napa, side by side.
Read MoreAfter traveling around the world and talking to one producer after another, you can tell the difference between a vintage that needs to be explained, and one that speaks for itself. The 2021s in both Sonoma and Napa seem to be the latter.
Read MoreEarlier this week, the K&L Champagne team kicked off our annual staff summit with a dinner hosted by Billecart-Salmon. It has become a welcome tradition to start off our yearly survey of all the grande marque producers with a sushi dinner at my place featuring the wines of this great house. Christian Esser, who just returned from a visit to Billecart, and Eric Lecours presented the wines and treated Scott Beckerley, Michael Benoit, Philip Roufail, Will Langhi, Cinnamon and me to a great spread from Kanpai sushi in Palo Alto.
Read MoreToday's Newsletter is our long-awaited, comprehensive report on all things Bordeaux 2022 En Primeur. After a whirlwind trip to the region in April, our team returned full of enthusiasm and insight for what can only be described as an unprecedented modern vintage. While the growing season was not without its challenges, numerous properties crafted renditions that will rank with their very best, and while prices are undeniably up from 2021, there are still remarkable values to be had when you know where to look. As with any potentially great vintage, the hype and hyperbole must be put into proper context to help our customers make their very best buying decisions—this year's En Primeur newsletter does just that. Please note - these wines are all being offered on a pre-arrival / futures basis.
Read MoreOur fearless Domestic crew traveled to Napa to taste the finest the valley had to offer at this year’s Premiere Napa Valley. Staffers Hope Cooc and Carlo Delgado recap their impressions in today’s blog.
Read MoreAs my colleague Ralph Sands says, right now, this is a vintage with good wines. Whether or not it is a great vintage is still very much up in the air, and tastings will continue to prove it out either way in the coming days. In our first main day of tasting, we visit St-Estephe, the powerhouses of Pauillac, and start into St-Julien.
Read MoreThis year, we started our visits with the infamous Bill Blatch, a fount of knowledge who tasted us on Sauternes, but is as well-versed in Bordeaux as anybody you’d meet. When asked about the vintage for sweet wines, his answer was very refreshing and grounding. Instead of reaching for superlatives and quotables, he produced a series of charts that showed the weather conditions in the region for every single day. We asked for conclusions. Instead, he gave us information, paired it perfectly with the wines, and set us down our own paths.
Read MoreWhat if I told you that you can buy an absolutely crushable organic red blend—that earned 97 points and Best in Show for 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards—for under $20? Allow me to present the 2020 Ayles "Cuesta del Herrero" Tinto Vino de Pago Aragon.
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