Five Grand Tastings to Close Our 50th Year
Five Grand Tastings to Close Our 50th Year
By Kate Soto
Grand Tasting tickets
Nov 15 · 100 Points: San Francisco · Redwood City · Culver City
Nov 22 · Greatest White Wines: San Francisco · Redwood City · Hollywood · Culver City
Dec 6 · The Library: San Francisco · Redwood City · Hollywood · Culver City
Dec 12 · Taste the Icons: San Francisco · Redwood City · Hollywood · Culver City
Dec 20 · Grand Champagne Tasting: tickets coming soon
K&L opened in Millbrae, California, in 1976 to little fanfare. We’d taken over a local liquor store, and we opened just under the wire on Dec. 31st to sell to New Year’s Eve customers. We sold more packs of cigarettes and magazines than anything, but a few bottles of Mumm Champagne and maybe a jug of Hearty Burgundy went out the door, too. From the start, we were intent on offering the best prices—even when it was subversive. When California law mandated that all alcohol be sold at a set price, co-founders Todd Zucker and Clyde Beffa actually bucked the system and sold at a discount until that law was thrown out. To this day, we send our buyers around the world each year to meet directly with producers and taste thousands of wines so that we can get the best products for the best prices.
While tasting thousands of wines a year, we’ve come across a few that are truly exceptional. We do love a deal, but some wines are worth the splurge—and we want you to be able to experience them! In honor of our 50th anniversary, we’ve put together a series of Grand Tastings across our California stores. Each one takes a different angle on what has mattered to K&L over 50 years: wines that earned perfect scores, the great whites, bottles with real age on them, and the names that define their regions. The last one, in December, is our Grand Champagne Tasting.
We hope to see you there!
Saturday, November 15: 100 Points
What does “perfection” taste like? We’re pouring six critic darlings back-to-back in order to find out! These are bottles most people read about for years and never get to taste. They’re rare and expensive, and the type of wines that hooked many of us into this business in the first place.
2012 Rare (Piper-Heidsieck) Brut Champagne - $219.99
2021 Clos Apalta Red Blend Valle de Colchagua - $129.99
2021 Telmo Rodríguez “Yjar” Rioja - $174.99
2019 Canon, St-Émilion - $149.99
2023 Philip Togni “Estate” Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon - $229.95
2023 d’Yquem, Sauternes - $449.99
Lineup is subject to change.
Tickets: San Francisco · Redwood City · Culver City
Saturday, November 22: Greatest White Wines
Red wine gets a lot of glory, but white wines can be absolutely earthshaking in their own right. Taste some of the greatest white wines in the world with us, the kind collectors chase. They come from the Loire, the Nahe, Chablis, the southern Rhône, the Côte de Beaune, and the West Sonoma Coast, and no two are alike.
2023 Domaine Dagueneau “Blanc, Etc.” Vin de France (Pouilly-Fumé) - $129.99
2025 Dönnhoff Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling im Mühlenberg Grosses Gewächs Nahe - $94.99
2023 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru “Les Clos” - $179.99
2025 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe “La Crau” Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc - $104.99
2024 Domaine Alvina Pernot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Champ Gain” - $219.99
2024 Paul Hobbs “Cuvée Louisa - Goldrock Estate Vineyard” West Sonoma Coast Chardonnay - $139.95
Lineup is subject to change.
Tickets: San Francisco · Redwood City · Hollywood · Culver City
Saturday, December 6: The Library
The first time I had an aged wine, I didn’t understand it. I was very new on my journey into wine, and somehow a bottle of 1986 Lafite Rothschild landed in my lap. I had only had young wines before, so I expected it to be powerful and bold, like a stallion fresh out of the gate. I was not prepared for the ethereal, contemplative, slower experience of a wine that’s had decades to find its stride in the cellar. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to taste countless wines with age, and can tell you that they just hit differently. They are complex and enchanting, and reveal more about the vintage and terroir than in their youth. Opening a properly aged bottle is an occasion, and we’d like to share a few.
2014 Viñedos de Páganos “El Puntido” Gran Reserva Rioja - $89.99
2016 Domaine du Pegau “Cuvée Réservée” Châteauneuf-du-Pape - $94.99
2013 Seña Bordeaux Blend Valle de Aconcagua - $124.99
2009 Lail “J. Daniel Cuvée” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - $299.99
2005 Léoville Barton, St-Julien - $199.99
1985 Château de Beaulon “Privée” Vieux Pineau des Charentes Rouge - $99.99
Lineup is subject to change.
Tickets: San Francisco · Redwood City · Hollywood · Culver City
Saturday, December 12: Taste the Icons
Every wine lover has a list of bottles they’ve wondered about for years: Cristal, Tignanello, Opus One, Chave’s Hermitage. These benchmark bottles are almost never poured side by side. For the holidays, we’re opening six.
2018 Louis Roederer “Cristal” Brut Champagne - $329.99
2023 Antinori “Tignanello” Toscana - $169.99
2005 Montrose, St-Estèphe - $279.99
2023 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - $345.00
2023 Opus One Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend - $449.00
2025 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Mosel - $99.99
Lineup is subject to change.
Tickets: San Francisco · Redwood City · Hollywood · Culver City
Sunday, December 20: K&L Grand Champagne Tasting
While we always champion Champagne for everyday drinking, we absolutely acknowledge how this magical bubbly can elevate special occasions like no other. We’re still tooling with the lineup, but it promises to be a grand occasion unto itself. Stay tuned!
Tickets at each store are limited!