A Few of Our Favorite Things from the Domestic Wine Aisle
For the Holiday Buying Guide this year I decided to take a leaf out of Oprah’s book and present a few of my favorite things! As the Domestic Wine Buyer for K&L, I taste many thousands of wines a year: from high-end luxury cult Cabs to delicious everyday drinkers at $9.95; from solid, dependable, consistent old favorites, to the newest, most esoteric, experimental wines from folks trying something creative to get a start. My role as the buyer here is often not just to assess the quality and value presented by a certain wine, but to match it with a specific customer demand. The idea of this list is to be a little self indulgent (hey, it is the holiday season) and focus on wines that I personally enjoy to drink, share, and gift to others. Wines I believe have a broad appeal and will bring a smile to most people who taste them.
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Lightning Strikes Twice! Au Bon Climat Library Wines Coming to K&L
A few years ago, I was absolutely honored to be able to purchase the incredible 45-vintage-deep library of wines from Calera Vineyards. It was one of the most monumental projects of my 13 years here at K&L, and a humbling experience to be able to taste through so many wines that have helped to shape the California wine industry as we know it today. Josh Jensen was a visionary and a dedicated vigneron. I was thrilled to be able to share his life's work with you, our customers. On that note I'm pleased to say that today we have another historic offering to bring to you.
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What's Our Resident Brit Drinking for Thanksgiving? Domestic Wines!
As I’ve written in years gone by, Thanksgiving is one of the funnest meals to pair wine with because, although you have the basic building blocks of what the spread will probably look like, so many folks have their own traditions and speciality dishes they contribute to the ensemble, giving endless opportunities to find new and magical food pairings. It’s also typically a long day of food preparation, socializing, and, quite frankly, some good old day drinking. So, keep refreshment in mind and always have some nice crisp, fresh, white wines on hand to keep that palate energized for the finishing stretch of chewing on a turkey leg or that extra scoop of stuffing you probably could have done without! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving shared with loved ones new and old. And without further ado, here are a few wines I think might work to wash it all down!
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STiRM: Minimal Intervention, Maximum Value
Wines that offer great value are a key focus for me whenever making buying decisions at K&L. Sure, some folks' definition of value might be quite different than mine, and not all great wines can necessarily be cheap. However, there’s something so satisfying when you find a wine that is just darn delicious for a great price. Even better (at least in my opinion) is when that delicious wine also happens to come from a small artisanal producer, hand-crafting wines from interesting vineyards in a non-interventionist style, with a great sense of place and authentic purity. This is exactly what I find in the wines of Ryan Stirm.
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One of the Most Unique and Beautiful Properties in All of Napa Valley
Quintessa is a distinctive Napa Valley estate dedicated to preserving its natural landscape and biodiversity. The vineyard, featuring diverse soil types and organic farming practices, produces a singular wine that captures the complexity of its terroir. The 2021 vintage continues this tradition with a refined, elegant expression marked by exceptional purity and balance.
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Preserving California’s Old Vine Heritage One Glass at a Time
"If you want to taste California history, you want to chase down these old vines," declares community icon Chris Cottrell of Bedrock Wines. He shared his passion with the K&L NorCal team this week while seated beside some century-old, own-rooted Zinfandel vines at Stampede Vineyard in Lodi, California. Earlier that day, the K&L NorCal team dug their feet into the sandy soil of Contra Costa County's Evangelho Vineyard as well, which was largely planted in the 1890s and still on original, pre-Phylloxera rootstock.
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That’s a Wrap: Culver City’s Grand Opening Gala
On June 29th, we celebrated what has been several years in the making… the grand opening of our fourth retail store! We really love what we do—we’ve been at it for nearly 50 years!—and we are thrilled to be able to share our passion for wines, beers, and spirits with L.A.’s Westside. We started as a small family-run liquor store in Milbrae in 1976, and the same two families are still at the helm of what is now four Northern and Southern California stores, along with bustling eCommerce, auctions, international imports, wine clubs, storage, tastings, and more! We are Californians through and through, and it’s incredibly exciting to bring local K&Ls to more corners of this beautiful state.
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Napa Valley Vinters Annual Auction and Sneak Peek at Epic 2023 Vintage
Just a few months after February’s Napa Valley Premiere event, the influential non-profit organization Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) hosted their second and final major fundraising auction of 2024 as May segued into June. The annual auction included a barrel auction and a live auction event, featuring wines from 2023, 2022, and 2021—all still in barrel.
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Thrilling Domestic Discoveries with Ryan Woodhouse
Domestic Buyer Ryan Woodhouse has been on a tear lately, unearthing one new fantastic discovery after another. This month's newsletter shines the spotlight on three exceptional finds from California, encompassing not only some of the best hidden-gem, hand-crafted Pinots and Cabs, but also a sparkling wine producer that's set to make a big splash on the scene. We'll also check in with a perennial favorite Oregon producer that's taking their game to a whole new level in the 2022 vintage.
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Introducing: Dusty Nabor Wines
Back in March I attended the aptly named “World of Pinot Noir” in Santa Barbara. This is an enormous event spread over several days, consisting of educational seminars, winemaker dinners and lunches, plus a couple enormous “Grand Tastings” with hundreds of wineries in attendance from all over the globe… One of my favorite “discoveries” during the event were the wines I tasted with Dusty Nabor.
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Obsidian Ridge Crafts Exceptional Cabernet from Geologic Magic
Earlier this week I was lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural Volcano Camp at Obsidian Ridge Vineyard in the Clear Lake Basin. K&L’s partnership with Obsidian Ridge predates my 12 years with the company. I have long been a huge fan of their wines, and we have stocked them every vintage. However, up until this week I had never made it up to the vineyard in person. Now, let's be honest, it's not exactly a convenient place to drop in to when you're passing by! The vineyard sits on a remote mountain ridge in between Cobb Mountain and Mt Konocti in Lake County. At 2,975ft, the vineyard is the highest in the Mayacamas range.
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Introducing the Stunning Sparkling Wines of BxT
I first tasted a bottle of BxT sparkling wine during a fantastic wine dinner at Heitz Cellars last Fall… I was immediately intrigued by the quality of the wine and the fact that I had never seen nor heard of the wines before. Then came the revelation that BxT is actually a small passion project from Tom Sherwood, who just so happens to be the husband of immensely talented Heitz winemaker Brittany Sherwood.
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