Last night, I opened a bottle of the Krug Grande Cuvée 168 Ème Édition Brut Champagne as the aperitif for Cinnamon and my father. We paired it with some excellent pistachio paté that Clyde had given us as well as the Jamon Iberico that Cinnamon gave me for my birthday. Krug Grande Cuvée is one of the world’s great wines, and unlike most of the other great wines of the world, it is a wine that is defined by time as much as it is by soil or grape varieties.
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Champagne may claim the spotlight at this time of the year, but there is a myriad of great sparkling wines made all over the world. If your New Year’s Resolution includes trying new things, start 2020 off with some sparkling wines from off the beaten path. We’ve collected five of our favorites from all corners of the globe that we think you’ll really enjoy! Cheers!
Read MoreThis past week, I was treated to not just one, but two great 2012s from the great house Louis Roederer. This producer has been making great wines since 1776 but is never content to rest and is now pushing the envelope harder than any other major house in Champagne.
Read MoreAs we get ever closer to the holidays, life gets more hectic. But the best part of the season is the friends’ Christmas, or, as we call it, our Holiday Champagne Club meeting.
Read MoreThis weekend, K&L Hollywood got together for our annual holiday party. And, if anyone has any doubts, let me assure you that K&L knows how to throw a party. But the highlight for me was the penultimate course: a cheese and Sauternes pairing. Sauternes tastes like springtime sunshine when it is young, and like summer afternoons on a hammock when it is aged. It is pure daylight, and it is amazing—and way under appreciated in America. If you pair it with the right foods—especially the right cheeses—the heavens open up and shine down upon you.
Read MoreI have to admit that I am always skeptical about co-branded products, especially when they have a super cool box. I should know better—the house of Bollinger has a commitment to quality that is second to none, and the 2011 Bollinger "James Bond 007" Brut Champagne exceeded my expectations in every regard.
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This spring, Champagne Buyer Gary Westby was lucky enough to be at Champagne Fallet-Dart in the little hamlet of Drachy, just as they were releasing their 2012 vintage. Our allocation of the 2012 Fallet-Dart Vintage Brut Champagne has now arrived, and he’s very excited about it.
Read MoreHere we have our heavy hitters, our high-scoring, critic-darling wines of 2019. The wines in this newsletter are worthy of cellaring, worthy of gifting, worthy of sipping with the greatest gusto and the greatest of friends. Scores might not be all there is to understanding a wine, but you can at least be assured that some very experienced palates highly endorse these bottles.
Read MoreWe’ve got a win/win proposition for your: fill your Christmas stockings with half-bottles of wine, and then split the bottle with your partner while opening presents.
Read MoreThe last time we had the 2006 Arnauld, Haut-Médoc in stock, I bought a case. I am thrilled that the wine is back in because we have been going through this outstanding Left Bank value a little bit too fast at home.
Read MoreEvery year, Cinnamon and I cook up an early Thanksgiving dinner, which I try and tell everyone is a work project. All of my friends and colleagues see right through me; I love Thanksgiving, and I would be happy to have it three or four times if I could.
Read MoreIf you’ve been following our social media, you might have noticed that one of our favorite women winemakers from France was out last week visiting California. Françoise Antech, the sixth-generation winemaker from her eponymous estate, was on a quick tour of California and managed to stop in all of our stores, holding three staff tastings and two public tastings. Her incredible energy and enthusiasm was absolutely infectious, and her knowledge and stories were a highlight of the week.
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