Posts belonging to Category Importers

Becky Wasserman is choosing and Russell Hone is pouring Red Burgundies. Not only do you get to try great wine, you also get to hear great stories and enjoy a couple of well spent hours. This entry continues coverage of the Woodland Hills Wine Company tasting of Becky Wasserman Selections. tBoW covered the whites, pinks and sparklers in the previous entry.
While Becky staffed the white and pink flight her husband Russel Hone [ed. greeting us above] handled the Red Table. The wines were all very good. What was really special was how the wines became better as we moved up the ladder…really better. (more…)

This is the way it is supposed to be. Hanging out at the local wine haunt – Woodland Hills Wine Company – tasting 13 wines imported by tBoW’s top Burgundy importer – Becky Wasserman – on a late Friday afternoon.
The Divine Ms. W showed of 7 white wines (including a couple Rose’s and three sparklers) and 6 reds. We present the white flight in this post. Saving the red post for next week. If you are chagrined or disappointed please find solace in knowing Paul Smith, aka Mr. WHWC, did admonish the tBoW tasting Team for not heading straight to the good stuff. (more…)

Richard Belloff is a pioneer in Westlake. He opened his cozy wine bar/restaurant Bellavino in Westlake CA in 2003. He has gone through several chefs and enough personal re-tooling to test anyone’s survivability. Yet here he is with his very warm dining establishment, a terrific chef, a wine director, an outrageously attractive Monday night $30 three course special…and a superb wine list. (more…)

This is the second installment of The Best of Wine Importers (go to The Best of Wine Importers Part One). Perhaps this is a continuing series. Perhaps an annual review. At this time, it is part two of my favorite wine importers, currently. The premise is simple. Think cheat-sheet for wine pickens (like the wonderful Slim Pickens). There are so many wines to choose from, and labeling conventions are so distinctively local (nice way to say wine labels aren’t always helpful), and international wines are becoming so abundant…well, a discriminating wine buyer in search of that top price:quality ratio could use some help. Enter the importer, the cheat-sheet, your personal wine buyer. (more…)

No wines less than outstanding and plenty under $20! Dammit.
This topic is a little different. We know this blog is about wines under $20 (dubbed U20 by The Large, recently photoed with John McGlaughlin) that are outstanding or at least not offensive and at least interesting, and worth buying AND drinking. Unfortunately, there are actually so many of these wines we cannot remember even a tiny little sample of them. Like Atlas we carry the weight of heavenly wines on our shoulders, forever searching for relief, testing our beleaguered and weakened memories. (Friendly note – having a wine friend with a strong memory like Dotoré is infinitely helpful). (more…)