Posts belonging to Category Importers

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 ‚Äì having a wine friend with a strong memory like Dotor√© is infinitely helpful). (more…)