Posts belonging to Category Sparkling

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…)

Independence Day produces the usual parties, BBQs and libations. July 4th is not necessarily a wine event like, for example, Thanksgiving. Burgers, dogs and potato salad call for robust reds so tBoW expects to see plenty of Cabernets while hoping to encounter some Rhone style wines as well. And if someone should pop the cork on some frothy fruity high acid white wines, well, that makes blowing off fireworks even better. Here is what we tasted over the holiday. (more…)

It is a very good weekend when jazz at the Hollywood Bowl is followed by visiting art studios in Topanga Canyon. The show at the bowl was better than anticipated. Women artists dominated on stage and in the studios. At the jazz festival Esperanza Spalding, the 24 y.o. singing bassist, was the most anticipated “find”. (more…)

The Holidays are over. Everyone breathe a big sigh. Eleven months before the intense commercialization begins again. Dotoré already senses the approach of a long summer. The best thing about the Holidays for a wine aficionado is the chance to taste stuff that would otherwise go unnoticed, even avoided. There are always surprises. Here were a few of the last we encountered. (more…)

Call me a snob. I think the best dining on the West Coast is in San Francisco (notable exception Bashan in Montrose, Lou in Hollywood). In LA fine dining is first and foremost measured by how costly is the dinner (lower cost = worse fare). I also believe that fine dining in LA invariably comes in two flavors: Italian or the mega-steak house. Given a choice I will take Italian any day over the Mortons and Mastros gang (especially local fare like Giovanni in Woodland Hills). Today’s steakhouses are modern day cafeterias. They all serve the same stuff essentially the same way. Given a choice I will take LA’s international choices (Chinese in Monterey Park, Mexican – Tamayo – in East LA, Korean in mid-Wilshire, D’ Cache - Argentine – in Burbank) every time over asparagus, spuds with lobster and a New York I can burn myself on my home grill. [ed. Dined at Cube in West Hollywood and found it very Frisco-like in an LA way so things are looking up around here...now if could just convince restaurateurs to serve something other than Cabernet and Chardonnay...some are, some are...but not enough!] (more…)

Just flew in from Buenos Aires and boy is my palate tired.
The 14 day tour took us to Buenos Aires, Iguazu and Mendoza. I tried to poo-poo Iguazu as just another tourist trap but I was WRONG. Here is a youtube vid with a Moby track that in a very small way captures the majesty of this must-visit site for those of you traveling to Argentina. (more…)

It is OK to stop eating now. And let me tell you the ladies who hosted the New Years Eve party (Tootsie) and the New Years Day party (Lettie) made it impossible to slow the cascade down my gullet. Prime rib and lasagna were followed by a torrent of extra special wines.
We can all go back to drinking excellent everyday U20 wines. The 2007 Christmas/Hannukah/New Years/Wedding Anniversary holidays are CLOSED. USC is the best football team in the nation and will open the 2008 rankings in the top 3. And we open at home against Ohio State. Now back to work! (more…)

One of the early sequences in the Monty Python epic “The Holy Grail” is the “bring out your dead” scene (youtube link brings instant gratification lads and lassies). I am not sure why that scene reminds me of my Christmas Day party. Maybe because the day offers a few chuckles over some kinky exchanges. We had both this year with the surprise arrival of Little Stevie who moved to Paris several decades ago and made a life as a successful photog. Check out Steve Murez website. In the course of his very cool career he has been retained by the Wine Spectator to shoot wine dinners at 3 star Michelin restaurants around Europe and in the USA (that would be New York mainly). I wish I had pressed him more for Speculator stories. He did say something nice about Jim Suckling. He strongly suggested I rent Mondo Vino which is the Sicko of the wine industry so I could learn about the cozy relationships between big advertisers and high ratings. I will watch it. I already know that the Wine Spectator is the last place I would look for touts. I used to subscribe to WS and the Underground Wine Journal. More of that some other time. How interesting that Mondo Vino is also the name of a hot shit Denver wine shop (inadvertent web surfing outcome). (more…)

With a double bar/t mitzvah in Palo Alto (Papa Ricolini vogues Tevya at reception) we saw the opportunity to extend a few days and hit Napa as long as we were so near. A trip to Napa is always mixed for me…at least at the outset. Visiting with good friends is a plus. But given the pure wine-country choice I would prefer to visit almost anywhere else like Paso Robles or even better Walla Walla.
Napa is silly. Take the tasting rooms…please. [apologetic link to Henny Youngman insult machine] In Napa they have tasting galleries. U20 wines? Not in Napa no way no how. It costs at least $20 just to taste wines in the galleries. The Del Dotto Gallery demands $40 and they keep the glass. And they are hardly the exception. If you plan on tasting at Del Dotto, Stags Leap and Opus in the same day bring a couple hundies…for the privilege of sipping and spitting in a bucket. The way I get around the over-the-top silliness of Napa is to make sure I visit Carneros first. Which means a visit with McKenzie-Mueller. (more…)