Posts belonging to Category Barolo

If you’re talking wine and truffles 2013 has gotten off to a fine start. Forget the sequester, the Lakers and the Oscars. The truffle season in Oregon is in its final throes. The Eno Merchant is about to go live. tBoW just feels good all over. Let’s talk about truffles and Barolo wines! (more…)

Maybe it’s just me but the 2012 happy holidays has just about run its course and we are still a week ahead of December 25. Call me Humbug. Izit the older we get? Perhaps. Do not misunderstand the point here. Life is good. Being alive is good. The terrible tragedy of Newtown CT does not choose the day of occurrence. I just get less tolerant each year with the entire holiday zeitgeist. It seems to get harder and harder to buy in. Dotoré says Dec 21 is his favorite day because that is when he can begin counting down the mental march towards June 21, the longest day of the year, when he finds himself squarely in summer. (more…)

With our lives governed by precious petrol we had little choice but to turn to wine as an alternative fuel source over Labor Day. The Large provided the first tasting session on a perfectly sunny SoCal day. After checking out the SW swell at Salt Creek we retired for a serious and amusing tasting dubbed Le Ruse Rouge de Mooj. The crew assembled for the avalanche of U20 wines laced with commentary heavy in fake Frénch acceñts. Let’s get to it. Many of the wines are still available.

Chris primed the tasters with a nice selection of Rosés that showcased the range of varietals and regions making up this prototypical summer beverage. (more…)

We got lucky when Paul Smith moved his wine shop from the north end of the West Valley to the South end. Changed my ten mile drive to one mile in his new shop, the Woodland Hills Wine Company. Son Kyle runs the place now but you can

ask 4 kaj

usually find Paul glad-handing everyone and selling some of the outstanding selections domestic and international in his store. I love the place for more reasons than the presence of the sardonic Paul. (more…)

her LEGEND is bigger than any wine

Forget the vertical and the varietal. Show me what ya got. Bring out your best and pull the cork. Tasting wine old school. Line em up and suck em down. The tBoW tasting team assembled at Hollywood classic restaurant Marino on Melrose between Highland and Vine. This is always a treat. You want old school this is it from the Rat Pack to Cardinal Mahoney. Owner Mario is beyond accommodating. Marino is cozy with a handful of wall booths and tables. Stem service is perfect. And the food is very well prepared. Perfect site for our sexy sexy wines.

We pulled corks on a 2006 Napa Cabernet, a 2005 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and a 1996 Barolo. We dispensed with the stuffiness that is part of becoming total wine snobs; Pinot Noir only, 10 years old only, $50 plus only, etc. We had three excellent wines of three different varietals in front of us, each in its own differently sized glass so the tippler can return to the right stem without too much mental stumbling, and each representing a distinct region with no attention paid to wine age. Having the 16 year old Barolo would seem risky. Our expectations were unsteady. At a decade older would it hold up? Like LA Legend Angelyne has held up? See photo evidence to the effect. Here are the wine outcomes. (more…)