LA Rookies / Casual meetup?

It seems like the LA scene is a bit dead. Anyone out there who’d be up for a regular meetup based around quality wine that isn’t always north of $50? Seems like the best way to taste for people who aren’t particularly wealthy.

Sounds worthwhile to me!

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I would be interested if weekends work.

I’m in. I’ve been looking for exactly this.

Getting a little traction…

Weekends would be good. I’d like to try to keep it to BYOB places or people’s houses etc. to avoid extra charges. Keeping it economical is important for me…

Boy I would like to be in. Can we push the threshold to 65?

Im definitely game for this. Haven’t done any offline events yet and would love to meet some new people and learn as much as i can. I also love the idea of doing it at peoples houses too; not so noisy, stemware is better, no rush to make room for the next group of people waiting to eat, no corkage fee…the list goes on. Sign me up!

With my wife’s consent we can do it at our home so long as no one looks unto the living room.

Would love to be included on this as well. Weekends are much better for me also

I’m interested though weeknights better. I’ll monitor this and see where you end up.

btw. I have a +1 the gf who hates my spendings on wine…

But she’ll happily drink it.

Starting to sound like a decently sized group so far. My gf is also a +1 but for the most part I would count her out except for the rare occasion. Not sure if most of you are from the valley (that’s me) or the other side of the hill, but if we get a quick consensus of where everyone is sprawled out we can see what is most convenient for everyone…
Without stealing your authoritative thunder on this thread dtmoss, is everyone here able to get together the first or second weekend of November? I’ve got both weekends open on my calendar as of now. [cheers.gif]

As of now those weekends are good for me. I am in Los Feliz, but am willing to travel within reason.

As far as increasing limits, for me it really depends on how often we meet and how often we are right at the limit. I guess it also depends on whether every person needs to bring a bottle every time? It’s not like we need to drink 750ml each in one sitting… I am a recent college grad who can’t afford an expensive bottle every weekend, though that may change in the not so distant future.

As long as the group is flexible and okay with it not being a three star affair all the time, I think it will work out just fine for me.

And I’m guessing I speak for everyone when I say +1s are always welcome, the more the merrier.

Either of the first two weekends in November should work for me as well. I am in South Pasadena so the north half of LA works best but on weekends I have more flexibility to drive if necessary.

I don’t think that we need to worry too much about specific dollar limits. I think that the general intent of the group is a good one and sets us off well. I’ve been a part of a number of different tasting groups in different places and the best ones have always been relatively unconcerned with whether your bottle cost $5 more than my bottle. If we’re all on this board we’re likely not drinking much supermarket wine so whatever we bring is likely to been interesting to us for one reason or another, regardless of price. One of the things that I really appreciate about these groups is the opportunity to taste and be introduced to new things, especially if they don’t cost a lot.

I would like to be able to host occasionally but my wife is not yet sold on the idea. I’ll try to bring her along to an early one to convince her.

If you’re going to go to a wine gathering it seems rather odd to not bring a bottle.

I thought so too, Charlie, though assumed that was likely to sort itself out. I don’t think that I’ve ever been to a tasting where there was a ratio less than 1:1. I read it more as a concern over total cost over time (thou bottle shalt be $65.00 or thou shalt be burned at the stake), which is why I felt like it made sense to focus on the quality of the wine and likely interest a bottle might generate than how much it cost.

I’ve seen you on the board with a Pasadena tag so I’ve been on the lookout when I’m out tasting. I think you posted on the Vinotera oyster/Champagne thread so I watched for you but didn’t see anyone with a mustache and red scarf. I’m sure that we’ll run into each other eventually.

Im right there with Charlie as well. Seeing as this is really a QPR focused group there really shouldn’t be any worry of cost over time the way I see it.

Since it would seem appropriate that we have a couple of offlines at restaurants before people feel comfortable enough to host a group in their homes does anyone have any good suggestions? The only restaurants that have a BYOB policy that I know of are limited to downtown… Anything out in Pasadena or other areas that’s noteworthy? [scratch.gif]

Ha. I went to the oyster/champagne thing last year, but not this year. I rarely rarely do any wine events in pasadena. If I do, it’s typically at my house, which might be only once a year.

That’s exactly what I was getting at, Eric. As long as that mentality is shared between members I’ll be really happy.