Just got back from Water Grill. We did a work lunch there just now. Corkage is max up to a case of wine apparently. I think the best strategy might be to have the waiter open up all the bottles at once and pass bottles around/pour ourselves. This way we won’t have awkward moments of waiter accidentally pouring stuff that people don’t want into people’s glasses.
Hello,
I recently moved to LA from NYC and I’m looking to meet fellow winos. I live in DTLA. Is it just me, or are there no good wine shops in my area? Does anyone have any recommendations? Nothing against Whole Foods, but I find it sad that the best selection in DTLA is at the neighborhood supermarket.
If you have room left in the party, please add me.
Cheers,
David
David,
Welcome to LA. I am also recently back to the city after several years in New York.
You’ve got some solid shops not far from you but all require a short drive. Check out Lou Wine Shop (a recent find for me with regular tastings), K&L (large store with a good spirits selection as well), and another recent find - Urban Radish in the Arts District. Urban Radish is also a supermarket but has a more interesting wine selection than a typical supermarket. Silverlake Wine is another option and I note that they also have an Arts District location though I have not been there. I would recommend avoiding Silver Lake wine on tasting nights, though - it is packed and unpleasant.
I live a short red line away in South Pasadena and would be interested in getting together somewhere within a reasonable distance of downtown. There was some discussion upthread of splitting off the interest into an East and a West dinner but the East dinner never came together.
Thanks for the pro tips! I’ll definitely have to check out those shops. Would it be possible for me to join the current group? I’ve been meaning to try Water Grill. Definitely down for East dinners in the future!
David,
I’m not on the list for the dinner on the 15th - too long of a hike to Santa Monica for me that day. I’m sure one of the guys upthread will help you out.
Eric
There’s a shop downtown called Buzz, I don’t know much about it but the LA times wrote about them a couple years back.
Hi Bryan! I started a thread where I got suggestion from offline veterans on their best-practices for offlines. There were some great suggestions in there!
I’m going to update the Original Post with info on the format we’ll use for this offline.
Hi David! There are some wine shops, but each has it’s strengths and weaknesses. I’ll drop you a PM.
Regarding the get together on the 15th, I will add you and update the attendee list!
^ I completely agree with Eric’s reco’s. I’d add that Lou’s is especially good for slightly less usual wines (which I love). Bar Covell can be a fun place to play and taste wines, though it is not a shop. I would also add Monopole in Pasadena. Store with a fun educational-oriented wine bar at back that does blind tasting Fridays (and attratcs ppl prepping for somm exams) plus other tasting themes. I like the wine bar better than the store to be honest.
UPDATE
IMPORTANT
- Attendees, please PM me with what you’re thinking of bringing so I can plan and co-ordinate better. Thanks.
- No surprise guests, please. Let me know if you have someone who would like to join us.
- Each person is responsible for ordering and paying for their own food.
- Please bring cash for your food. I will request separate checks for each attendee’s party, but in the case that some of us need to be on a shared check, cash makes it easier to split the check at the end (no worrying about whose card to use).
- I don’t think it’s fair to ask the restaurant, on zero corkage, to supply us with 64 wine glasses (8 people drinking 8 wines simultaneously) so I suggest, since we are rookies and not about to bring that many glasses ourselves, that we limit our glasses to perhaps three per person.
Let me know if you have any suggestions about the above list, or if you would like to be added to the attendee list. Corkage is free at Water Grill. They do have a ten bottle max per table.
Thanks for adding me to the attendee list, Barry. I checked out Lou’s and Silverlake Wine Shop today. Lou’s was definitely interesting-- they don’t have a set inventory and shelve new producers all the time.
I’m surprised at how few Napa wines were in the shops. It doesn’t seem like many shops carry the mainstream popular Napa cabs like Shafer, Chappellet, Stags, Cakebread, Duckhorn, Frog’s Leap, etc. and prefer to carry interesting Old World wines.
Check out K&L in Hollywood when you get a chance. Yes, still more old world than Napa, but they cover Napa pretty well. Also, check out their website–you have order bottles in stock at other stores for a will-call pick up at the Hollywood store.
+1 on K&L, great overall selection. Domaine LA is another shop in the same style as Lou and Silverlake Wine, and Everson Royce in Pasadena – more “interesting” selections and fun tastings, places that I think are better to pick up a bottle or two to try, but not as much for stocking up on staples or buying in quantity. The Whole Foods in dtla actually has a broad selection as well but the pricing for some selections can be steep. Further out/longer drives gives you access to some other shops that have great selections and pricing – Winehouse in west LA, Wine Exchange and HiTime in mid OC, Woodland Hills in the Valley.
Interesting article above on the wine buyer at Buzz, I wonder if she’s still there? They do have a very nice selection but the pricing was high, I suppose it’s the price of convenience, but I think of it more as a beer place.
Here’s a question for you dlee: what type of wine store do you really like/want to find? What do you enjoy in a wine store?
Then we can guide you to the L.A. version of that.
K&L has fun tastings on Saturdays. I think this upcoming sat is wines of the pacific nw.
Couple quick thoughts re Saturday:
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Getting SUPER excited to share some vino with all of you! This is an event about fun, camaraderie and shared love of wine. It’s not about ‘who brought the best wine’ so let’s not compare our wine to others’ – every wine there is OURS not ‘mine’ or ‘yours’ so think of the wine you bring as a contribution to our shared learning. There are no ‘bad’ wines.
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If you haven’t let me know the wine you are brining yet, please PM me and let me know so I can sort out a possible order and also ensure no duplicates etc.
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Veteran Berserkers have suggested it’s good form for us to leave the unfinished bottles there at the restaurant for the staff. Please consider this when choosing the wine you bring. If you’re gonna feel raw about leaving a quarter bottle of it behind, you may want to bring something else.
If you have any questions send me a PM or use my cell number (all attendees should have received a message with my contact info)
FYI, for those still selecting what to bring, thus far we have the following being brought…
1 Champagne
1 White Blend
1 Full-Bodied, Dry/Off-Dry White
1 Pinot
1 Tempranillo
2 Cabernet Sauvignon
Those bringing red, a reminder to consider slow-ox or double-decant (decant then back into bottle) before bringing your bottle if it’s warranted. Want to make sure all our wines are given their best chance to show themselves.
How was it?
Well you want to make sure she drinks! ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}