Photo courtesy of djjewelz

I’m tardy in posting this, and what I’m posting this morning is actually only about 1/2 complete…so expect a few modifications and additions as the next few days progress. In the meantime, a small bit of background:

As some of you may know, I helped design the wine list for LudoBites 3.0 at Royal/T in Culver City this past December. Despite a new location for 4.0 that is BYO-only, Gram & Papa’s in Downtown Los Angeles, Ludo and Krissy Lefebvre have been generous and creative as always, and we’ve collaborated to come up with a way to keep me involved with LudoBites.

So, what you’ll find here — at the domaineLA (aka domaine547) e-commerce site — is a Virtual Wine List: a wine list designed for a restaurant without wine sales on location, designed as a resource for restaurant-goers to draw on as they choose wines to bring from home appropriate to the cuisine Ludo is serving.

While I’ll share some sample items with you in this blog post, you can go to the domaineLA e-commerce site for the complete list of wines with descriptions and suggested food pairings (all available for purchase). And of course you can always come to the shop at 6801 Melrose to find these bottles and more. Or, feel free to call me at (323) 932-0280. We offer delivery services too!

After the jump, more info on the wines and pairings from the FoodDigger event last night…

Read more…

Just a quick note to let you know that a week from today, on Monday, March 8th, 2010, I’ll be hosting the first domaineLA wine tasting event at Susan Feniger’s Street, with the Manincor winery of Italy. The importer and winemaker will both be present to chat about the five wines being poured (including an unusual and delicious dry moscato), and the wines will be paired with light bites.

The best news is that the event will cost just $15 a person…a bargain! Swing by between 6PM and 8PM — I hope to see lots of you there!

Susan Feniger’s Street, 742 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Oh, and you can buy tickets in advance, online by clicking here:

But I’m not. Funny, it was pointed out to me that domaine547.com appears as a successful example of social media in wine (juxtaposed against the Wine Spectator of all things) in this recent presentation (see slide #25). I guess they haven’t looked at the blog lately; it hasn’t been updated in weeks.

Really, in my internet-only days, I never understood why Brick and Mortar retailers didn’t take the time to blog. Now I know. They don’t have the time!

Seriously. Even in the downtime when there aren’t any customers — which, let’s face it, exists in decent quantity — there’s always something to be done at the store that takes priority…from the very lowly tasks, like sweeping, to the equally tedious but still mundane paying of bills, or putting price labels on bottles, to tasting wine with reps, it all has to get done. And I am here without support staff a fair amount of the time.

Suffice it to say, to all those out there giving speeches about social media and the importance of it to branding for wineries and wine stores, people, for the most part, get it. I know I get it! But finding the time is another story. And finding a voice? Even harder.

So at the moment, what I’m doing is tweeting (@domaineLA), because tweeting is very time un-intensive. A tweet takes a few seconds, and I think I get both my voice and my point (when I have one) across in these little quick spurts. I don’t know that it’s enough, but at least it’s something.

I really hope to get back to blogging soon. I swear, I do! But right now I have something very important to do, so you’ll have to excuse me while I go empty the trash can in the bathroom…

Umami Burger’s truck has been parked today on Citrus just north of Melrose, and in addition to a welcome expansion to my lunchtime options (and an unwelcome expansion of my belly), I’m pleased to report that Adam Fleischman, owner of the enterprise, made a most generous offer to me as I waited for my burger:

For any bottle purchased at domaineLA, Adam will waive corkage at the Umami Burger locations that are licensed to serve wine. This leaves out the original La Brea location, but includes Los Feliz and Cahuenga (and, perhaps, Santa Monica when it opens).

So, come get a bottle of wine and pop it open at Umami on the house. Make sure to tell me that you intend to do so when purchasing the wine, and I’ll mark the bottle so Umami knows where it came from.

Also, I have a similar arrangement with Susan Feniger’s Street, so if you have yet to try that restaurant out and want to bring your own, stop by and I’ll help you pair something with your pupusas. Again, let me know so I can mark the bottle.

Cheers to a great 2010 with lots of yummy, affordable food and wine for all.