Wine Blogging Wednesday #53: Wine For Breakfast

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

I had a little trouble with this Wine Blogging Wednesday assignment. I’ve never been much of a daytime drinker, and though I can’t say for certain why, it might have something to do with my upbringing that exposed me to wine about once a year, during the annual Passover Seder (always after sundown!). For those of you who aren’t familiar, the Seder has its participants drinking four cups of wine over the course of the evening.

In my family, however, the four cups of wine were more like four sips, my finger getting more of a taste of the stuff than my mouth, during the recitation of the ten plagues, in which one’s pinky marks a drop on a plate for each epidemic, infestation, and outbreak leading up to the exodus. I actually think we should add an eleventh plague, a drip acknowledging how wretched the Concord Grape wine is itself, but that’s another story.

I won’t draw conclusions about my larger cultural background having to do anything with my lack of daytime drinking (though I think it’s probably not a stretch to say that “my people” aren’t known as big drinkers). But my heritage indeed led me to my menu for this WBW, as my meal consisted of Scrambled Eggs with Lox, a very Jew-y kind dish. I could only muster breakfast-for-dinner if wine were involved, and I hope that’s not too much of a cop-out.

The wine I paired wtih my Lox ‘n Eggs was the 2007 Michel-Schlumberger Pinot Blanc “La Bise,” a dry white that has ample fruit and acidity to balance both the saltiness of the salmon, and the creamy/dairy aspects of the egg dish. I hadn’t looked at the winery notes before selecting this, but find it amusing that they consider this their “brunch wine,” and a great substitute for sparkling wines.

The pairing worked out well. I think next time I’ll take a walk on the wild side and try some wine with breakfast-as-breakfast. Maybe I’ll be truly adventurous and do steak and eggs with a red…well, that’s probably pushing goyishe extremes. I’ll probably start out with some more Lox ‘n Eggs, before noon. Baby steps!

A big thanks as always to Lenn for creating Wine Blogging Wednesday, and to El Jefe for hosting this month. Cheers!

First look: Twisted Oak wine dinner at Ciudad

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

No time to write but here are a few pics (forgive our lack of photography skills) from dinner last night at Ciudad. We had a Tamale in the house, which was especially exciting! Thanks to all who joined. We expect that this is just the first of many wine dinners and Twisted Oak events we’ll be a part of in the coming years.

get your wine on

2008 “Bebame” Red, El Dorado County, California

Cabernet Franc (65%) and Gamay (35%) from - gasp - California! And only 13% ABV, pretty modest by California standards. If I tasted this blind I would probably have said it’s from the Loire Valley. It has pretty much nothing in common with the full bodied iterations of Cab Franc coming out of Napa. Juicy, light, delicious quaffing wine.$18 a bottle

2006 Telegramme Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge

Really balanced and smooth, this is a bargain of a Chateauneuf. Yeah, the 07s are lauded but what would I prefer to drink? This! It’s the second label of Vieux Telegraphe, from the same property but from younger vines. And it’s a deal at $33 a bottle.2006 or bust!

NV Barcino Cava: LA Times Wine of the Week!

Delicious and just in time for New Year’s Eve…this is the LA Times Wine of the Week, and we have plenty in stock. Order online, pick-up in-store!$14 a bottle!

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freshly pressed

3/8/10: First domaineLA Wine Tasting at Susan Feniger’s Street: 5 Wines, $15:

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:
Buy Tickets

wine jargon

Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.


Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.


Frizzante


March 29th, 2008

Scorekage


March 23rd, 2008

Rioja


March 3rd, 2008

grapewise

DomaineLA Store Contact Info
If you’re looking for our brick and mortar shop, here’s where it can be found:

6801 Melrose Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90038

(323) 932-0280

Hours are 11AM to 8PM, Monday through Saturday and noon to 5PM on Sundays.

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Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!

Read more…