Hometown Pairing

     We're going to start a series of hometown wine pairings every once in awhile here in the newsletter. For us, hometown means our very own Eagle Rock. For those customers outside of Eagle Rock, hopefully this will encourage you to try some of our fine dining establishments if you haven't already. For those locals out there...you've probably had the food, but try the wine pairing. Trust us...it's damn good.

     First we're going to begin with Oinkster. Chef Andre Guerrero branched out in Eagle Rock as his third venture, after MAX and SENOR FRED in Sherman Oaks. The idea was to do gourmet fast food, keep the menu small, provide a cool outdoor space, and watch the crowds roll in. Well after dozens of shining reviews including comments from Jonathan Gold suggesting they had some of the best roasted chicken and fries in Southern California, they're doing rather well. But, I digress. I'm here to talk about pastrami. House cured pastrami, to be exact. Oinkster cures their pastrami for two weeks, rubs it with a special spice blend and smokes it with applewood. It's messy, it's complex, it's fantastic. So how to make it better? Wine, of course.

      Our suggestion is the Owen Roe Ex Umbris Syrah 2006, Columbia, Washington ($23.99/btl).  We love virtually everything that Owen Roe bottles, but this one specifically is a dead ringer for the Oinkster pastrami.  There's enough fruit to balance out the spice in the pastrami, but also enough spice and smoke to compliment to the toastiness of the applewood.  We stumbled upon this pairing a few months ago when Jennifer and I were exhausted from a long baby week (parents...you get it) and we happened to have the Ex Umbris open at the bar when we grabbed Oinkster take-out.  It's as if the pastrami and syrah saw each other across a crowded room and walked in slow motion to each other's arms.  It was that dramatic.  Seriously.  We were crying while eating just thinking about it.  That could have been exhaustion, but we choose to think it was the love affair between our wine and food. 

     Try it.  You'll agree.  Also, have other perfect pairings with restaurant items in your 'hood?  Comment below.

I'm So Hangry I Might Hit You And Have a Blintz

     A good friend of ours coined the term "hangry", referring to that point when you're so hungry it's just making you angry.  Well, when you work at a retail counter and/or bar for as many hours as we do each week, you start to see how the weather affects people en masse.  So that leads me to another definition of hangry -- when you're so HOT you're about ready to punch a kitten and crawl in your crisper for a nap.  And that long, long lead-up gets us to wine and heat.

     We get this question all the time -- what do I do with my wine if I have no A/C at my house?  This is pretty important because here in Eagle Rock, it's supposed to hit 104 degrees tomorrow and heat and oxygen are the mortal enemies of any wine.  First of all, don't throw the wine in your trunk where there is definitely no A/C and run errands for two hours.  At your home or apartment, by far the best thing to have is a wine fridge.  With wine becoming more and more popular over the last few years, there are many options at many price levels from counter-top units around $70 to ridiculous monstrosities for the price of a nice house. 

     If you have no A/C at home and no wine fridge, the common practice is to pick the coolest place in your house to store wine which can be the floor of your closet.  It's probably the coolest place in the house with no direct sunlight.  But when the weather is in triple digits for more than a couple days, this won't cut it.  So just put the wine in your normal refrigerator.  Unless you need long-term storage for a vintage, fragile wine, a normal fridge is just fine.  And yes, you'll read articles about the vibrations of the compressor damaging the wine but really, from that $8 sauv blanc to the $50 '06 California pinot, you have nothing to worry about unless you're going to stick it in there for years and years on end.  Just remember to let both whites and reds warm up to a proper temperature before drinking.  Or, if you're soooooo hot you're dying of thirst and need wine immediately (or Thangry), just tip that cold bottle up.  No one's going to tattle.

     Have other inventive creations to cool your wine?  Leave a comment or vote on our homepage poll.