Recently, we flew back east to see the family on Virgin America (yes, Virgin, free advertising...in return we accept free tickets, upgrades, and pretty, shiny objects) and learned something we never knew before regarding flying with wine.  A flight attendant asked what was in our rather large shipper box and we told them "lots of wine" because the closest wine store to where we were headed was about fifty miles away.  Now we always thought that the danger of putting wine in a wool sock in your suitcase was that it could easily break and you lose the wine and ruin your belongings all at once.  Nope, that's the least of your worries.  Suitcases are often stacked so if yours is on top and the wine leaks through onto all the other bags, they will actually trace it all back to your suitcase and make you pay for everyone's belongings.  She mentioned it happens fairly often and the bill can be in the thousands. 

     So, to all those customers who asked about flying with wine - we were TOTALLY kidding when we said just wrap it up in some underwear.  Get it?  Great joke.  Totally, totally, kidding.

Folks, 215 years ago this Friday (08/07/09), a bunch of farmers in Pennsylvania didn't like the idea of higher taxes on their booze, so they united and revolted against their government in the Whiskey Rebellion.  We here in California are about to experience another alcohol tax to help with the budget shortfall (understatement of the year).  Quick soapbox moment...you're not just taxing drinks that come from a drink fairy in the sky, you're taxing small businessess like ours and the loyal customers they serve.  Bailouts for big companies and a kick in the ass for the enterpeneurs yet again.  It's really too easy to demonize the word "alcohol" in our country.  Tax that bad stuff that people can get drunk from!!!  So what to do?  Legalize controlled marijuana and experts say California alone will have over a billion dollars in taxes in the first year alone.   There, done.  Now let's have a responsible glass of wine or two and deal with some REAL issues.  Like instituting a Mime Tax but they have to pay in REAL money, not monetary gestures.  Or that "Sewer Gnome" issue.

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.

Antonio Martinez, Founder, Antalva Imports

Importers of Great Import

     If you happen to not just imbibe wine, but follow some of the happenings in the wine world either through wine magazines or wine blogs, you've probably run across articles about different importers. These maverick grape slingers are often the unsung heroes of your local wine store shelves, taking chances on previously unknown or unpopular varietals and grape growing regions all for the glory of our tastebuds. The best ones are driven by an unstoppable passion to deliver to your dinner table an unforgettable experience they had possibly hundreds of thousands of miles away in the dank basement of a three hundred year old winery. Their wiring doesn't allow them to sip, smile and move on.  To them, a great wine stands up and demands to be shared with the rest of the world.

     Every once in awhile, we're going to take the time to introduce you to some of these importers, beginning with Antonio Martinez, President and Founder of Antalva Imports.  Antonio is a one man show....the same guy pouring the wine at our bar for us to taste, is just weeks later walking the vineyards of the wineries he repesents and looking for new ones.  We know this because we often screw up and call his cell phone to order some wine finding out that it's the middle of the night where he is.  Email..email...got to you remember to email.

     Antalva Imports was founded in 2001, based on the idea of bringing premium Spanish wines to the American market. The philosophy of the company is to seek out small producers with a commitment to value as well as quality. Martinez has been in the California wine industry for over ten years. Born in Spain, Antonio has always had a desire to bring the culture and lifestyle of his country - expressed through its wine - to America. After years in the wine industry and numerous trips back to Spain, he recognized that many exceptional wines had yet to be discovered and enjoyed by the American public. Antonio joined his passion for Spanish wine with his desire to share his culture and created Antalva Imports.  It's meeting and working with people like Antonio that continues to make us happy we dove head first into this business. 

Here's a list of wines we carry from Antalva Imports:

Vina Santurnia Crianza Rioja 2004, Spain

Vina Santurnia Riserva Rioja  2002, Spain (coming soon)

Faristol Garnacha 2006, Terre de Alta, Spain

Pago de Valdoneje Mencia 2005, Bierzo, Spain

Coto de Hayas Garnacha Centenaria 2005, Campo de Borja, Spain

Deobriga Crianza Rioja 2004, Spain

Crucillon Tinto 2005, Spain

Pago de los Capellanes Joven 2006, Ribera del Duero, Spain    

     Have you heard of these lost, under-appreciated superheroes, "supertasters"? About 25% of the U.S. population are considered supertasters, meaning that they have at least twice the amount of tastebuds that we boring/regular/average tasters have. Now, if two of you live in a house and your significant other can't describe what he or she tasting as well as you can, that doesn't mean you're a supertaster. That might just mean that your spouse just isn't the sharpest tack in the tackle box.

     But would it be better to be a supertaster? Would you sit there at dinner and just get lost in the millions of layers each bite of gourmet food had, washing over you for hours? Many think the experience of being a supertaster is more likely just the opposite. The subtle spiciness of a dish is for you, too spicy to keep in your mouth. The light acidity of a finessed Cabernet Franc is to you, just pure acidity. A little oak on a nice Spanish tempranillo could be like chugging a vile of vanilla.

     So you supertasters, choose wisely. You average tasters, be happy you can enjoy twice the range of foods and wines that supertastes sometimes cannot. Are you a supertaster? Do you have a friend who insists that they can taste a wine from 4 feet away? Comment below.

     Well, I just smashed a bottle of Champagne against the bow of my monitor here to celebrate the first post on our new wine blog - Wine For Everyone.  "Wine For Everyone" does sound a bit like "Hands Across America" or "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", but it is pretty much the tagline to our store.  The idea was to create an environment that didn't cater to wine snobs, collectors, 30-somethings, 10-somethings or anyone in particular.  We wanted a place where everyone felt comfortable talking about, learning about, or drinking wine. 

     Two years later, we're getting this blog up and running to finally get some feedback from you about where you are in the world of wine.  Is it new and terrifying?  Has it been your lifelong passion?  Do you only drink wine to get to the corks and make little action figures out of them?  It's all fine.  Because for all of the layers of B.S. heaped on top of the subject of wine, it is still fermented grape juice.  Tasty, complex, mystifying grape juice, yes.  But fermented grape juice, all the same.

     I've mentioned this in our newsletters before, but hands down, the best wine blog I have found on the interwebs is Eric Asimov's "The Pour" on the NYtimes website.  CLICK HERE to go there now.

     Eric just has a way of writing about wine so that you learn a great deal every post, but aren't made to feel stupid in the process.  My least favorite wine blogs are the ones that suggest that you live in a hole in the ground if you haven't already heard of the Blah Blah Estate Reserve Whammo Cabernet from Doctor whatshisname.  What?  Oh my god!  I haven't spend $80 on the new cult wine!!!  I must be one big ass!

     Alright, rant done.  Have suggestions for other wine blogs?  Let us know.