Newsletter Archive

Finnegan's Lake Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Lodi, California - $10.99/btl

     We weren't planning on featuring two California cabernets in a row, but in keeping with the idea of promoting the best values we can find....this is undoubtedly the best value we've found since the Old River Road Cab made its way to our bar a little over a month ago. 

     Fin. is a project from Sherbrooke Cellars, an importer/wholesaler based out of White Plains, New York.  Wading out into the $10-$15 California Cab crowd is a dicey proposition where you could easily get lost in a sea of mediocre juice and pop marketing.  Technically, this is considered a "critter wine" since it has a cute animal on the label to entice you to buy it.  But really, they could have put a thousand roaches and a picture of Bin Laden on the label and this would still sell based on the juice inside.  CLICK HERE to continue reading...

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Something In This Box Wants to Get Out....Thank God It's Not a Mime

Capote Velho Vinho de Mesa Tinto, NV, Portugal   $30.99/ 5 Liter Box

Whenever possible, I think it's smart to confront your fears head on...that's why you'll often see mention of mimes and clowns in our titles.  Anyway, that's beside the point.  We're here to talk about wine in a box... 5 whole friggin' liters (6.67 bottles) of stainless-steel fermented tinto roriz (aka tempranillo) in a bag, in a box, wrapped in a secret, and swaddled with an enigma.  If El Dorado were a cheap, medium-bodied, fruity wine that goes down smooth room temperature or chilled, and tastes as good on day 25 as it does on day 1........then we found it. 

Scents of violets, earth and spice

Tastes of blackberries, strawberries, white pepper, with light tannins

11.5% alcohol

drink it, cook with it, love it

** the Capote box is part of tonight's Friday tasting and is available by-the-glass at the bar for the forseeable future **

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Fancy New Arrivals

These aren't exactly recession wines, but if you have a gift to give to that someone who loves wine to no end, one of these hard-to-get bottles might be the right bet...

Justin Isosceles 2006, Paso Robles, California - $54.99/btl  (8 bottles left)

Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Walla Walla, Washington - $89.99/btl  (4 bottles left)

Leonetti Cellar Reserve 2006, Walla Walla, Washington - $148.99/btl (2 bottles left)

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BYOW

Not only is bringing your own wine to restaurants catching on in popularity, but bringing food in to CoWineCo is catching on, too. Yup, you can bring in food from outside anytime you like during bar hours.  And to encourage this lovely trend, we're dropping our corkage fee from $10 to $5 a bottle.  Wednesday is still $0 corkage as always.  So support local Eagle Rock establishments like Larkin's, Brownstone Pizza, Camillo's, Columbo's, Coffee Table, Oinkster, Blue Hen and Dave's by picking up your food to go, grabbing a table at CoWineCo and selecting from the wines on our shelves.

     There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal last week about a restaurant in New York that is not just waiving corkage on Sundays to encourage customers to bring their own wine, they're celebrating the idea by discussing each wine with the customer and giving them a corkscrew to keep.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we recently had dinner in Carmel at a restaurant that charged us $45/btl corkage.  They had a nice view but....$45?  Ouch.   

     In a year where restaurants are dropping like flies, we wonder what you're experiencing with your favorite restaurants.  Is the economic pinch pushing customer service back to the forefront where it belongs?  Let us know by commenting on our blog. 

This seems like as good a time as ever to bring back the great Corkage Schmorkage list.  Our list is in dire need of updating so please, leave comments with wine-friendly, low-corkage restaurant suggestions or restaurants with new corkage policies that we haven't updated.

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Regular Wine Tasting Schedule

*** We hold tastings twice a week on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons , and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays the bar is open for wines by the glass . Please see our calendar for details on any given day: www.cowineco.com/calendar ***

Wine Tasting: Chris, The Ultimate Foodie

Friday, April 17th

5:30-8:30pm

(wines by the glass also available from 4:00 to 11pm)

$15/person

5 wines and gourmet cheeses from Auntie Em's Marketplace

Please RSVP to: info@cowineco.com or (323) 478-1985

So tonight we celebrate Christopher Columbus....now before we get boycotted for rooting for a controversial figure in history, specifically we're celebrating the ridiculous fact that 517 years ago today, Spain told Chris to "go get some spices in Asia".  Seriously....that is real commitment to flavor.  You have to really have the munchies to charter a fleet of ships to get some new flavors.  I think we might do the same to Jim the intern.  Jim, go to Antarctica or Andorra or somewhere and bring back some new wine flavors.....and step on it.   We'll let you know what Jim finds.

Cheers to the epic quest for flavors!  Come tip a glass and try some new finds including CoWineCo's first box wine and a pretty remarkable Sauvignon Blanc deal from Chile.  

wines

Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde, Portugal

Terra Andina Sauvignon Blanc, Chile

Capote Velho Tinto NV, Portugal

Feiler-Artinger Zweigelt, Austria

Anglim Syrah, Paso Robles, California

Lazy Sunday Tasting

Sunday, April 19th

1-4pm

$12/person

4 wines and gourmet cheeses from Auntie Em's Marketplace

No RSVP necessary

wines

(call for other selections)

Wine Cellar Wednesdays

Every Wednesday

4-11pm

No corkage fee on any bottles in the store!

Grab anything off the shelf for the price of the bottle, ask the nice bartender for some glasses, sit, and enjoy

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After our very vocal and very consistent Wednesday crowd stole our lunch money and told us to extend our hours on Wednesday night OR ELSE...... we decided to go along with it.

No Corkage Wednesday....Now Open until 11pm!!!

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The Poll Booth - The Missing Link

     In the last poll, we asked all of you where CoWineCo should open a 2nd store.  We received a ton of questions so here are some answers:  no, we're not leaving Eagle Rock, yes, we're considering a second store, no, we don't know the time period, yes, we're considering more areas than just the ones listed in our poll.  Turns out most of you want us in Pasadena/S. Pasadena with 2nd place being a tie between downtown and Burbank.  All this feedback helps us tremendously when pondering our future as a business. 

     New poll... What's missing out there?  We get this question from winemakers, importers and distributors all the time.  They want to know what people are buying and what people are requesting that they can't find.  We could guess, but why not go right to the source?  What is under represented on your wine store shelves?  Affordable Sangiovese?  Non-Champagne bubblies?  CLICK HERE to vote in our homepage poll.

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See You Soon,

John and Jen

Why beer is better than wine: "....human feet are conspicuously absent from beer making."
~ Steve Mirsky, Scientific American (May, 2007)