Malm's the Word, The Other Melville,Oh the Places You'll Rock, and Hands Up!

In addition to our regularly scheduled programming, we're excited about a few special events in March. More details to follow on each event in future newsletters, but get them in your calendars now becausespots sell out quickly for our winemaker tastings.

Upcoming Special Events:

Saturday, March 10th - Hands Up: Paintings by Rebekah Hunter - Art Opening , 4-7pm

Thursday, March 15th - Tasting with Winemaker Bill Easton of Easton and Terre Rouge Wines , 7-9pm$20/person

Saturday, March 24th - Tasting with winemaker Kent Humphrey of Eric Kent Winery , evening tasting (exact hours TBD), $20/person

RSVP for winemaker tastings to info@cowineco.com or (323) 478-1985

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Malm's the Word

So, this fancy little Pinot here, just sitting there on the bar last Friday night and not part of our regular tasting, sold faster than any other wine we've poured at CoWineCo. Irene Virbila's swooning review in the LATimes last week didn't hurt, I imagine. Brendan Malm drives down from San Francisco, delivering cases and cases of this wine himself out of the back of a white pick-up truck. He arrived at our store the day the article was published andwe're pretty sure his feet weren't touching the ground as he wheeled our cases in the front door with a gigantic smile on his face. Needless to say, we sold out (in about 20 minutes), but we have a new truckload arriving by Tuesday (possibly today - call ahead).This wine is first come, first served, soif you can'tmake it to the store in the near future,please emai usif you're interested! info@cowineco.com

2005 Malm Cellars Sonoma County Pinot Noir - $19.99/btl

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Hands Up: Paintings by Rebekah Hunter

We're pleased to announce that CoWineCo has received yet another makeover with all new paintings from artist, Rebekah Hunter. Rebekah was born in the North of England. After finishing Art/Design School, she headed for the lights of London and started fashion styling for commercials and television showsto get some cash but never stopped painting.She then found herself in Malta on a Feature Film withher husband Julian, where she met and studied under Anton Grech, a fantastic post grad teacher in fine art who, Rebekah says, "inspired me beyond words."She picked up the brush full-time after that and moved to Los Angeles four years ago.

Please join us for the official art opening!

Saturday, March 10th

4pm-7pm

Wines by the glass ranging from $5-$10/glass

Complimentary gourmet cheeses from Auntie Em's Marketplace

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The Other Melville

     If you haven't entirely blocked out that part of your brain that retains high school and college English class, the name Melville probably conjures up aconfused image of a white whalewearing a "Hello, My Name is Ishmael" sticker. But, if you've been drinking California wine for any time at all, you've probably run across the other Melville, a top-notch winery in the Santa Rita Hills appellation in Lompoc (the same appellations for suchlabels as Sea Smoke, Badge, Fiddlehead, Babcock, and Sanford).

     We met withSanta Rita Hills Vineyard Manager Chad Melvillea couple weeks agoand walked the vineyards with him to see what made Melville tick. Chad sharesthe samephilosophy with head winemaker,Greg Brewer, that the more you let nature take its course, the better the wine. As Chad described it, "we're just here toprevent really bad thingsfrom happening."

    Probably the most fascinating moment in our conversation was when Chad showed us one specific part of their sustainable farming techniques. The use of "cover cropping" is the practice of planting a mixture of greens called "green manure" in between the vines to promote irrigation, control erosion and weeds, and mantain soil organic matter. This is not a new orrarepractice, but it does tell you that the winery is not in the wine game just for maximum yield, but for carefully crafted, terroir-driven wines. Chad showed us (picture bottom-right) how nitrogen capsules form at the base of theroot of the cover crop,and just before the neighboring grapes are ready to harvest, these plants die away releasing the nitrogen into the ground to be absorbed by the vines. Natural recycling....pretty cool. All this just to make our mouths happy.Yay for us.

     So, our first Melville addition to the store is the superb 2004 Verna's Vineyard Syrah. Verna's Vineyard is actually North of the Santa Rita Hills in Cat Canyon, Los Alamos, and is just a couple degrees cooler on average than the Santa Rita Hills vineyard.

2004, Melville Estate Verna's Vineyard Syrah - $19.99/btl

Tasting Notes: This wine has a gorgeous dark purple color and smells like white pepper and clove ground up over a flower patch. We get tastes of earth, spice and tobacco but with a medium body that isn't too heavy or rich, allowing this tasty number to be very versatile with a variety of foods.

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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:Oh, thePlaces You'll Rock

Tonight, Friday the2nd

5:30-8:30pm

$15/person

5 wines and gourmet cheeses from Auntie Em's Marketplace

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

Come on out and toast the birthdays of Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) and Jon Bon Jovi. You can't argue that both certainly rock in their own way. Tonight we'll bepouring 5 wines withtwo brand new additions to the store: aspicy, smokey red blend from South Africa and a gorgeous dry rose from Lodi.

wines

Joel Gott California Sauvignon Blanc 2005, California

Bokisch Rosado 2006, Lodi, California (154 cases made, all Garnacha)

Onix Red 2005, Priorat, Spain (50/50 Grenache, Carinena)

The Wolftrap Red 2005, South Africa (spicy blend of Syrah, Cinsault, Mourvedre and a little Viognier for aromatics)

Dover Canyon Renegade Red 2005, Paso Robles, California

Sunday Tasting

March 4th

1-4pm

$12/person

4 wines and gourmet cheeses from Auntie Em's Marketplace

Our Sunday tastings will now feature slightly higher-end wine selections. Our Friday tastings get a little too loud to discuss the wines in great detail (we're not complaining), so if wine knowledge is your grail, Sundays are the best tastings for you. Call Sunday for selections.

(323) 478-1985

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See You Soon,

John and Jen