Thursday, June 11, 2009

A night of Rhones at Grace






Going with my wine group to a dinner at Grace Restaurant on Friday. Never been! It shall be fun! Everyone is bringing their own wines, and for the night we have chosen the theme of wines from the Rhone region (with exceptions for the bubbly and dessert). The kind people at Grace are planning a menu based on the wines we will be having.
Super Cool.

Here are the wines for tomorrow... (I'm bringing two of the whites).

White:
1998 Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vielles Vignes Blanc
2006 Chapoutier "Les Granits" St. Joseph Blanc
2006 Cuilleron "St.Pierre" St. Joseph Blanc

Reds:
1997 JL Chave Hermitage Rouge
2005 Paul Autard Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee La Cote Ronde
1999 Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge
1999 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape "Prestige"
2005 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape "Prestige"
2004 Domaine du Pegau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuveé Réservée

Dessert:
2000 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos Betsek

Details to follow, and maybe pictures.

Grace Restaurant
7360 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Thursday, June 04, 2009

India's Grill in Los Angeles


On Friday, my wine friends headed off to India's Grill in LA. Since there is only a $6 corkage fee, we all brought different wines for everyone to share.

India's Grill
428 S San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

The food is phenomenal and quite inexpensive! We brought in all of our wines and stems, and I don't think they even charged us for corkage. We had a bevy of different dishes, chicken curries, grilled okra (so delicious!), lentils, lamb, a couple of other chicken dishes, and the bread (naan) was great. Excellent service, too. I can't wait to come here again.

Here are some of the wines our group brought in for the evening, wines that would match with Indian food.

Occhipinti Il Frappato
2004 Saxum Syrah Bone Rock James Berry Vineyard
2008 Gutzler White Pressed Pinot Noir
1999 Abbazia di Novacella Praepositus Lagrein
2005 Pipestone Viognier
A white wine from Louisiana!
2008 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rose Rubentis
2005 Van Volxem Scharzhofberger Riesling
1991 Stony Hill Gewurtz Traminer (sic)
Alfred Merkelbach/Geschwister Albertz Erben
2005 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Auselese, Mosel,
2006 Domaine Weinbach Cuvee Laurence Gewurtztraminer Vin d'Alsace
2006 Porter Creek Old Vine Carignane


All the wines were fantastic and wines I might not think to get for myself. My favorite wine was the 2006 Domaine Weinback Gerwurtzraminer from Alsace. Luscious, honeyed, and pleasing. There were a couple of other wines not mentioned. All in all it was a great outing.