When our new tiny dog, Arlot, walked into Oakland Yard last month, he was wearing a scarf around his neck that said: ‘Adopt me’, and his name was spelled like Mr. Guthrie’s, without the silent ‘t’. He entered the store with his ‘foster mom’ and several other small dogs, and he ran straight for my dog-loving, dog-starved wife, Julia. She took him in her arms and looked at me with wide pleading eyes, and I knew that, unless I developed a sudden, life-threatening allergy, Arlo had found his home. He already knew his name, so we re-baptized him - Frenchified him – with a homonym, adding the ‘t’ in homage to one of our favorite Burgundy producers, Domaine de l’Arlot. He’s a shorthair deer head Chihuahua mix with a fawn blue brindle coat, a long furry neck, and a tendency to keep one ear perked up and the other flopped down. He is gentle and affectionate and when he stands on his hind legs, he looks like a meerkat. Arlot spends a lot of time in the shop with Daniel and me; he sits on his pillow in the sun, chews on cardboard, and follows customers around the store. When friendly large dogs come in, he dances Capoeira-like with joy, performing astounding aerial feats while they remain still and indifferent, and about once a day, he sneaks out the door behind an exiting customer and runs straight into the hair salon next door, where he knows there’s lots of love.

If you’ve yet to meet him, you should really come by and give him a hug. But Arlot’s not the only new arrival worth the trip; every week we’re adding unique and delicious new wines to the shelf and sampling the fresh juice at our tasting bar.

TONIGHT, from 4 to 8pm, our Thursday Night Flights tasting will feature this week’s newcomers to OAKLAND YARD:

Domaine de la Pepiere ‘La Pepie’ Muscadet
Fermi Bohigas Xarel-lo   
Moulin de Gassac Guilhem Blanc

Tenuta la Favola ‘Fravolato’ Frappato
Camino de Navaherreros Garnacha
Vignoble Lapierre ‘Quietude’ Merlot