They say it's spring, though winter seems reluctant to yield. This seasonal shift doesn't usually mean too much to me, but with a 3 month old daughter everything is kind of a milestone these days. Changing leaves turned to changing diapers in December, and that month the turning colors of poop became something to monitor, if not celebrate.

Thankfully, we are now on to new and more meaningful firsts these days. Ellery made her first friend this past month. It's a rusty chandelier (whom we now call Shandy). Shandy is greeted daily with more warmth and joy than she could muster for me in a month. But that's ok, I won't get in the way of love. 

Pretty much every new something feels significant. A first trip to the coast, a first time seeing rain, a first time hearing french. We just heard her very first laugh, full and rich, during her last bath. I should note that I was in the tub with her - apparently the sight of me nude elicits this response. 


Watching the shelves here at the shop - with the colors and labels changing, some disappearing for good, others falling off for a spell and returning the next season - is a certain subtle and significant celebration. Our weekly tastings yield an ever-evolving cycle of firsts, of new selections and new arrivals to OAKLAND YARD. They are occasions to greet old friends and make new ones, to recall a trip to some foreign coast, to practice french pronunciations, to escape the rain. And, above all, to laugh. 

Tonight: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS. Whites from Croatia and Hungary & Spanish Red Flights. Choose your own adventure every Thursday night. Flights $12 from 4-8pm!

SPARKLING SATURDAY: All Italian Bubbles... Sparkling Natural Garganega, Organic Prosecco and Lambrusco! Flights 2/24 from 2-5pm.

SUNDAY: PINOT NOIR TASTING. Pinot Flights from Around the globe. Jane et Sylvain (Bourgogne Rouge) B.Kosuge (Sonoma Coast), Moutin Noir OPP (Oregon). Flights $15 from 2-6pm.

See you soon,

Daniel