How did an adventurous boy from Ojai become the preeminent ambassador for Eastern European wine in the U.S.? Was it his great thirst for the esoteric? Surely, his freak power and charisma played a part. Does work in a vaudevillian circus prepare one for yet odder vocations? This evening, you may pose these questions yourself – and others of your choosing – and hear from the horse’s mouth, for tonight at Oakland Yard, the endlessly amusing and informative Mr. Eric Danch will pour four uniquely delicious wines from his importing company, Danch & Granger Selections.

The wine business is an archaic machine, slow to change course, and protective of the status quo, the historical primacy of places like Bordeaux, La Rioja, and Tuscany. When I began buying wine, before the turn of the century, the only Hungarian wines available were sweet wines from Tokaji, and there was next to nothing on the market from the Republic of Georgia, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. These regions boast ancient winemaking traditions and hallowed vineyard sites rich with minerals and volcanic stone. Some of the oldest written wine laws governed Transylvanian Tokaj, including rules regulating vineyard selection, irrigation and terracing, dating back to 1641.

Still reeling and healing from political upheaval and all-out war, many of these countries have seen a revitalization of their winemaking traditions, and, thanks to people like Eric, more of these wines are making their way to the states. Danch has made a niche market into his bread and butter, a testament to his palpable passion and personability. His phone autocorrects words like Harslevelu and he can say the grape name Juhfark with a straight face. He is a font of cultural, historical and scientific knowledge, at your service, tonight from 5 to 9.

Thursday Night Flights! SLOVENIAN & HUNGARIAN tasting with special guest ERIC DANCH featuring wines by Črnko, Valdibor, Heimann, and Stoka. Flights $15 TONIGHT from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY 10/5: Wines of OREGON: A white and two reds from our neighbors to the north. Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 10/6: CALIFORNIA tasting flights and WINE CLUB PICK UP PARTY: Two new whites and a red from our home state. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.
 

Cheers, 

Max