Someone once casually gave me bottle of red from Napa. Bigger and bolder than wines I normally drink, I thought my brother might enjoy it, so I grabbed it one day on my way out the door and we brought it to our local burger joint. We didn't finish it and left a third for our server. The next week, Wine Spectator awarded it something near 100 points and named it Wine of the Year.

One of my best friends got married this past weekend. We were housemates - or rather, cabin mates - during two separate spells. The first, exactly one decade ago, when I joined him and another friend in western Sonoma, three interns pursuing careers in winemaking. Working early mornings, cleaning and scrubbing tanks and barrels and bins - sorting though grapes and dreams and personal relationships. Long back-breaking days and late nights in barrel rooms and dank cellars.

It was rare that the 3 of us would be home (or at least awake) at the same time, let alone for a proper meal together. But I remember the first evening it happened - each of us not knowing when we'd be out and having individually picked up take out, we all hobbled in around the same hour. Stretched out on sofas, feet up, limbs sore- watching comedy central in silence, our remaining energy reserved for chewing our monster burritos. At some point one of them offered to open up a wine that his boss had given him, a leftover from their harvest lunch. In my memory at least, it was many minutes later of chewing and swallowing before a second silence was broken:

I'm not sure who spoke first, but they said, simply: "This is good."
Then someone, quite a bit later: "... Uh, this is good"
And a while after that, a third reaffirmation: "This is like really really good, right?..."

Eventually someone jumped on a laptop to look up the wine and discovered it was indeed "good". Like really good. A somewhat rare and very expensive bottle too, probably deserving more than to be paired with Taqueria Santa Rosa and Michael and Michael Have Issues.

I was thinking about my friend and his new wife this morning. And I guess about life and love and wine and burritos. About all the pomp and celebration of things, of little splendid things sometimes right under our noses. About the lucky moments, when exhausted and spent, we are moved enough to pause and look around and say to ourselves: This is good. This is really good...

All good things ahead here at OAKLAND YARD...
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! We're pouring new French Reds and crisp, dry Austrian Whites. Come celebrate the good things with us. No burritos next door, but Tacos Oscar is open tonight with tacos and other delights that your are welcome to bring in and enjoy here. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY, August 3rd: BEAUNE IMPORTS TASTING with special guest RACHEL GOLDMAN – Rachel will share her prodigious knowledge and pour flights of delicious, classically-styled wines from Italy, Spain, and France - $15 from 2-6pm

SUNDAY, August 4th: SPARKLING FLIGHTS at OAKLAND YARD... The sun will be out and we'll be popping corks and pouring dry, delightful bubbly from around the globe. Flights from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm!


See you soon,

Daniel