The California wine grape harvest, later and longer than usual, has by most accounts yielded good quality fruit. While the fresh juice ferments and ages in cool darkness, our winemaking friends emerge smiling and weary from their cellars, pouring last year’s bounty and sharing knowledge from the field. We had a fabulous time with Terah Bajjalieh pouring her wines at Oakland Yard last Saturday at Oakland Yard, and one week from today, Thursday November 2nd, we’ll welcome Kristie Tacey of Tessier Winery to pour flights and spin records all evening.

These last days of October always bring me back to 2016 and our scramble to open the shop before the holiday season. At this time seven years ago, Oakland Yard was a jumble of steel with piles of wooden cubbies stacked against our eastern wall. In those days leading up to Halloween, we helped our friends, Jens and Franz, strip the beams, seal the sinks, and patina the metal panels, assembling the physical details of our now beloved shop space. Daniel and Glenny were recently married, and little Arlot was but a fresh-faced pup.

We’ve come so far since then - our shop, ourselves, our community - that it feels odd to revisit that time of inception and that feeling of stepping into the unknown. Thank you for taking those first steps with us, and for continuing to walk beside us for these many years. Perhaps every day is an opportunity to feel this new beginning, an invitation to change and grow and view the world with awe and wonder. Whatever comes, I’m proud of what we’ve built and I look forward to where it will continue to take us. Come help us celebrate Oakland Yard’s seven year anniversary on Saturday November 11th, with great music, artists, vendors, wine and food.

But first...

THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS: California Reds and Spanish Whites
2020 Lioco Indica Mendocino Carignan
2019 Claire Hill Sierra Foothills Zinfandel
2021 Beaver Creek Survivor Petite Sirah
2022 Carballal Sete Cepas Albarino
2022 Celler Frisach l’Abrunet Garnacha Blanca 2021 Gaintza Getariako Txakolina
Tasting flights $15 from 5-9pm and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 10/28: BURGUNDY Flights
2021 Domaine Perroud Chiras Bourgogne Blanc
2020 Jean-Claude Martin Chablis
2021 Coteaux des Margots Bourgogne Rouge
2020 Michel Arcelain Siserpe Beaune Rouge
Tasting flights $20 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

Cheers,
Max