Jacquère, Pelaverga, Timorasso...we get excited by obscure grape varieties. At any given moment, the shelves at Oakland Yard contain a parade of unfamiliar grape names and unique flavors, and part of our mission is to bring these lesser known regions and grapes to your attention, and to your dinner table. Today’s wine drinker is iconoclastic, skeptical of tradition and the power it protects, eager to embrace the unconventional, and dubious that a wine will deliver pleasure commensurate with a higher cost. And generally, we’re right there with you.

But Daniel and I also have a great love of ‘classic’ styles, wines from well-established regions your grandparents may have enjoyed, like Rioja, Barolo, and Bordeaux, and sometimes it feels like we’re so busy looking for the new thing that we forget how really satisfying a tried-and-true, ‘traditional’ wine can be. There are reasons why, for hundreds of years, people have held French Burgundy in such high esteem. The wines can be incredibly complex and expressive, fruity, earthy, and mineral, with a pinpoint balance of sweetness and acidity. As I was reminded this week, drinking good Burgundy is a wonderfully specific experience. As the wine’s aromas and flavors change in the glass with air, each sip holds a new interest that makes you want to come back for another. Join us this Saturday while we set aside the rare varieties, the au courante vins de soif, orange wines, and pet-nats, and reach for the celebrated and dependable, though still somehow surprising, joys of Burgundy with flights of four delicious examples.

But first...TONIGHT: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS - California whites and Italian Reds
2021 Loella Pinot Gris
2023 Ridge Vineyards Grenache Blanc
2022 Bannister Gittens Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Ribolla Gialla
2021 Fuso Cantine Polvanera Calx Primitivo
2021 Scarpa Barbera d’Asti Casa Scarpa
2021 Castello di Tassarolo Orsola Monferrato Rosso
Tasting flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 10/12: Burgundy Flights - Taste two whites and two reds that show the elegance and complexity of wines from this renowned region.
2022 Domaine Grivot-Goisot Côtes d'Auxerre Bourgogne Blanc
2021 Domaine Robert-Denogent Macon-Villages
2021 Domaine Bader-Mimeur Bourgogne Rouge Dessous les Mues
2022 Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet Hautes Côtes de Nuits Rouge
Tasting flights $20 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm

Cheers,
Max