Being a creature of habit, I used to park at the same intersection a few blocks from my daughter's kindergarten nearly every morning. While I enjoyed the leisurely walk with my little one to school, there was a long stretch of time where I enjoyed the walk back just as much. Because all along the way, stubborn sidewalk chalk messages remained, for many weeks and months after the school "Move-a-thon" fundraiser that saw kids zooming by and counting laps around the blocks.

The messaging was completely out of context so long after the event. And the words would have been absurd if not still received with such welcome, and perhaps, with some silent need on many mornings. Keep Going! one cement square would read. Then I'd come across DON"T STOP NOW! in rainbow colors a minute later. One could still make out Stay Hydrated! with a little bottle illustration. And further down just before my car, was the ever encouraging You GOT THIS! accompanied by a sweet, clunky thumbs up. Some days I'd notice other parents pausing before certain squares too, most avoiding the colorful marks and stepping around the text. Some heads seeming to be a little higher after passing. Some walking a little lighter.

Four years ago, in the midst of the pandemic and the presidential election cycle, Booker Riley quietly crafted his first batch of wines against extreme odds and circumstances. He brought into the shop during those tumultuous days, a red fizzy wine that had a simple illustration of a cartoon dinosaur wearing a small party hat, blowing a horn, enjoying the moment, even as a meteor in the distance was approaching. The back label simply read EVERYTHING IS OK. That wine disappeared from our shelves faster than any I can recall. The wines themselves reflect the messaging and their labels. They are playful, honest, defiant, hopeful. These limited bottles are made nearby in Richmond, CA, in a collective with Purity Wine and others who are committed to working with farmers of organic vineyards and making low-intervention, most often zero-zero wines. Come check out these wines and the current releases of Everything is Okay with us this Saturday from 2-6. AND Ed's Bread Pop Up returns SATURDAY too!, with artisan breads including sourdough wheat-rye, sourdough flaxseed-wheat, sourdough black sesame togarashi - as well as sweet and savory pastries, scones, and cookies!

But first, TONIGHT: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS...Spanish whites and Sicilian reds
2023 Fermi Bohigas Xarel-lo
NV Brincadeiro Naturalmente Turbio
2022 Gramona Gessami Blanco
2021 Due Terre Nivuru Terre Siciliane Rosso 
2022 Funaro Nero d'Avola
2022 Ayunta Nerello Mascalese
Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 9/21 - Special Tasting with Wiley Rogers, pouring FLIGHTS of the current EVERYTHING IS OKAY lineup.
EVERYTHING IS OKAY Red Fizz
EVERYTHING IS OKAY Lite Red
EVERYTHING IS OKAY It’s Wine
EVERYTHING IS OKAY Amber Wine
Flights $18 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until close!


Stay hydrated. You got this.

Daniel