Vacay

I'm out of town Saturday the 30th - Friday the 6th, but Paul, who manages the apartments, will be here. I'm pretty sure.

Fun and Games at The Cave.

(*click on image to enlarge*)

Dean, the gentleman of two posts ago who lives out of state and left his key for me so I could accept shipments for his locker, needed more business cards. So I sent this out to him today.
1. Dean will think this is as funny as I do.
2. Dean will have a heart attack and I will go to jail, oddly enough a place not too dissimilar from where I am right now.

I wish I could sway the odds on this one, but it's a good 50-50.

The Wines of Urraca, Thursday, October 28, Carlitos Gardel

Dear friends,

This Thursday, October 28, 2010, we will be offering an encore tasting of the wines of Urraca. We realize this is short notice, but we have just found out the agronomist/vineyard manager, Marcelo Cassazza, and enologist/winemaker, Walter Bressia, will be in town to join us, and we wanted you to have the opportunity to meet them and taste these wines with them.

The format for this event will be a four-course dinner, with the wines paired with each course. The line-up will be as follows:

First Course

Endive Salad with Shrimp

Chardonnay, Agrelo, Mendoza 2007

Chardonnay, Agrelo, Mendoza 2008

Second Course

Vegetable Ravioli

Cabernet Sauvignon, Agrelo, Mendoza 2008

Malbec, Agrelo, Mendoza 2008

Third Course

Lamb Chop

Primera Reserva, Agrelo, Mendoza 2005

Fourth Course

Mini Bife

Familia Langley Reserva, Agrelo, Mendoza 2007

Familia Langley Reserva, Agrelo, Mendoza 2005

The cost for this event is sixty-five dollars. It includes this menu (food and wine). It does not include tax and gratuity.

We will be pouring from 6pm to 11pm (reservations no later than 9pm)!

Reservations are required for this event. You can reserve by calling us at (323) 655-0891.

Please mention you are coming for the tasting when making your reservations.

We hope you join us as we dine, drink, and chat our way through Argentina!

Carlitos Gardel is located at:

7963 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Phone: 323.655.0891
Fax: 323.655.1576

Get more information about Carlitos Gardel
Make a reservation at Carlitos Gardel

How NOT to sell wine.

Just because I know nothing about wine doesn't mean I don't think I know everything about everything else.

Previously confessed, I did indeed work for, ahem, Starbucks. That aside, they were (once) very good at training you to a T. Nothing was left to chance. It was all precisely worked out for you to assure a latte in CA would be exactly the same as a latte in NY. All you had to do was do it, and there were all sorts of little rules, regs, and acronyms to get you there.

Of course the mere doing it is what turned out to be the rub. There would be times I'd be at work listening to a customer say they wanted a lighter bodied coffee, but then hearing the "barista" suggest Sumatra - a full bodied, earthy Indonesian coffee. They would do that because that's the coffee they liked. They weren't listening, weren't matching up the product to the need, and ultimately weren't serving their customer. Who can succeed in running a customer-driven business this way...other than Starbucks?

Which is why I've been to almost every wine store in LA - once. I go into wine stores a self-professed rube, a partial ruse to test their customer service skills. I do this because every time I go into a wine store and ask for guidance because I don't know what I'm doing, the sales associate merely walks to a random wine, picks it up, hands it to me, and tells me to get that one. This is based on never once asking me a question about anything at all. One guy asked me 'red or white.' And the price range. *

Of all the bottles of wine in their store, why that one? What is it? Why will I like it? Why won't I like any of the other ones? What's special about it, different, necessary? How does it fit the nature of my palate? What can I walk out of that store knowing that I didn't know when I walked into it?

I was in a local store yesterday that I already don't prefer but was time-pressed and needed a gift. I knew of an Italian wine the gentleman usually drinks. I wanted something comparable, but maybe different, more interesting or daring. The guy didn't even let me get these parameters out of my brain before putting a bottle of something into my hands, because he liked it. I'm getting better about this sort of thing and asked why he liked it. All he could say was it was good for the price. I talked over him to get my little parameters out, and he led me to another aisle where he put another bottle into my hands. Why this, I asked, but another generic non-answer. He said he had no bad wine in his store. Pressed for time I bought it, but I have no idea what it is.

Looks like I'll be making the time to find my next wine store.

(*note* Wally's Wine is the exception.)

Shipping season news.

Look, a box of wine, how exciting! Why? It's our first direct shipment to the Cave. It worked! UPS figured it out...after a phone call but nonetheless. Since Dean lives in Indiana he figured it might be easier to make me a key and send his wine here. So here's how it went.

1. The box arrived




2. I carried the box to Dean's locker, and then opened the locker. But if I didn't have the key I'd just store it for him until he came in.











3. I put the box in the locker.












4. I locked the locker.










5. I went back to my very important job.








It took about four minutes to do this. Other wine storage facilities charge extra for this? Here's the added fee from another storage facility:
" $10 per delivery charge – covers up to 4 boxes/delivery
$15 monthly charge covers 4 deliveries per month & 4 cases"

Here's what they charge if they throw away your garbage for you:

"Disposal Fees

Free if you remove debris from facility

$10 per bin up to 1/8th full
$20 monthly for 4 times, for bin up to 1/8th full"

I've done both of these things now, and it's not that hard. (That first sentence that states the disposal fee is 'free if you remove the debris from the facility'...)

****shipping note****

please indicate The Cave's business hours on your shipping label .

2007 Clos de los Siete

This was completely pleasant. I picked to out all by myself, too. How'd that happen?

Today at The Cave

I'm not convinced this looks better,but it's finished. I think it needs to settle in a little.

Because The Cave is open Wednesday through Sunday, Wednesday is Monday, Friday is Wednesday and Sunday is Friday. A bit of a rough one on Wednesday, I'm coming into work at 2 p.m. like most people two days earlier at eight +/-, all of you now in full swing while I'm bleary-eyed and not wanting to be here, a bunch of impatient phone messages and emails waiting for me.

But I get Sunday and Friday together,
and that more than makes up for it, especially a nice drizzly one like today. It's all chill and mellow, a perfect place to be on a rainy Sunday/Friday. If your wine is picking up the vibes of this place, it's some seriously happy wine right now.

October 20 @ Carlitos Gardel

Dear friends,

On Wednesday, October 20, 2010, we will be featuring wines from the Paul Hobbs Imports portfolio from Mendoza. As some of you may know, Paul Hobbs has made quite a name for himself with his wines from California, especially his single-vineyard Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignon. He has been consulting in Argentina since the early '90s, and in 1999 he produced his first Argentine Malbec. With nearly two decades of experience with Mendoza terroir, his wines, as well as those he consults for, have gone from strengh to strengh, and it is safe to say that they are now better than ever.

Gaston Leyack, Brand Manager of Paul Hobbs Imports, will be joining Max in discussing the wines.

The format for this event will be a four course dinner, with the wines paired with each course. The line-up will be as follows:

Reception

Pulenta Estate, Sauvignon Blanc, Mendoza 2008

First Course

Porcini Ravioli

Veal Ravioli

Pulenta Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza 2007

Riglos, Gran Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza 2006

Second Course

Chorizo criollo

Stuffed Mushroom

Pulenta Estate, Malbec, Mendoza 2007

Pulenta Estate, Gran Malbec, Mendoza 2007

Third Course

Rack of Lamb

Pulenta Estate, Gran Cabernet Franc, Mendoza 2007

Bramare, Cabernet Sauvignon, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza 2008

Fourth Course

Mini Bife a la pimienta

Bramare, Malbec, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza 2008

Bramare, Malbec,Marchiori Vineyard, Lujan de Cuyo 2007

The cost for this event is seventy dollars. It includes this menu (food and wine). It does not include tax and gratuity.

Reservations are required for this event. We will welcome reservations for any time between 6PM and 9PM. You may reserve by calling us at (323) 655-0891. Please mention you are coming for the tasting when making your reservation.

We hope you join us as we dine, drink, and chat our way through Argentina!

Carlitos Gardel is located at:

7963 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Phone: 323.655.0891
Fax: 323.655.1576

Get more information about Carlitos Gardel
Make a reservation at Carlitos Gardel

So, what's new at The Cave these days?

NADA.
It's like crickets around here, the calm before the (shipping season) storm. I've been forced to retreat above ground for my daily entertainment. The sun is so bright!

Here's a few from today's CicLAvia. I had to get up early for this one to get back in time for the crickets, but I'm not cranky. Isn't LA regretfully just beautiful? All we get is this. Let's face it, it's not too far from it, but really, where is the love? Where is our Woody Allen? Look what NY gets. So unfair. Sort of.

Tonight