Events

Every bottle of wine is a gamble. There are ways of minimizing risk, of course, and some experts rarely bet wrong. But as long as natural wine prides itself on resisting commercial imperatives to uniformity and predictability, there will always be a margin of error, and in some ways that’s kind of the point. I like being right as much as the next person, but these wines are alive, and missing the mark from time to time keeps things interesting. In the worst case, you’re a little disappointed; in the best, the opposite happens. You’re still wrong, but in the best possible way: you’re surprised. That's what it was like tasting Dan Marioni’s wines for the first time, especially “Fields,” a rich blend of red fruit from Mendocino County. Having gotten used to writing off anything domestic that could be described as “jammy,” or “powerful,” or "containing Petit Sirah," every part of me was prepared to hate it. But in the end, I couldn’t. Here was a wine that smelled like root beer and wild mushroom, tasted like clove-infused raspberry jam, and was every bit as expressive and compelling as some of my favorite bottles from France, Italy, or Spain. In this way, “Fields” is as sobering as it is intoxicating — a humbling reminder that there is always more to learn, discover, and look forward to.

Join us this Sunday to taste “Fields” and four other gems from California’s North Coast. Skeptics welcome. <3

The lineup:

- Unturned Stone Mendocino Ridge Chardonnay 2021

- Populis "Macerated White" 2022

- Broc Cellars "Amore Bianco" 2022

- Slow Dance "Frizzante" 2022

- Marioni "Fields" 2019

Sunday 12/3 ~ 2pm/5pm ~ $15