I’ve found few unlimited resources in this world, but attention is something we’ve all got to give. You may also want it. May want more of it, or less, or just a different kind. The word comes from the Old French atentif, meaning observant, aware, hopeful, expectant. Attention may be inactive, as when you wait and watch, or an act of giving, in which you attend to one’s needs or desires. In English, we pay attention. The French make it: Faites attention. We can also pay a visit, pay our respects or a compliment, or we can pay no mind.

Some folks pay close attention to other people, in service or just snooping, and others to the esoteric minutiae of such things as bicycle parts, turntables, or wine. With as much control as I’m able to exert, always the epicurean in search of silver linings, I guide my attention to the beauties and wonders around me, to art and nature, food and drink that inspire my life with moments of seeming magic, harmonies and color shades; a blooming flower, a hummingbird, shards that shimmer throughout the day, if you know where to look for them. I try to give my attention - and some water - to the plants at Oakland Yard, as well as the spectacular seasonal Flower & Forage arrangement Alyson so lovingly crafts for our tasting bar. The plants don’t pay me any attention, but I see them do their plant thing, and part of their beauty is that they do it whether we’re watching or not.

At Oakland Yard, when we’re not inputting invoices or carrying wine around, we spend lots of time observing our wares; not surveying the vineyards, not watching the boxes, but with noses and mouths, our attention directed toward tasting. There, we find the pleasant tension between acid and fruit in a white wine, or the comfort of a balanced, ripe, soft-textured red. You’ll likely have to give attention to many things this week, but I hope one of them will be a well-considered glass or flight from Oakland Yard, which hopefully, at that moment, will be worthy of all the attention you’ve got.

Tonight...THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS: Taste French reds from the Rhône Valley & Spanish whites from Galicia and the Penedès
2024 Mas Candí Desig Xarel-lo
2024 Celler Frisach L'Abrunet Garnacha Blanco
NV Brincadeiro Naturalmente Turbio
2019 Domaine de L'Agramante Ciäulà Côtes Du Rhône
2023 Famille Brunier Le Pigeoulet Vaucluse Rouge
2018 Domaine des Amouriers Les Genestes Vacqueyras
Tasting Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until close

SATURDAY 10/4: BURGUNDY FLIGHTS - Sample and compare two reds and two whites from four small producers in this storied wine region of France.
2023 Domaine de la Verpaille Mâcon-Villages Vieilles Vignes
2023 Domaine Oudin Chablis
2022 Domaine Bader-Mimeur Dessous les Mues Bourgogne Rouge 2023 Dominique Gruhier Cuvée Juliette Epineuil
Flights $20 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm

Attentively,
Max