I bought a used wine fridge though Craigslist a couple days ago. I texted the guy that I was outside and when he opened the door his face lit up immediately with an animated grin. He pointed at me and then flashed two thumbs back at his chest. Shirt buddies! he exclaimed. We were indeed both wearing T shirts in the exact same shade of muted orange. Oh, yeah... I acknowledged clumsily, looking down at my own shirt. 

Driving home, I thought it funny that he said buddies, not twins. And funny that our shirts would connect us. Not that we lived in the same neighborhood nor that we both obviously love wine and buy and consume enough of it to merit owning a wine fridge (and that we would now both own the same fridge). No, it was our pumpkin orange shirts that would make him say you're OK by me. I write about it a lot, but I'm continually delighted to find that simple and often absurd affinities can bring folks together. Folks connected in their appreciation for a specific sports team or for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sometimes a shirt or bumper sticker from the independent bookstore or record shop is all it takes to sense that another might be a good egg.

And we're encouraged not to judge a book by its cover, but every so often an exterior label really does express what may be inside. Five years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, Booker Riley quietly crafted his first batch of wines against extreme odds and circumstances. His first wine had a simple illustration of a cartoon dinosaur wearing a small party hat, blowing a horn, as a meteor in the distance was approaching. The back label simply read EVERYTHING IS OK. The wines reflect the messaging and their labels. They are playful, honest, defiant, hopeful. These limited bottles are made locally at an East Bay collective with other winemakers 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 winemakers Booker Riley and Wiley Rogers joining us this Saturday 8/30 from 2-6!

But first, TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Spanish reds and whites...
2021 Bellaserra Superbloom Red
2023 Honoro Vera Monastrell
2020 Ramirez de la Piscina Crianza Rioja
2023 Zudugarai Getariako Txakolina Blanco
2024 Vins El Cep Ot De Vins El Cep Xarel-lo Penedes
2024 Gulp Hablo Verdejo
Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 8/30: EVERYTHING IS OKAY tasting flights with winemakers Booker Riley and Wiley Rogers 
2024 Amber Wine
2024 Mushroom Lite Red
2023 It’s Wine / Ghost Lite Red 500ml
2024 Dino Red Fizz
Flights $18 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until close


Cheers,
Daniel