For as long as I can remember, I really just wanted to belong to something. Looking back, I'm fortunate I wasn't approached by a gang or any such thing. I likely would have jumped myself in. I wanted a crew and was always on the lookout for adventure. I was into Goonies and Time Bandits and intrigued by the G.I. Joe cartoons I was forbidden to watch.
By age 9, I spent most of my summers getting into trouble with my best friend, Jeff. Or, more often, getting him into trouble. He had a small basketball hoop in his backyard and we'd pass time playing H-O-R-S-E, attempting most shots with a low degree of difficulty but high flourish. The ball would frequently go over the wall separating their property from the rear yard of an older house.
We took turns hopping over and eventually met Tony. Tony was cool. Tony smoked cigarettes. Tony drank beer and worked on his motorcycle. Tony was in his 30s and wanted to hang out with us. He showed us his throwing stars and his hunting knives. After a few hangouts, he invited us on a secret mission. So cool. We snuck in through the metal bars of a private garage and let Tony in from the other side. Level One: Completed! We snuck into an office building with him and kept lookout. All part of our mission. We were "his eyes and ears". So cool.
You are smarter than a 9 year old, you know the ending. These weren't missions. Tony fooled two little kids into helping him burglarize spots in the neighborhood. Tony was eventually arrested. Not cool, Tony.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Come be a part of something. Come drink delicious wines with me and Max and Jessie. No tricks, no fooling. Just delicious wines and good folks and good vibes, always. Tonight we're pouring French Whites and South American Reds. Choose your own adventure from 4-8. Flights $12.
SATURDAY: LOIRE! Come sample some of out favorites from France's Loire Valley. Four wines. All dry, mineral-driven and delightful. Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.
SUNDAY: MEET THE WINEMAKER... Massimo Alois (Fattoria Alois) at OAKLAND YARD! Massimo has travelled all the way from the Caitini Mountains in the province of Caserta, and will be here sharing his dynamic wines from ancient Italian varieties of Campania! Flights Sunday from 3-6pm.
See you soon,
Daniel
If you’re reading this, congratulations to you, you’ve made it to the month of March. And if you’re in California, the first of the 2017 rosé wines are hitting the streets, but around the bay, the streets are cold and wet. Now, this is what we said we wanted, so let’s buck up, watch the water fall, and let those rosés settle for a week or two while we drink some of that big, warm, native bear hug of a wine we call Zinfandel.
We may call it Zinfandel, but the Croats call it Tribidrag, and have for hundreds of years. Californian Dr. Carole Meredith and couple of her clever Croatian colleagues discovered a genetic match for Zin in just nine surviving vines of Crljenak Kastelanski, AKA Tribidrag. The variety was grown widely along the Dalmatian coast in the 1400’s and the wine was traded with the Most Serene Republic of Venice across the Adriatic Sea. Italian Primitivo, once thought Zin’s twin, was found to be a slightly mutated clone, but our American Zinfandel is the real Croatian deal.
Tribidrag vines from the Imperial Austrian Plant Species Collection were brought to New York in the 1820’s and then to California in the 1850’s, where they made themselves at home. Grape vines can live a long time if they don’t get mites, or disease, or torn up by humans; there are a number of vineyards in California that include vines planted in the 1880’s. These sturdy-looking ancient vines yield precious few bunches, but the fruit they manage to bear is more concentrated and full of complexity than that of younger vines. The popularity of White Zinfandel - a sweet pink wine made by a penicillin-like stroke-of-genius accident at Sutter Home in 1975 – saved most of these old plantings from being replaced with more fashionable varieties, so we have White Zin to thank for our distinctive old vine red Zins today.
Throughout the 80’s and 90’s the dominant style for Zinfandel was ripe, dense, and powerful, and many of us walked away from our introduction with black teeth, and a headache, and kept walking; but over the years, tastes have changed, techniques refined, and Zins with subtlety and finesse have become less of a rarity. Come taste a few of our favorite Slavic transplants this Saturday from 2 to 5, before the sun comes out and dries up all our fun.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights: French Reds or Whites $12 from 4-8pm
SATURDAY: California Zinfandel! Tasting Flights $15 from 2-5pm
SUNDAY: Italian Tasting Flights and Wine Club pick up $15 from 2-6pm
I moved back to California six years ago today. It was a homecoming for me, but leaving Brooklyn for a tiny cottage in Occidental was certainly something new. Glenny and I would become regulars at Barley and Hops tavern and would frequently drive to the coast on our day off, up and over majestic Coleman Valley Road or cruising through Freestone for Wildflower Bread fougasse and eventually making our way to Spud Point for crab sandwiches or down to Tomales Bay for fresh oysters.
These outings proved an adequate remedy to missing Brooklyn and our routines there - weekly Wednesday pizza at Lucali and live music at our local joints, Smokey's Roundup at Sunny's or Roots & Ruckus at Jalopy in Red Hook. The oddball characters we passed crossing over Summit bridge and the BQE, were now mostly replaced with hermits and hippies, off-the-grid sorts living up in the hills or deep in the redwoods. Characters with names like Dr. Lunch, our neighbor. No joke.
There would be the occasional Tom Waits sighting, but my favorite recluse was an elderly woman who could be spotted sometimes on the way into Graton, just off the road, wearing a bathrobe and a wolf mask, pulling it up occasionally to take a drag from her cigarette. Like Little Red Riding Hood in reverse.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights...
This nostalgia calls for an all California lineup, six wines - all vibrant and delightful and delicious. Flights $12 from 4-8pm.
White Flight
2017 Folk Machine "White Light"
2016 Teira Sauvignon Blanc
2016 Luuma Chardonnay
Red Flight
2016 Folk Machine Valdigue
2016 LIttle Frances Merlot
2015 Helmet Red Grenache
SATURDAY FLIGHTS; Wines of Spain. Four Wines, including a White Rioja, new Spanish Rosé, and two new exciting reds! Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass
SUNDAY: Bordeaux Tasting, Flights from 2-6pm! We'll be opening up some top shelf, heavy hitters. Roll into OAKLAND YARD to taste these beauties - perfect wines for this cool winter weather. Wines by the glass too, as always.
See you soon,
Daniel
Language is an awkward and slippery thing. Words inform our thoughts, and divide the world into discrete bits, but these symbols have no intrinsic relationship to the concepts or objects they represent. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, words derive their meaning solely by their relationship to each other – that is, they are what the others are not. We think they will convey our message, but they often do more to confuse matters. See this and several of my previous newsletters as proof.
Pianist Eubie Blake once said, “As soon as you’ve got to explain it, then you don’t know what it is,” and Lao Tzu wrote that true words are not beautiful, and beautiful words are not true. Plato believed the art of poetry was the greatest danger to society, but that beauty in its pure form was the greatest good. In our line of work, we are faced with the impossible task of conveying the flavors and sensations of wine with the clumsy tools of language; a fool’s errand, similar to describing music, or visual art. Beyond the technical details, like color, form, or pitch, there is only a relative response, as varied as the nature of the beholder.
Wine importer Terry Theise wrote about the 2015 Muller Catoir Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Auslese “You can’t miss this! You don’t dare. It gets 13 out of 10 points on the priapism meter. Structure as firm as steel rod just leeches away the sweetness; the mutual orgasm of concentration and transparency is astonishing; the candied banana aromas are head-shaking, and the whole thing is a goddamn peyote high of power both seething and weirdly tender. An unfathomable masterpiece.” (Three half bottles of this mystical love potion currently available at OAKLAND YARD.)
Oxford don and godfather of Aestheticism, Walter Pater wrote: “While all melts under our feet, we may well grasp at any exquisite passion, or any contribution to knowledge that seems by a lifted horizon to set the spirit free for a moment, or any stirring of the senses, strange dyes, strange colours, and curious odours, or work of the artist's hands, or the face of one's friend.”
This weekend, and for the coming weeks, we’ll festoon the shop with the brightly colored paintings of distinguished visual artist, opera singer, and Oakland Yard Wine Club member, James Stahlman. I will not attempt to describe his work, but invite you to come and enjoy it in your own personal way. James will be here this SATURDAY from 2 to 5pm to drink rosé with you and appreciate your appreciation.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Spanish Xarel-los & Italian Reds. Flights $12 from 4-8pm
SATURDAY: ‘Summer in Winter’: Opening Party with artist James Stahlman and Tasting Flights of newly released 2017 Rosé wines for $15 from 2-5pm
SUNDAY: Orange Wines: Skin-macerated white wines from Portugal, Italy, and the Republic of Georgia. Flights $15 from 2-6pm
See you soon,
Max
I can't say I remember my first valentine. It's a peculiar thing for children to celebrate anyway, the awkward ceremony of passing out those cards. We'd even get one from our teacher. Looking back it was a considerate gesture, making sure every child got at least one. But it was always obvious. Who else would write From: Anonymous, let alone spell anonymous correctly? To their defense: Secret Admirer would be creepy as hell.
We'd all load up on Sweethearts (aka Conversation Hearts in more platonic circles). By middle school troublemakers would enjoy carving away letters in crude ways (ADORE ME became DO ME). By that age I'd have secured some See's chocolates or a Mrs. Fields heart-shaped cookie for my crush, and by high school it would be flowers and an original poem if it was the real thing.
My first proper Valentine's dinner was rather ridiculous. I was 22 or 23 and thought myself serious enough to make a reservation for a prix fixe (that was fun to say at the time) at an upscale Italian restaurant in Glendale.
My girlfriend, Sandra, and I started with fritto misto and then a shrimp bisque and both chose the lobster ravioli in cream sauce as our mains. Perfect for a night of romance ahead! I am not proud to confess I ordered a Napa Cabernet to compliment that meal. She opted for chocolate fondant for dessert, I had tiramisu (my metabolism just called to say it misses me). We argued all night about whether tiramisu was invented in Italy or here in the states.
There are many things to love and to celebrate this month at OAKLAND YARD.
Here's just a few this week:
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Loire Valley Whites & Spanish Reds. Flights $12 from 4-8pm!
SATURDAY: Italian Flights! Wines of Piedmont. Vibrant, aromatic, and elegant. Sorry, no tiramisu.
SUNDAY: New California Wines. Lower alcohol and less manipulation. Balanced and electric. Come taste and see!
FEBRUARY 13th and 14th: Valentines Bouquets from Flower & Forage here at OAKLAND YARD! Skip the See's and dazzle a friend or a loved one with stunning local, wild and gorgeous arrangements by Alyson Vitt (F&F).
And the pink party continues... SATURDAY February 17th: Artist James Stahlman at OAKALND YARD. For one month, it will be "Summer in Winter" here in the shop with original painting by James Stahlman illuminating our shop space. The Opening Party for the gallery will be Saturday 2/17 with the artist here from 2-5pm! All are welcome!!! We'll be pouring ALL NEW ROSÉ FLIGHTS and other delights by the glass. The exhibit will run through mid March.
More to come! Let's keep the love going.
BE MINE,
Daniel
I often complained of boredom as a child, but it feels like ages since I last felt bored, and I can stare at walls for hours now, reveling in the slow passage of time. With age, life moves ever more swiftly before my eyes, and I’ve made attempts to slow it down. I find a practiced mindfulness can focus my thoughts on the moment and remove imagined troubles of the past and future. There are no problems in the present. Nor can problems exist outside of one’s concerns, so a regular step outside of oneself can eliminate many worries. These are tricks of the mind, but then, what aren’t? And they keep me sane, or at least calm.
Like Wendell Berry, the Transcendentalists, and countless others, I rely on nature and science for a sense of perspective, and for a view of the world that is not a ‘grind’ but rather a wonderment, a whirlwind of constant change, of cycles and entropy, of unseen forces. I am both frightened and inspired by the fact that each night, we leave our conscious minds and travel at least five or six thousand miles on our backs or our bellies. Lately, I’ve been flying feet first, with my head to the ocean behind us. Travelling at nearly a thousand miles an hour, we reach the morning - along with California - at that place where the sun returns to sight. We then come to our senses and remember who we are and what we are doing here. This is nothing short of amazing, and it’s only the beginning of what’s really going on.
Come celebrate the wondrousness, the strangeness, the uncommonness, and the newness of it all with us tonight at THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS, when we taste NEW ARRIVALS to our shelves – 4 to 8pm - $12. *Live music tonight with Justin Brown on piano at 6!*
Tomorrow, Friday, February 2nd, we will be CLOSING EARLY at 4:30 for a private event.
SATURDAY, February 3rd:
MOUNTAIN WINES: Tasting Flights from the French Alps – 2 to 6pm - $12
SUNDAY, February 4th:
FOUR SHADES of TEMPRANILLO: The Pepsi Challenge of Spanish Tinto and Oakland Yard WINE CLUB PICK UP PARTY – 2 to 6pm - $12
See you all soon,
Max
My mother is a great gift giver. Birthdays as a kid were always solid and I could count on her for a handsome enough sweater or soccer cleats in my actual size, maybe a drawing pad. Every few years, something really grand like a trip to Disneyland.
One year she was under the weather leading up to my birthday and let my father shop for me. Dad was more direct and asked me for a list. When the evening came, I unwrapped the mound of presents to discover that he got me nearly everything on the list. Amazing! But this was the list of a madman, or at least a 9 year old. Canisters of Pringles. A tub of Red Vines. Jumbo packages of E.L. Fudge cookies and Oreos and Fig Newtons. Kung Fu Shoes. A pile of lottery scratchers.
Mom gave him a look. That was maybe the last time Dad was in charge of that. Funny thing was, I thought it was the best. I kept everything squirreled away under my bed and ate like a king, decapitating Keebler elves at my leisure. My reign would be brief though, the ant army invading soon after.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! We got your list and heard your requests. Tonight is for you. We have stellar flights of crowd-pleasing varieties lined up! Indulge. No ants, we promise. White Flight: Sauvignon Blanc and Red Flight: Pinot Noir. Flights $12 from 4-8pm.
SATURDAY FLIGHTS: Syrah! French and American Syrah, Flights $15 from 3-6pm.
SUNDAY: Jura and Arbois Tasting. Blanc et Rouge. Flights $15 from 2-6pm
See you soon!
Daniel
As any New Yorker will tell you, January in New England is no joke, but we, as kids, had a lot of gear that made playing outside possible through the coldest months. We had ski masks, mittens, gloves, thermals, and those jackets with hoods that made us look like Kenny from South Park. All this meant the only thing that would freeze within the first few hours outdoors were our nose hairs.
On many of these numbingly cold weekend days, when the creek down the street was solidly and safely frozen over, my brother and I would be summoned by the local middle school kids, and we’d put on two pairs of socks, throw our skates over our shoulders, grab a shovel to clear the ice, and walk a quarter mile to the bridge. I was often the youngest and least skilled skater in the bunch, so usually ended up tending goal, with the appropriate safety gear: a baseball mitt, a football helmet and ski goggles.
My brother and I had an army-green canteen – this was before the age of water bottles – which we brought on our adventures, but the canteen did not make it on one of these days, or perhaps it was emptied to early in the game. Whatever the case, we were all sweating in our down jackets and had developed a terrible thirst. I found a small hole in the in the ice at the edge of the creek and I lay beside it. It was just big enough to provide a perfectly refreshing, cool clean draught of water, and I gulped it down, as did Dave, and Jason, and James, and the others. I remember it as some of the best tasting water I’ve ever had.
Over the next few days, one by one, we were absent from school, and we – or more likely, our parents – put two and two together. What tasted like the most glorious water was a country creek like any other, rolling through fields and pastures at every bend. In fact, it is called Mud Creek; that should have tipped us off.
A few days of barfing. Another lesson learned.
I, for my part, continue to taste liquids others eschew. Nowadays, is spit, but every week, for the past ten or fifteen years, I’ve tried every wine I could possibly sell for fifteen dollars or less. Usually, I don’t like the wine – the job consists of mostly saying ‘no thank you’ - but every once in a while, I do like it very much, and then it ends up on our Fifteen and Under Table. Daniel and I taste oceans of twelve dollar wine so you don’t have to wade through it yourself, and we have at least fifty or sixty wines for under sixteen dollars at any given time, all well-tested, tried and true. Come explore the world of ‘weekday wines’ we work so hard to maintain!
And come by this week taste some fresh new arrivals…
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! French Gamay & Austrian Gruner Veltliner from 4 to 8pm - $12
And this SATURDAY, December 20th: Tasting Flight: Wines of Piedmont, Italy from 3 to 6pm
SUNDAY, December 21st, we’ll be pouring Hungarian Wine Tasting Flights from 3 to 5pm - $12
See you soon,
Max
Rainy days were the worst in elementary school. Recess indoors was a drag but lunch in the classroom was extra depressing. My reputation by then was less a true troublemaker and more a frequent wisecracker. This earned me an assigned seat close to the teacher and surrounded by geeks and mutes. They likely have a similar story about having to pass rainy days with a jackass.
It always creeped me out watching my teachers eat. One of the nuns was known to literally chew her food 32 times before swallowing. We could barely keep conversations going, too often distracted by the spectacle of an everlasting apple or a slowly tortured ham sandwich. Looking back she may have been messing with us. That would have really been some commitment on her the part.
On rainy days I couldn't mix with my friends, as Sister Mary Anne Lenore would only allow us to "spin" our desks in one direction or another. So I'd end up adjoining desks with the likes of Grace Capul or Jason Steingart. It would be many years later that I'd look back on the rainy days and realize it was kind of cool having to break our routines occasionally. Kickball was still the best, naturally, but those odd, quiet gray days were memorable too. Playing Go Fish or Hangman or Chutes & Ladders with relative strangers and sometimes sharing stories, or disfigured animal crackers. Trading knock-knock jokes, or a Capri Sun for a Fun Dip.
Tonight at OAKLAND YARD: Thursday Night Flights! In the spirit of the new year we'll be pouring lesser known and under-appreciated new, unusual varieties. All exciting, dynamic, and delightful in their own way. White Flight: a Spanish Xarel-lo, an Italian Robolla Gialla, a Croatian Debit. Red Flight: Xinomavro from Greece, Negrette from France, and Alfrocheiro from Portugal. Flights $12, from 4-8pm.
The New & Unusual Varieties theme will continue on SATURDAY Tasting (1/13) with some higher end wines on the menu. Flights from 3-6pm, $15.
SUNDAY FLIGHTS: Sparkling! For any who missed the chance to toast to the New Year with us, stop on by from 2-6 and lift up and away with us with all bubbly flights! Let's do this, 2018.
Stop by tonight or roll in this weekend to OAKLAND YARD. Get out of the comfort zone of Pinot, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. Try something new. Bring a snack to share if you want. Make a new friend. Compare notes and file them away in your Peechee folder.
See you soon,
Daniel
p.s. Stay sweet. Don't ever change. Hope we have classes together next year.
Happy New Year to you all and thank you sincerely for an amazing first full year of Oakland Yard. We know 2017 was a difficult year for many, but I hope we helped to soften some of its stronger blows; not with the numbing nepenthe of ethyl, but with the conversation, conviviality, and connection that a series of good suppers together can bring about.
And thank you also for your forbearance during our last three days’ hiatus - a much appreciated break for us. Three little piggies went to the coast (one very little indeed). Two little piggies ate oysters. This little piggy shaved his beard and went to Mexico, but Daniel and Jessie will be in today to reopen and pour tasting flights of Spanish wine. You’ll see my face next week, or at least that’s what the return ticket says; I may locate my turtle brethren and fail to resurface.
Speaking of turtles, a third hearty thank you goes to all of you who helped me just barely surpass Daniel in our holiday six-pack sales competition. Slow and steady did win the race, and I hope you enjoyed all of our celebratory selections, whatever your choices. And honestly, I will seek the company of those regal tortugas of the sea, but I’m looking forward to returning to another year at Oakland Yard. With last year under our belt, now we really know what you all like to drink (thankfully, it’s mostly what we like too) and I hope I speak for all of us when I say we’re ready to move into 2018 with renewed strength and confidence.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! All Spanish Whites or Reds from 4 to 8pm - $12
This SATURDAY, January 5th - from 3 to 6pm: Italian Wine from the Veneto! Tasting flights of Valpolicella and Garganega
This SUNDAY, January 6th, from 3 to 6pm: Natural Reds from France’s Languedoc-Roussillon and WINE CLUB PICK UP PARTY!!!
They say it in movies, and I'm almost sure I've heard a driver rage at another on occasion, but I can't say for certain that I've ever been told to Go to Hell! I'm not suggesting I'm missing out or anything, just sharing a fact. It's a moot point anyway, as I'm pretty much all set with regard to the afterlife. My mother explained, with notable rationale for a devout Catholic, that her heaven (she's definitely going, BTW) would not be her heaven without her family there. I think Saint Peter will find it hard to argue that logic (or he'll find arguing with mom simply tiring, even with the whole infinity thing). I'm in her circle - and so, by default of geometry, I'm IN. (Take that, Sister Mary Anne Lenore)
New Year's Eve is a funny thing. After years of party hopping or hosting with friends (and many friends of friends) dropping in and out and then on to other parties themselves, it took me a long time to realize that there is no fixed center. Or at very least, I wasn't it. If I was lucky enough to have a circle of my closest friends around me on such a night, each person there would have a completely different ring of their closest friends and so on. Most spend New Year's Eve chasing, or perhaps, jumping through these rings. I should have learned this much sooner, but I'm slow.
We strive to make OAKLAND YARD a place for neighbors and the broader community to connect, though we know we are not the center. But whether it's New Year's or the 4th of July, or any random solitary weeknight, please know that we are grateful and honored to be a part of yourcircle, part of your celebrations... to be connected to you. We are forever humbled and elated simply to be on your radius.
TONIGHT: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS! All German and Austrian Red and White Flights. Crisp Gruner Veltliner and electric Dry Rieslings and fresh, vibrant reds (Zweigelt, Blaufrankish). Flights $12 from 4-8pm!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: All Sparkling Flights at OAKLAND YARD. Rotating selection of Bubbles from Around the World, including holiday favorites for every budget. Flights from 2-5pm, 12/30 and 12/31.
See you soon!
Daniel
p.s. Please note our HOLIDAY HOURS:
OAKLAND YARD will be OPEN regular hours all weekend. We will be OPEN SUNDAY, New Year's Eve, from 11-8pm
We will be CLOSED New Year's Day AND January 2nd & 3rd. We will be OPEN and resume regular hours on January 4th (and will be pouring Thursday Night Flights as always:) Stock up for your weekend celebrations AND for the week ahead !!!
And Happy New Year from all of us at OAKLAND YARD!!!
At the close of our most recent post, my friend Daniel, outside of the moment, looking pong-wise - backward and forward - proposed a toast to the future. Unlike the toast of the future, which pops as you wake and butters itself, a toast to the future calls for a look ahead, with all the heady stuff of dreams, fears and hopes at its heart. I generally prefer to be here now. I refuse to set goals, make resolutions or otherwise occupy my thoughts with may or may not happen, but I do have some wishes for what lies ahead.
On this shortest day of Midwinter, I too look forward and raise a glass. I look forward to longer days passed slowly with loved ones. May we leave our judgment and anger behind us and use the short time ahead to fully appreciate and enjoy one another, to understand and to forgive each other. In the year to come, may we all laugh, unguardedly, wholeheartedly, with real mirth. May we laugh hard enough to forget who we think we are and regain a sense of the beauty of the uninterrupted world.
The toast of the future will be fine with coffee or juice, but a toast to the future requires something stronger. It is said, and so we’ve found, that wine with bubbles works well for this. We’ll be sampling several sparklers this Sunday. Come raise a glass to the end of 2017 and the beginning of the rest of our lives - the best of times!
This SUNDAY, December 24th, we’ll be pouring sparkling wine Tasting Flights on Christmas Eve from 2 to 5pm - $15
But first…TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! All Italian Whites or Reds from 4 to 8pm - $12
And this SATURDAY, December 23rd: Holiday Tasting Flights – featuring some of our favorite wines for your holiday table - from 3 to 6pm - $15
Cheers,
Max
A girl I dated in high school gifted me a mug that said "These Are the Days". Turned out to be true in a way, as we broke up that weekend. I kept the mug, though I still struggle with the sentiment, living in the moment. I too often ruminate about where things are headed, with how things began and where or how they end up. With connections and pathways, plots and turns and coincidences and all that. I guess life in general and, frankly, what follows. When I was in second grade, a priest at my grade school asked me if I wanted to go to heaven. Years later, he told me that I had replied with suspicion: "Do you think it'll be any fun?"
For the shop's one year anniversary, I recalled our first newsletter last month, and how Max and I met. How was I to know I'd also meet my wife at that same little shop? Max and I and Julia and Glenny opened OAKLAND YARD in November 2016 and had our grand opening on December 10th. How was I to know that one year later (last Sunday) that Glenny and I would welcome Ellery June into this world on that same day?
Two schools in Southern California are separated by a fence. I was at soccer practice (over 20 years ago) on one side, on the other a young kid named Brendan was likely practicing his saxophone (or practicing smoking). How was I to know that many years later we'd meet and would end up working together in a wine cellar in western Sonoma? He went on to art school, and then on countless other paths, playing music in various indie and country bands, sound engineering for Nickelodeon and NPR, bartending, and eventually working in wineries in Sonoma and New Zealand. He can sometimes be spotted here at the shop, and he has likely filled some of your glasses at our weekly Thursday night tastings. But this SATURDAY, December 16th, he will be here pouring his wine, from his new label, Phantome Cellars. Joining him will be Brian Jessen, winemaker for Irene Wine Cellars, and Philip Cuadra of Highlawn Wine Co.
These gentleman have been in too many cellars and vineyards to say they are just beginning. But we are thrilled to have these three rising stars all here together at OAKLAND YARD, showing what California wine can be: dynamic, expressive, and balanced.
None of us can see the future, but this Saturday you can taste it. Meet the Winemakers, SATURDAY from 3-6pm here at OAKLAND YARD! Four wines, $15.
And TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! WHITE FLIGHT: French Rhone Whites // RED FLIGHT: California Reds. Flights of 3 wines, $12 from 4-8pm!
SUNDAY FLIGHT: Burgundy! Chablis / Macon-Villages / Bourgogne Rouge. Flights from 2-6pm.
I've been out for most of the week, with amazing support from the OAKLAND YARD team, and from the local wine community with good folks like Matt Gerloff of Kermit Lynch and Cory Gowan of Mission Wines generously giving their time and pouring their delicious wines earlier this week while I was out. But Im back - and hell, I''ve missed you. So get down and say hello! There's so much to raise glasses to these days. If nothing else... to the future.
See you soon,
Daniel
We heartily thank all of you who participated in our East For North fire relief fundraiser at Camino last week. There are so many who helped in ways large and small, and together - with donated food, wine, raffle and auction items - we were able to raise $25,000 for the Latino Community Foundation’s efforts to benefit the underserved communities affected by the north bay fires. Thank you!!!
In addition to the money raised at the benefit, and with help from Schatzi Wines and local winemakers, like Emily and Drew at Trail Marker Wine Co. and Philip of Highlawn Wine Company, OAKLAND YARD was able to raise another $2,500 for the foundation, by donating all profits from California wine sales by the glass over the past two months. So, another resounding chorus of thank yous to everyone who made the California choice at our tasting bar these past two months.
How can we all continue to do good and feel good doing it? Show up for California and keep buying the local wines. We’ve got some of our favorite bay area winemakers pouring here for the next two Saturday afternoons, and we hope you’ll join us to taste their delicious wares, get to know them, and to continue to show your support. Thank you all, and see you soon.
But first…TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! All Spanish Whites or Reds from 4 to 8pm - $12
This SATURDAY, December 9th: TRAIL MARKER WINE CO will be here! Winemakers Emily Virgil & Drew Huffine pouring flights of their Pinot Noir, Zweigelt and Chardonnay from 2 to 5pm - $15
SUNDAY, December 10th: Portuguese tasting flights: Red, White, and Sparkling Rosé from 2 to 5pm - $12
And next Saturday, December 16th: Three Local Winemakers pour their wines! Brendan Willard with Phantômé Cellars Anderson Valley "Broken Leg" Syrah, Brian Jessen with Irene Wine Cellars El Dorado Mourvedre Syrah blend and Philip Cuadra with Highlawn Wine Company Theopolis Petite Sirah and Rorick Vineyard Albarino!
See you soon,
Max
An epic month. My folks toasted to 50 years of marriage. OAKLAND YARD turned one. We had our first real Thanksgiving with you all. Max celebrated his birthday just a couple days ago... and speaking of birthdays, it's probably time to mention the elephant in the room. Or, one might say, the elephant in the womb. OK, not an an elephant at all. Fun pun, odd image. But yes indeed, a baby girl is on the way. My wife, Glenny, is due December 12th. Seems strange to correspond with you so often and not mention this. It also seems appropriate to prepare you for my nervous energy, my excitement, and my occasional absentmindedness should you encounter a sleep-deprived or otherwise altered version of me in the weeks or months (or years?) ahead.
I have a lot of stories, but none really start until age 5. I certainly don't remember being an infant, nor a toddler. Apparently some do. I had a friend in high school named Todd who recalled witnessing, at age 2, his sitter stealing his mother's earrings from her jewelry box. Reflecting on it now, as I write this morning... she sounds like a pretty lousy thief, but maybe not an altogether bad baby-sitter (Still keeping a close eye on him while burglaring and all...) Anyway, I digress.
While we wait for this tiny member of the OAKLAND YARD gang to join us soon, I'd like to also welcome and introduce someone who has already joined us. Some of you have met Jessie, who started working here at the shop a couple weeks ago. Jessie rocks. If you have yet to introduce yourself, come say hello! She'll be behind the bar tonight for THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS! Join us for a stellar lineup of electric, dry German whites and vibrant, food-friendly Italian reds. New arrivals and new vintages. Drop in tonight! Flights $12 from 4-8pm.
SATURDAY, Rachel Miers of Henry Wine Group will be here pouring outrageously delicious flights of her holiday favorites, including some top tier gems! Champagne, Txakolina, Rioja, and Burgundy. Not to be missed! Drop in to OAKLAND YARD, Saturday (12/2). Flights from 2-5pm.
SUNDAY FLIGHT: MERLOT! All lively, fresh and energetic expressions of this often misunderstood grape. Come taste and see. And Believe! We'll be pouring Domaine Le Vrille et le Papiilon 'Chapeau Melon', Little Frances Contra Costa Merlot and Vignoble Lapierre 'Quietude' Merlot. Flights from 2-6pm!
A million thanks once again for letting us be a part of your holiday celebrations, and a part of all the grand or small personal celebrations between and beyond. Thanks for making OAKLAND YARD your shop.
See you soon (and you too, little one...),
Daniel
Just over five years ago, Hurricane Sandy brought four feet of water to our neighbors in Red Hook Brooklyn. As the flood receded, I grabbed two generators and a sump pump and headed to our local bar, the Red Hook Bait and Tackle, where the owner, Barry, was already dressed in a dry suit and wellies. Together with a few dozen neighbors, we began to clear out the flooded bar and basement. As the day progressed, many more came by to see if they could help, but there are only so many people you can put to work excavating kegs and cardboard. So Barry, bar owner-come community organizer, deployed the helping hands to the neighbors all around us. As that first day came to a close, the neighborhood gathered at the Bait and Tackle where without electricity, Barry managed a makeshift bar so folks could share a drink and a story and start to plan for the community’s recovery.
Throughout the following year, Barry and other small business owners became more than just shop owners. They worked together to raise money to help each other reopen, organized local politicians to respond to residents’ ongoing needs, and most of all, they made Red Hook a haven, giving a deep sense of purpose and place to those of us seeking it.
After the fires stopped burning in Napa and Sonoma Counties last month, and the smoky air in Oakland let up, I was brought back to that time in post-Sandy Brooklyn. Sharing stories with Allison Hopelain at Camino, of friends who had lost homes, wineries, and livelihoods, and inspired by the Red Hook crew, we cooked up a plan to bring together our communities in support of the folks who have been hardest hit. We are proud to be collaborating with Camino and Nokni to produce East for North, a benefit event this Tuesday 11/28. I hope you will join us.
Tickets include food, wine, and a raffle ticket. The evening will also feature a silent auction full of rare items and experiences like a private dinner at Zuni Cafe, dinner IN the downstairs kitchen at Chez Panisse, an overnight at the Scribe Hacienda, and much much more. More details can befound and tickets can be purchased at https://east4north.brownpapertickets.com/.
I was born in the last week of November, which means my birthday occasionally falls on Thanksgiving Day. Astrologically, this makes me a Sagittarius, but I am at odds with my sign. Sagittarians are meant to be extroverted, optimistic and enthusiastic; they embrace change and love travel. I am more often introverted, fatalistic and even-keeled, and I like neither change nor travel. I am, in essence, more of a turtle, but there is no turtle sign, no legendary tortoise, pinned by stars, crawling slowly across the night sky, murmuring softly ‘I told you this would happen.’
Daniel is an Aries, and this makes us very compatible. I’d hate to see what would happen if I spent sixty hours a week with a Virgo or Pisces. Aries are said to be actively enterprising, honest, and guileless, and, thankfully, Daniel embodies these characteristics, but he is rarely aggressive or egoistic, and it would be a stretch to call him organized. How about competitive? I didn’t think so, until he suggested we each design a discounted, pre-packaged, $99 six-pack of holiday wine and see who sells more.
So I said, ‘Let the games begin!’ and we each filled bags with our favorite, crowd-pleasing, food-friendly wines. These are wines we like to drink, mixed reds and whites, different styles to suit the tastes of your various and discerning friends and relatives. Come on down and check them out yourself, or give us a call and order one by phone and arrange for free delivery.
So far, we’re neck and neck, but we all know: slow and steady wins the race..
We’ll be open THANKSGIVING DAY from 10am until 4pm for last minute libations, including our solidly stupendous $99 HOLIDAY SIX PACKS curated by Max & Daniel
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights - French Whites and Italian Reds - 4 to 8pm
This SATURDAY 11/18 - RED BORDEAUX Tasting Flights:
Special guest Alex Finberg pours transcendent top shelf Bordeaux imported by Neil Rosenthal – Saint-Estephe, Saint-Emilion, Haut Medoc, and more - 3 to 6pm - $15
This SUNDAY - Thoroughly sophisticated Thanksgiving sippers: Tasting flights of unique and delicious wines for your holiday table – 2 to 5pm - $15
And Tuesday, November 28th, come eat and drink with us at CAMINO for a FIRE RELIEF BENEFIT to raise funds for the LATINO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION. Oakland Yard is joining forces with Nokni and Camino to aid underserved communities affected by the recent North Bay fires. Food, wine, silent auction, and raffle. 6 to 9pm $100 Buy tickets at EAST4NORTH.BROWNPAPERTICKETS.COM
I've always fallen for fall. Some sort of teenage feeling, I suppose. Or something more ancient in my blood maybe. I'm not a pumpkin spice latte nut or anything, it's more internal for me. A stillness in the air that moves me. A time of year I find myself saying autumn more readily (sometimes with an accent, when no one is around). And I become insanely maudlin- starting poems, watching dreary foreign films, favoring waltzes, playing guitar more and writing songs for my old cat.
I was a school teacher for ten years before (or, concurrently, while) getting into wine. This particular time of year, just before Thanksgiving, brings fond memories. I'll confess, the four day weekend was always a most welcome relief. But the week or two leading up was quite special. The world moving to a slower, secret rhythm. Everyone seeming to be looking for a little more warmth. We had an annual Stone Soup celebration. You know the folktale, right? A traveller, a village that keeps to (and for) themselves... he just has a pot and water- and a stone. He tells them he is making "stone soup", which would be much improved with a few carrots perhaps (which a reluctant villager contributes), and maybe some celery? (yet another skeptic adds), and some salt and pepper... You got it. In the end everyone feasts. All are happy. A socialist utopia maybe, but a pleasant sentiment about the nature of sharing, and of giving. The sum greater than the parts.
This past weekend we celebrated our one year anniversary. It was awesome. All kinds of warm, familiar faces and so many new connections too. It's silly, hokey even - but it got me thinking of Stone Soup again. How OAKLAND YARD is ultimately just a vessel, a large pot. What you bring to this space is everything. It's immeasurable, potentially infinite. You are the stock, the meat and potatoes... you are the magic spice. I know Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but I wanted to thank you- for all you contribute here, for your patronage, for your very presence. For being such an integral part of this celebration. We hope to be a part of your celebrations this month and into the holidays (and beyond). We are honored and delighted to be your shop. Here's to many years, many feasts, and many celebrations ahead...
And here's to Oliver, my old cat.
SATURDAY: KERMIT LYNCH TASTING! Matt Gerloff will be here with Max pouring an exciting lineup of some holiday favorites from Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant! Bordeaux varietals and cold weather reds. Flights from 3-6pm! Wines by the glass and Sparkling Sangria special too!
SUNDAY FLIGHTS: RIESLING! Electricity in a bottle. Stunning and wildly expressive. All dry, delightful and food-friendly- perfect wines for your holiday meals! Come taste and see! Flights from 2-6pm, and wines by the glass.
EVERY THURSDAY at OAKLAND YARD: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS! All stellar new arrivals! Flights $12 from 4-8pm!
See you soon,
Daniel
The very first party I remember attending was my great-grandmother Rose’s hundredth birthday celebration. It was a modest affair, at her apartment on East 10th Street in New York City and, though I couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old, with a pageboy haircut and corduroy pants, I dubbed myself the ‘bartender’, and doled out ginger ale with ice cubes from the cocktail cart. I took great joy in this role - my first foray into the world of hospitality - and I’m pretty sure Grandma Rose had a good time too.
This Sunday, we hope you’ll join us for another birthday: One Year of OAKLAND YARD! Twelve months goes by awfully fast these days, and I think I can safely say that while Daniel, Glenny, Julia, and I have all worked harder in the last year than we ever have before, it’s really beginning to feel like it’s all come together rather nicely. Thank you all for your continuing support - your loans, laughter, patronage, encouragement, your thoughtful criticism and advice. And thank you especially for filling our place with life; your friendship, shared sorrows and victories keep us feeling valued and connected during what felt like a difficult year for all.
You usually come by here a few at a time, and many of you have met over a glass of wine at the bar, but we’ve not reached a critical mass of dancing and drinking since our grand opening party, and we barely knew you then. Now we know so many of you, some very well, and we’re looking forward to getting you all together to meet the others. I’m not as cute as I was back in the seventies, but my bartending skills are much improved, and will be in effect on Sunday.
THIS SUNDAY, November 5th, from 2 to 6pm, Nokni Oakland and Tacos Oscar will be serving up delicious food, we'll have beer from Temescal Brewing and, of course, you can count on amazing wines and bubbly by the glass and bottle all day here at OAKLAND YARD! House-made sangria too and live, cuban music by Calle Ocho!
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights!: Rhone-style wines - red and white - 4 to 8pm
And this Saturday 11/4: Portuguese Tasting Flights - red, white & bubbly - 2 to 6pm
I'm number six of seven. Certain things are inevitable when you have 6 siblings. As children, we could expect a fair share of Seven Dwarfs memorabilia around the holidays- greeting cards and ornaments and whatnot. One for each of us. It was a no-brainer that the infant, my little brother Timothy, would be "Sleepy". The oldest brother, "Doc", naturally. The occasionally ill-tempered brother accepted the "Grumpy" moniker with some pride, the shyest seemed happy to be "Bashful", but not too happy... you see where this is going. Yep. I got Dopey. Or rather, I was Dopey. Forever. Resistance was futile. It was simply by default, mom swore. I'd like to say I was skeptical, but I took her word for it. Like a dope.
Another inevitability of seven kids is an even (if not equal) distribution of chores. A certain symmetry to the working week. We were each assigned a day. Forever. It was known as our "Special Day". The rules were simple. You got to decide what was for dinner. And you had to do all the dishes that night. Amongst ourselves, we kids called it our "yucky day". Mine was Saturday. Always a big gamble: possible easy peasy, pizza night if I was lucky- or, at very least, the night older siblings were likely to be at friends' houses. But inevitably, the day would come when the big party was at our house. Then my nightmare was real: endless bowls of coagulated dips, grey guacamole, caked and crusted casserole remains. Everyone using three cups. I would pray that morning that there wasn't dessert. Root beer floats? You can all go to hell...
I am thrilled to announce that our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY celebration will be next SUNDAY! Not Saturday. Sunday. Sunday, November 5th from 2-6pm to be exact. And that's Timothy's "special" day so get down here and make a mess. It's going to be a hell of a lot of fun too! We'll be setting up an outdoor patio behind the shop (the store and tasting bar will stay open all day too)! Nokni Oakland and Tacos Oscar will be serving up delicious food, we'll have beer from Temescal Brewing and, of course, you can count on amazing wines and bubbly by the glass and bottle all day here at OAKLAND YARD! House-made sangria too and live, cuban music by Calle Ocho! Tell your friends. Tell your siblings. Tell Timothy to be ready...
But first... as always, THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS TONIGHT from 4-8pm! Vermentino or Gamay? 3 whites and 3 reds. A stellar selection this evening to be certain! Choose your own adventure tonight! Flights $12.
Also.. we are delighted to have HOUTSKOOL Dumpling House returning to OAKLAND YARD this SATURDAY from 4-7pm! We'll be starting the day off right with Flights from 3-6pm: Wines from Hungary! (insert hungry pun here). We'll also be pouring special wines by the glass all day and into the evening until 9pm.
SUNDAY: Sparkling Flights from 12-6pm. Bubbles and by the glass specials all day. Lift off with us!
Heigh-Ho... Let's do this.
Daniel