As a kid, I shared a bedroom with two brothers and my sister. The room cluttered quickly so mom was always on us to pick up our clothes and toys and books and shoes and everything else one would imagine piling up. Being pulled away from my favorite cartoons (Thundercats Ho!) to clean my room was certain torture. My brother endured the same agony.
I don't know whose idea it was. Maybe that magical blanket was already on the floor, stretched out beneath the rubble. But the universe spoke to us one Saturday morning. Why not just pile the entire mess in the center of the blanket and wrap it up? We looked at each other silently and nodded, We came to appreciate a little known fact: under a bed or in the back of a closet, a blanket stuffed with toys and other nonsense looks just like a blanket. No questions. We admired our genius. We called it "The Bag of Tricks".
Mom was surprised to see us back watching cartoons so soon, and went to investigate. When we didn't hear from her again we knew our stratagem was sound. This became a regular scheme. The funny thing was, we would eventually require certain things from the "Bag of Tricks", be it a spare pencil sharpener or a matching sock and, as the week progressed, we'd gradually deplete and, by default, put everything in the B.O.T. away. Perhaps it wasn't that different than the actual closet. Life lesson. Also, looking back, I'm 99% sure mom could give a damn how the room got cleaned up. Not having to see our mess was enough for her. Maybe she had a bag of tricks too. Well played, mom.
Put your troubles in a blanket and stuff them in the closet. You'll get to them in good time. Come out to OAKLAND YARD for our weekly flights- taste and enjoy some delicious wines and explore and connect with us.
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! We have a great line up of stony and dry Loire Valley whites and some stellar Spanish reds. Flights just $12 from 4-8pm. All wines in the flights are 10% off tonight!
SATURDAY: Wines of Sicily (part II). Frappatto, Nero D'Avola, Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. Sicilian Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm!
SUNDAY: Austrian Flights! Crisp, mineral-driven Gruner Veltliner, Dry Riesling, and Blaufrankish. Tasting Flights from 2-6pm and other delights by the glass.
See you soon,
Daniel
I spent countless hours as a child listening to my parents’ records. There were Beatles and Stones, Ike & Tina, Mamas & Papas, Miriam Makeba, and Otis Redding. There was also Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Mozart, and Bach, but my favorite, then and still, is the soundtrack to The Harder They Come.
The Harder They Come featured the driving rhythms of Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals, and the Slickers, but the storyline hangs on the soulful and powerful tracks by Jimmy Cliff, the star of the film. Cliff wrote the stirring ballad, Many Rivers to Cross, in 1969, when he was a 21-year-old musician in England. The lyrics are simple, but the despair in those words, and the beauty of the music, brings me to tears every time I try to sing the song, either alone, or along with Jimmy.
Jimmy Cliff turns seventy this Sunday, April 1st, and while I don’t know if he is a wine drinker - Wikipedia says: Cliff is not a member of the Rastafari movement, although he briefly was before converting to Islam from Christianity. He now describes himself as having a "universal outlook on life", and does not align himself with any particular movement or religion, saying that "now I believe in science" - I hope you’ll join us this Easter Sunday, when we raise a glass – or three - of Gamay to the legendary Jimmy Cliff.
But first…TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights - Spanish Whites & Italian Reds - $12 from 4-8pm
SATURDAY, March 31st: California Rosé Flights – the 2017’s are rolling in, and the sun is out – Trail Marker, Bedrock, and Horse & Plow - $15 – from 2-5pm
SUNDAY, April 1st: French Gamay Flights – three fresh, fruity reds from Beaujolais, the Rhone valley, and the Savoie - $15 – from 2-6pm – & APRIL WINE CLUB PICK UP Party!
See you soon,
Max
They say it's spring, though winter seems reluctant to yield. This seasonal shift doesn't usually mean too much to me, but with a 3 month old daughter everything is kind of a milestone these days. Changing leaves turned to changing diapers in December, and that month the turning colors of poop became something to monitor, if not celebrate.
Thankfully, we are now on to new and more meaningful firsts these days. Ellery made her first friend this past month. It's a rusty chandelier (whom we now call Shandy). Shandy is greeted daily with more warmth and joy than she could muster for me in a month. But that's ok, I won't get in the way of love.
Pretty much every new something feels significant. A first trip to the coast, a first time seeing rain, a first time hearing french. We just heard her very first laugh, full and rich, during her last bath. I should note that I was in the tub with her - apparently the sight of me nude elicits this response.
Watching the shelves here at the shop - with the colors and labels changing, some disappearing for good, others falling off for a spell and returning the next season - is a certain subtle and significant celebration. Our weekly tastings yield an ever-evolving cycle of firsts, of new selections and new arrivals to OAKLAND YARD. They are occasions to greet old friends and make new ones, to recall a trip to some foreign coast, to practice french pronunciations, to escape the rain. And, above all, to laugh.
Tonight: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS. Whites from Croatia and Hungary & Spanish Red Flights. Choose your own adventure every Thursday night. Flights $12 from 4-8pm!
SPARKLING SATURDAY: All Italian Bubbles... Sparkling Natural Garganega, Organic Prosecco and Lambrusco! Flights 2/24 from 2-5pm.
SUNDAY: PINOT NOIR TASTING. Pinot Flights from Around the globe. Jane et Sylvain (Bourgogne Rouge) B.Kosuge (Sonoma Coast), Moutin Noir OPP (Oregon). Flights $15 from 2-6pm.
See you soon,
Daniel
Ten years ago, Julia and I enjoyed a honeymoon in France and Italy. We drove through the Alps from Lyon to Cuneo and stayed in a tiny hilltop commune, called Bene Vagienna, where we were bit by miniscule, striped mosquitos while we drank Barolo Chinato and watched the local elders play bocce after sunset, mixed doubles under the lights on the public courts.
From Piedmont, we traveled to an agriturismo in Emilia-Romagna, where we were welcomed by the young and vivacious Valentina, who was using government subsidies to revive a small organic farm in Gorzano. One morning, we heard shouting in the field near our room and inquired about the noise. Valentina explained that her father was a retired public health bureaucrat who was so excited to be replanting the vineyard, so happy to be working outdoors with his hands, that the shirtless sixty-year-old let loose a howling ‘YEAHHHH!’ as he completed each row.
After a week of day trips to Modena and Bologna, we bought a half wheel of Pecorino from Valentina’s neighbor and drove south to the picturesque seaside villages of Liguria: the Cinque Terre, Lerici, and Tellaro, where stone steps, alleyways and hobbit homes hug the rugged coastal cliffs. The early mornings there were especially magical, as the still and quiet darkness gave way to the soft pink light of dawn, a rooster crowed once, twice, three times, and the wind off the water would pick up, loudly flapping colorful lines of hanging laundry. One morning, as I lay in bed, awoken by indigestion and mosquito bites, and with that first light, several swallows flew in through our French doors, and swiftly and silently circled the room before exiting through various windows.
Come join us for a wine tour of Italy this weekend - we’ll be pouring flights of new Italian wines both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
But first…TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights: French Reds or California Whites $12 from 4-8pm
SATURDAY: Northern Italian Tasting Flights – Garganega from the Veneto, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, Tuscan Morellino, and Piedmontese Barbaresco - $15 from 2-5pm
SUNDAY: Specifically Sicilian Tasting Flights – Grillo, Frappato & Nero d’Avola - $15 from 3-6pm
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/.