The fall season lends itself to introspection and emotion, and many formative and tragic events have marked these months for me with a layered memory of strong feelings. The Trade Center attacks, the Ghost Ship fire, and the last presidential election, to name just a few. And now, with ‘fire season’ upon us again, it is important that we pull together and be kind to each other.

Seven years ago, in the wee hours of October 29th, a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane- force winds landed in New York and New Jersey. This storm, named Sandy, had already destroyed much of Cuba and Jamaica, and it arrived in New York along with a full moon high tide. This was way too much water for the edges of the city, and our friends in Red Hook and those by the Gowanus Canal were submerged.

The water was full of sewage and fuel oil and downed electric lines, and in the darkness of the power outage, parked cars, their headlights lit by shorted circuitry, floated through the flooded streets, luminous and unmanned. Our friends Barry and Jens went to check on Barry’s watering hole, the Bait and Tackle, and found themselves waist-deep, inside the bar.

The morning of the 30th was a cold, wet, complicated mess, and it was hard to know where to start the cleanup. My wife, Julia, helped lead the relief and rebuild efforts in Red Hook, first by gathering generators and volunteers, later with community organizing and grant applications. We worked alongside our old friends, and made new friends, emptying their basements of all things soggy and toxic, helping them to see beyond what still seemed insurmountable - and these memories, stinking of whiskey and petrol and laughing through the tears, are some of the best that I have.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night FIRE AID Flights! CALIFORNIA REDS and WHITES featuring wines from Arroyo Seco, Santa Barbara, Clarksburg, Lake County, and Mendocino. Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm. All proceeds from tastings tonight will go to the Latino Community Foundation’s Norcal Wildfire Relief Fund. Help us put a dent in the troubles of our dear neighbors.


SATURDAY 11/2: CATALAN Tasting Flights: Exciting new wines from northeastern Spain. from Celler del Cesc, Mas Candi, and Ramon Jané. Flights $15 from 2-5pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.



SUNDAY 11/3: MORE SPANISH tasting flights and WINE CLUB PICK UP PARTY: New wines from Ribeiro, Rioja and Bierzo. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.




Cheers,
 


Max

I wrote a couple weeks back about my years teaching, in my 20s. This time of year was always crazy for students and faculty alike. We'd be a full two months or more into the school year by this time - an unbearably long stretch after the long leisure of summer break. The kids would be manic, in fits and furies waiting for their Halloween candy fix. Thanksgiving break was still too far off for comfort, but we all held out hope.

There was often strange seismic shifts in weather this time of year too - even in sunny Pasadena where I taught at a public middle school. I remember one strange year - a second summer of sorts, with record heat into the fall. An apocalyptic Mad Max vibe out on the blacktop one week, the Santa Ana winds ripping through the campus, dry leaves and debris and two-second tornados everywhere. And then the next week a small miracle. A sudden and extreme temperature drop in November, fall falling into place at last. It was lunch time and I was in my classroom, not wanting to be disturbed, when a crescendo of screams rang outside my window. My classroom was at the back of the campus and my rear door exited out onto the blacktop. The screams (long OHS and EEEs) got louder and suddenly several fists were pounding on the back door, frantically. All of them witches I muttered, and went to investigate.

Outside the door, the most unbelievable sight. Total mania. Witches indeed. Their faces feral, mouths open and still screaming. The group outside holding hands and side-skipping in a wild, circular dance. Something in the air. Something in their hair. Something now on my nose. I instinctively looked to the heavens, my mouth now open too. The flakes were tiny, and barely there in the autumn air. But it was snow. It was snowing. In Los Angeles. I held my palms out in disbelief, jolted out of my stupor when they took my hands, and suddenly I was away in the circle, skipping and spinning too out toward the grassy field, now freckled with white dust. It's SNOOOWIIINNGG!!! we all hollered at the top of our lungs, shouting so loud our voices fell silent, laughing so hard we were crying.

We have wine for all and any weather ahead, this week and beyond. Whatever falls, we have you covered. TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights - Pinot Noir Flights for any of you craving autumnal reds and Portuguese Whites for any still savoring the last wave of summer-like heat here. Red and White Flights, just $12 from 5-9pm, and wines by the glass as always.

SATURDAY: ROSÉ FLIGHTS. It looks to be sunny and warm and we thought we'd take the easy way and give in. Domestic, French and Italian. All dry and delicious and all for you. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY: Wines of JURA. One of our favorite wine regions of France. Beguiling beauties from the east between Burgundy and Switzerland. Unique, expressive and dynamic wines - come explore with us and taste for yourselves. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.


See you soon,

Daniel

We call the signs under our wines ​shelf talkers​, and they list the winery, the region, the grapes, and the price, and we usually manage to add a sentence or two describing the wine, or just a few words to try to make you smile. My favorite shelf talkers include some useful information, but also take a surprising turn. ​Like eating pear sorbet with a limestone spoon​ is a classic from a coworker at Smith and Vine, still a memorable description fifteen years later, so simple and with that Haiku twist. Who does that? And are there spoons made of limestone?

I think my finest work in the shelf talker department here at Oakland Yard was for a skin-macerated Georgian white: ​This wine tastes like tea, but we’re not sure what kind of tea. Are you comfortable with uncertainty? ​This question has been much on my mind this past, particularly chaotic, week. Will we have electricity tomorrow? How long will it be out? Might the ground beneath us roll and buckle? Why did my phone suddenly send emails stuck in my outbox from over a year ago? What’s that cloud of black smoke billowing out of Crockett? And are we really going through with this tariff business? I could go on, but I’d rather think of Marvin Gaye’s sweet voice singing “Change what you can, and what you can’t leave it alone and have the sense to know the difference between the two.”

Benjamin Franklin wrote to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, in​ 1​ 789, “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Barring any unforeseeable disaster, I can confidently add to that short list that we at Oakland Yard will be pouring surprisingly delicious wines, from unexpected places, with flavors you can’t possibly imagine, all week, starting tonight, regardless of what else happens, or doesn’t happen. Be sure to join us!

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights!​ ​LOIRE VALLEY WHITES & GREEK REDS: Folle Blanche, Muscadet, Quincy, Agiorgitiko and Xinomavro. ​​Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY 10/19: WINES of SICILY​:​ Frappato, Etna Rosso, Grillo and Catarratto. Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 10/20: AUSTRIAN Tasting​:​ Arndorfer Gruner Veltliner, Weiderstein Harslevelu and Blaufrankisch by Moric and Schiefer. ​​Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.


 

Cheers,


Max

My heart still beats to the school calendar. It's in my DNA. The new year starts in September for me. And this time of year has always been special, both as a kid and later as a teacher too. Before getting into winemaking, I taught at a progressive public school for several years after college. One of the cooler things we did every fall was to take a busload of urban Middle Schoolers to the mountains to camp for a week. This annual tradition started our third year in existence. A classroom without walls, we used to say. It was for team building, and just for the hell of it too, I suppose. It was a kind of reckless and magical week when school wasn't school. Routines and cliques (and maybe an occasional ankle) would be bent or broken. The kids were out of their element and in their element, and generally super into the adventure and surprising communal spirit of it all.

It was also rather stressful - the lack of known boundaries, the potential for injuries. Teachers and chaperones would dread hearing panicked calls: someone fell from a tree limb or I think so and so was bit by something! With first-hand experience I can assure you that "Come quick, Kendrick is bleeding from the head and unconscious" is high up there too. That happened the year my group of boys found a plank of wood and tried to ride it down the cabin stairs like a surfboard - it was propelled out from beneath the rider's legs and into the forehead of said boy waiting at the base of the stairs. He was taken down the mountain and to the ER. (Don't worry, he's ok).

Each year something crazy happened. One year we showed up and our reservation was bumbled - we had to relocate to a defunct camp miles away from where we had planned. Another year a bear tried to enter the lodge with the kids inside. Or that one time some horrible, fierce and primal territorial battle (Wolves? Raccoons? The undead?) went on for what seemed like hours - howls and shrieks and shadows out in the darkness - and kept the campers up all night in terror. Ah, the sounds of nature...

These days, this time of year has me thinking about our wild beginning too. OAKLAND YARD will be celebrating 3 YEARS - on November 9th from 12-5pm! There will be music and food and oysters and bubbles, raffles and prizes, vendors and holiday vibes. And lots and lots of wine! The 3 Year Anniversary Celebration and Artisan Flea Market event is FREE! So mark your calendars and spread the good word! Bring a busload of your favorite people too. We've reserved enough room for all this joy. No bears. No backpacks needed. But we will be gathering outdoors - in the back lot (and inside at our little lodge too:). Come be a part of the community and let's be merry. Together. The sky is our ceiling.

Lots of fun until then, of course! TONIGHT (10/10): Thursday Night Flights... French Viognier and Italian Reds this evening. Flights $12 from 5-9pm and wines by the glass.

SATURDAY 10/12: Wines of Provence. Whites, Rosé,and Red from the South of France. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 10/13: Burgundy Tasting. Earthy and ethereal delights from one of most beloved regions. Come explore with us from 2-6. Flights $15, and wines by the glass all day until 8pm.


See you soon,

Daniel

How did an adventurous boy from Ojai become the preeminent ambassador for Eastern European wine in the U.S.? Was it his great thirst for the esoteric? Surely, his freak power and charisma played a part. Does work in a vaudevillian circus prepare one for yet odder vocations? This evening, you may pose these questions yourself – and others of your choosing – and hear from the horse’s mouth, for tonight at Oakland Yard, the endlessly amusing and informative Mr. Eric Danch will pour four uniquely delicious wines from his importing company, Danch & Granger Selections.

The wine business is an archaic machine, slow to change course, and protective of the status quo, the historical primacy of places like Bordeaux, La Rioja, and Tuscany. When I began buying wine, before the turn of the century, the only Hungarian wines available were sweet wines from Tokaji, and there was next to nothing on the market from the Republic of Georgia, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. These regions boast ancient winemaking traditions and hallowed vineyard sites rich with minerals and volcanic stone. Some of the oldest written wine laws governed Transylvanian Tokaj, including rules regulating vineyard selection, irrigation and terracing, dating back to 1641.

Still reeling and healing from political upheaval and all-out war, many of these countries have seen a revitalization of their winemaking traditions, and, thanks to people like Eric, more of these wines are making their way to the states. Danch has made a niche market into his bread and butter, a testament to his palpable passion and personability. His phone autocorrects words like ​Harslevelu and he can say the grape name ​Juhfark​ with a straight face. He is a font of cultural, historical and scientific knowledge, at your service, tonight from 5 to 9.

Thursday Night Flights!​ ​​SLOVENIAN & HUNGARIAN tasting with special guest ERIC DANCH featuring wines by Črnko, Valdibor, Heimann, and Stoka. ​Flights $15 TONIGHT from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY 10/5: Wines of OREGON​:​ A white and two reds from our neighbors to the north. ​​​Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 10/6: CALIFORNIA tasting flights ​and ​WINE CLUB PICK UP PARTY​:​​ Two new whites and a red from our home state. ​Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.



Cheers,


Max

A quick story about a cat, and a neighbor. This happened at my last apartment. I was living there for a few months and came home late from work one night. The orange kitten who belonged to a woman in the building had escaped and was cornered and taking a beating from a feral neighborhood cat. I ran toward the ruckus, chasing off the bully.

The wounded kitty found it's way back in eventually, and the next morning there was a small package in the foyer, outside my door. A bar of chocolate and a little note from the owner (who apparently witnessed the incident from her window), but playfully written as being penned by the orange kitty. It read: Thanks for looking out - your pal, Pumpkin and it had a paw print "high-five" signature. I didn't see Pumpkin’s “mom” all week to thank her/Pumpkin, so I thought I'd just be neighborly and close the episode by leaving a small note too. I was making wine for a living at the time and had dozens of shiners (bottle without labels that I wouldn't be able to sell), so I left a bottle outside the owner's door with a note written to the cat offering my best wishes toward a speedy recovery.

A couple days later I see the neighbor and we chat. Oh, no problem. Yes, thanks for the chocolate, etc. No mention of the wine though. No big deal. A few days later my wife alerts me we have some mail that belongs to the "cat lady" and observes me dropping it at her door. Things turn left quickly and come into focus. "Daniel, that's not the cat lady's apartment... that's the younger woman who just split with her boyfriend who I heard crying last week...". With my head in my hands I can almost hear my note read aloud by a heartbroken stranger, completely out of context, creepy as hell: Hi Pumpkin, here's little something to get you through the cold nights as the wounds heal - Daniel.


It's National Good Neighbor Day this weekend. We're pouring flights of wines from Argentina and Canary Islands. Come join your local community of kind folks and friendly kooks. Come say hello. Bring a friend. Bring your friend's neighbor. Bring your cat. We've got the wine and chocolate covered. TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights... German Whites and Spanish Tempranillo. Flights $12 from 4-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm!

SATURDAY 9/28: Argentina! Torrontes, Criolla Grande, Garnacha, Malbec. Four unique and delicious wines, new arrivals and new vintages. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 9/29: Canary Islands. Can you imagine what wine might taste like in soils and vineyards that look like this? Volcanic and mineral, smoky - and lifted, expressive and savory. Come taste these dynamic wines and experience them for yourselves! Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.


Hope to see all you pumpkins soon,

Daniel

Several summers ago I spent a weekend camping lakeside with old friends. It was late in the season and the fishing was terrible, so we amused ourselves day drinking and meandering about the shore. At one point on our walk, someone began hollering, noting that we'd stumbled absentmindedly into a grove dense with poison oak. While most of us attempted a slow, nervous retreat, my friend from Chile continued onward, through the brush, in his shorts and T-shirt. Another friend called out to him, worried perhaps there was something lost in translation. "Se-BAS-ti-AN! Those leaves are poison oak! POI- SON. An exaggerated charade of clawing at ourselves followed. But with his thick accent and insouciant smile, Sebastian replied calmly: "It's Oh Kay. I salute the chief...". He flashed a brief gesture of benediction (or perhaps a cub scout's honor?) and sauntered on, carefree - hand in palm comfortably behind his back, chest out and chin high. We collectively shrugged. He'll learn the hard way...

It's odd, I suppose, but we never even asked what he meant by that. And odder still was the fact that by the next day nearly everyone had some rash on their arms or legs to tend to, and Sebastian was untouched, happy as a clam, right as rain.

Sebastian and I remain friends to this day. And while I still don’t understand many of his expressions, he has introduced me to many wonderful things: art, music, Chilean completos... and was also the first to offer me some of the more noteworthy and 'next level' wines from his homeland.

This SUNDAY we'll be featuring some of the most dynamic Chilean wines we have tasted, from ancient vines (most 100-200 years old!). We'll be pouring four beguiling wines from the same producer, Louis-Antoine Luyt. From the importer of natural wines, Louis/Dressner: "Luyt has quickly become a seminal voice in the fight for independent, terroir driven winemaking in Chile. In a country where wine production is run almost entirely by enormous industrial wineries, [he] has managed to source fruit and rent vines from independent farmers throughout the Maule Valley. Furthermore, his insistence on dry farming, horse plowing, organic viticulture and native yeast/intervention free winemaking are welcome proof that wines outside of Europe can successfully be produced with this work philosophy". Come taste the Pipeños of Luyt SUNDAY, 9/15. FOUR Wines (Pet Nat, Blanco, Rosé, and Tinto) - Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! All FRENCH lineup this evening, featuring new arrivals and staff favorites. Red and White Flights just $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass all evening.

SATURDAY 9/14: Natural Italian Bubbles! Col Fondo style Frizzante wines from Veneto: Le Moss, Menti, Casa Coste Piane. Cloudy and complex and irresistibly refreshing. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.


See you soon,

Daniel

My first seventeen years, I lived with my parents in Farmington, New York, in an old farmhouse on Allen-Padgham Road, named for the farmers who’d settled each end. My city-born parents embraced the rural life; they planted two large gardens and bought a few Swiss Toggenburg goats, named Zinnia, Zenith, and Zephyr. They made friends with the local farmers, and we’d drop by to say hello, find our friends in the barn or the field, and enjoy a lemonade or some peach cobbler in their old, country kitchen, with flies on the screen door, and dogs sprawled on the porch. I grew up with the near-constant smell of cow dung from the dairy farm next door, and always with fresh vegetables on the table. The goats are gone, but my parents still live there, as do many Allens and Padghams, up the road apiece.

Coming of age, I wanted nothing more than to get away from the sleepy countryside and to be in a big city - the bigger the better – so I went to New York. Farmington changed while I was away; there are McMansions where farms used to be, and the children of our farming friends have mostly turned to other work. I changed too and am less enamored with the urban life. I’ve begun growing vegetables on our roof-deck here on 40t​h​ Street and I’m surprised by the satisfaction and joy I’ve found in my hours of tending. In a sense, I feel like I’m returning to my roots, sharing the delight my mother’s always had in the magic of gardening, in making something out of nothing with a little work here and there.

Here in California, the light is changing, and many of our friends have begun to harvest their wine grapes. It’s an exciting time for the growers and winemakers, and we’re celebrating the harvest - and the approaching birthday of California itself on September 9t​h​, in 1850 – with tasting flights of California wine. Come enjoy the bounty!

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! ​FRENCH WHITES & ITALIAN REDS: New wines from the Loire, Beaujolais, Corsica, Piedmont, & Alto Adige. ​Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY 9/7: Rhone-Style California Tasting:​ “When not in Rhone...” California wines made with Rhone grape varieties from Front Porch Farm, Cote West, Vinca Minor and Cary Q. ​Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 9/8: CALIFORNIA ROSÉ:​ Taste four local, dry rosés from Matthiasson, Sky Vineyards, Phantômé Cellars and Nine North. ​Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.



Cheers,


Max

I feel particularly fortunate to work in such a social environment. Some days it requires focus finishing a task at hand with neighbors frequently stopping by to say hello, others rolling in mid-conversation, lively and animated - sometimes awkward. I hear odd snippets from odd folks walking past us on 40th too: "Revolutionary? Whatcha talking.. I said Missionary, fool. NO that's not vanilla.. It's what I LIKE!"

Inside the shop, mostly at the bar, I'll catch new phrases that are peculiar and absurd. Often hilarious. One time a group were playfully arguing where to go for dinner, with all in agreement but one woman who said that she was going to filibuster that. I heard a woman visiting from Ventura use the term cheeseburger as a verb when discussing saving money (ie. "if you have the money, buy property now or you'll just cheeseburger it all away"). I heard a different woman use the term ninja sex, not to suggest any acrobatic nature - but that they had to stay silent due to thin walls and a sensitive housemate.

My favorite new phrase was overheard last week: rosé chaser. Perhaps due to the heatwave, or things at the office, or the ongoing political climate - but a gentleman sat down to join his friend after work here and said: "This was a great idea...after the day I've had, I need a rosé chaser". I nodded to myself, and continued polishing glasses in preparation for an evening wave. My pink heart said these are your people.

Whatever day or week you've had, whatever chaser you need, and/or whatever you're chasing, we are here for you. Roll in to OAKLAND YARD this weekend and let it all out. TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! French Reds and Italian Whites. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass as always.

SATURDAY: Wines of SPAIN (and Paella!) Tasting Flights of Albarino, Txakolina, Rosé - and a Red from the Canary Islands... and our friend and neighbor, Rob, has offered to make his famous Paella! Flights $15 from 2-6 (and free paella samples while it lasts)! Wines by the glass too until 9pm.

SUNDAY: French ROSÉ TASTING. A rosé chaser for your week(end). All from Provence this Sunday. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm. Wine Club pick up party too!


See you soon,

Daniel

I was a gamer as a child. Not Atari, or Sega, but a lot of whiffle ball, Nok Hockey, ping pong, and pool. My brother and I had a small pocket billiards table that must have come from my grandparents’ house in Long Island, and we had it set up in the smaller of two barns on our property. This barn was also the homerun fence for our whiffle ball games: over the barn, out of the park.

Vassar College had a pool table in every dormitory, so that made my school choice easy. I continued my training in earnest, and hung out with the campus sharks. The simplicity and timelessness of the game appealed to me, as did the feeling of power that came from swiftly and silently shutting down opponents. At the table, I was known for my impatience, and there was a cartoon image of me drawn on the Cushing poolroom wall, holding a cue stick and yelling ‘shoot!’ Eight ball has many variations, so my college friend and billiards guru, Seth Legnini, wrote up a set of house rules to address the basic disputes about scratches and kisses, balls in hand, and such. It also included some good advice, like “if you have chalk, chalk a lot.” And the very first rule, our golden rule: “Start simple; build something beautiful.”

Exactly fifteen years ago, my pool career peaked. My Monday night league team out of the Raccoon Lodge in lower Manhattan won the 2004 New York regionals, and the American Pool Association flew us to Las Vegas to compete in the APA finals; the amateur pool player’s dream. It was my first time in Las Vegas and it struck me as a celebration of the worst of America. My wife, Julia, and I had just started dating, and she came out to surprise me at the competition. I won my match, but the rest of the team crapped out, and I learned a few things about myself: I could kick ass under pressure, I never needed to go back to Vegas, and I was deeply in love with Julia.

We started Oakland Yard as a simple place to taste and buy wine and to meet friends, and you all have turned it into something beautiful. For love of love, and for love of Oakland, come join us this week for a tasting flight. No games and no impatience, just a slew of tantalizing wines to satisfy your curious palate.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! PORTUGUESE WHITES & SPANISH REDS: Iberian wines from the Minho, Navarra and the Penedes. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY 8/24: CABERNET FRANC Tasting: Four styles of Franc, from light and fruity to dark and serious. Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 8/25: SKIN-MACERATED WHITE WINES: ‘Orange’ wines from Austria, Italy and the Republic of Georgia. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.



Cheers,


Max

I recently returned from a quick trip to the Catskills. Those with toddlers will note my reluctance to call it a vacation. My daughter is 20 months now - volcano energy, scrambling about at great speeds, climbing on everything, no real sense of peril. She spent most of her afternoons there lakeside, mucking about on the shore, shoveling wet sand everywhere - much of it right into her mouth. I would try to intervene, fail, rinse her mouth out - and then she'd be right back at it minutes later. Another dad nearby offered curious consolation: "That's just what they do at that age... my daughter's first full sentence was I like dirt."

Terroir is a funny thing. Roughly meaning "a sense of place", it is a term we hear and use a lot in the wine world. It is the combination of natural elements of a region (or a single vineyard): soil composition, elevation, latitude, microclimate, etc... these site specific influences that somehow leave a "signature" on the wines from there. Or, more succinctly, the physical elements of place that give the resulting wine its particular character.

But it is an elusive thing and argued over endlessly. Many critics dismiss terroir as a myth or a marketing ploy, objecting to the use of terms like "minerality" as there is no scientific proof to connect the perception of ‘minerality’ to actual minerals in a wine. And yet, a "mineralness" is somehow present in wines from certain sites. And what critic, Matt Kramer, calls a "somewhereness" does seem to exist - for whatever reason Pinot Noir from Burgundy tastes different from cru to cru, and even more so than Pinot from Russian River Valley, or Chile's Casablanca Valley.

Come explore this elusive somewhereness with us - and decide for yourself. Flights here every Thursday and all weekend. Fun, informal, and far more delightful than a mouthful of dirt.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Italian Whites and Domestic Reds. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass as always.

SATURDAY: All French Rosé Tasting:
2018 Marc Plouzeau Chinon Rosé
2018 La Raimbauderie Sancerre Rosé
2018 Chateau de Peyrassol Commanderie Rosé
2018 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rosé
Flights $15 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm!

SUNDAY: Wines of Greece! These grape varieties are a mouthful indeed. Roditis, Moschofilero. Xinomavro. Limniona. Mavroud. Come escape the heat with these delicious island wines. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm. And yes, there will be minerality.

See you soon,

Daniel

“I cut my teeth on Carlo Rossi...” began one customer’s memorable request for a recommendation, with a humble nostalgia for the old grocery store jug wine. Well, we all start somewhere. Might as well be honest and poetic about it. At times, I’ve been self-conscious about my knowledge of wine, as though it were a badge of bourgeois privilege, or a decadent pastime, but it’s really just the result of a long–standing fascination, carefully chosen priorities, and some fixed attention.

Wine appreciation in the U.S. has an image problem; wine culture smacks of elitism. It is esoteric, stuffy, joyless, and rigid. Wine is not punk rock, unless it’s poured in a water glass and downed in one go. I watched this happen at Oakland Yard several months ago, and it was pretty punk rock. There’s also a lot of classist bullshit fertilizing our favorite agricultural product. A comprehensive understanding of wine requires access to considerable means, signifying social status. Some smarmy somms will play this up, their net worth pinned to all they’ve swallowed, but that’s not why we’re in the game.

Wine at Oakland Yard is not hoity-toity, and it will not make you fancy; it is the farmers’ drink, a combination of vine, water, dirt and sun, with ancient roots and one ingredient. Come taste with us this week and reclaim the people’s beverage. Tasting flights every Thursday are always just $12 and our $15 and under bottle selection is prodigious and delicious.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights!​ ​FRENCH WHITES & ITALIAN REDS​. Wines from the Loire Valley, the Savoie, Alsace, Piedmont, Campania & the Valle d'Aosta. ​Flights $12 from 5-9 ​and​ wines by the glass until 9pm.


SATURDAY 8/10: THREE SHADES of CHINON​ Tasting Flights of Red, White & Rosé Chinon. Flights ​$15 from 2-6pm ​and​ wines by the glass until 9pm.


SUNDAY 8/11: CALIFORNIA WHITE WINES​: Zah Chenin Blanc, Tendu Cortese, Luuma Chardonnay & Highlawn Picpoul.​ Flights $15 from 2-6 ​and ​wines by the glass until 8pm.


Cheers,

Max

Someone once casually gave me bottle of red from Napa. Bigger and bolder than wines I normally drink, I thought my brother might enjoy it, so I grabbed it one day on my way out the door and we brought it to our local burger joint. We didn't finish it and left a third for our server. The next week, Wine Spectator awarded it something near 100 points and named it Wine of the Year.

One of my best friends got married this past weekend. We were housemates - or rather, cabin mates - during two separate spells. The first, exactly one decade ago, when I joined him and another friend in western Sonoma, three interns pursuing careers in winemaking. Working early mornings, cleaning and scrubbing tanks and barrels and bins - sorting though grapes and dreams and personal relationships. Long back-breaking days and late nights in barrel rooms and dank cellars.

It was rare that the 3 of us would be home (or at least awake) at the same time, let alone for a proper meal together. But I remember the first evening it happened - each of us not knowing when we'd be out and having individually picked up take out, we all hobbled in around the same hour. Stretched out on sofas, feet up, limbs sore- watching comedy central in silence, our remaining energy reserved for chewing our monster burritos. At some point one of them offered to open up a wine that his boss had given him, a leftover from their harvest lunch. In my memory at least, it was many minutes later of chewing and swallowing before a second silence was broken:

I'm not sure who spoke first, but they said, simply: "This is good."
Then someone, quite a bit later: "... Uh, this is good"
And a while after that, a third reaffirmation: "This is like really really good, right?..."

Eventually someone jumped on a laptop to look up the wine and discovered it was indeed "good". Like really good. A somewhat rare and very expensive bottle too, probably deserving more than to be paired with Taqueria Santa Rosa and Michael and Michael Have Issues.

I was thinking about my friend and his new wife this morning. And I guess about life and love and wine and burritos. About all the pomp and celebration of things, of little splendid things sometimes right under our noses. About the lucky moments, when exhausted and spent, we are moved enough to pause and look around and say to ourselves: This is good. This is really good...

All good things ahead here at OAKLAND YARD...
TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! We're pouring new French Reds and crisp, dry Austrian Whites. Come celebrate the good things with us. No burritos next door, but Tacos Oscar is open tonight with tacos and other delights that your are welcome to bring in and enjoy here. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY, August 3rd: BEAUNE IMPORTS TASTING with special guest RACHEL GOLDMAN – Rachel will share her prodigious knowledge and pour flights of delicious, classically-styled wines from Italy, Spain, and France - $15 from 2-6pm

SUNDAY, August 4th: SPARKLING FLIGHTS at OAKLAND YARD... The sun will be out and we'll be popping corks and pouring dry, delightful bubbly from around the globe. Flights from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm!


See you soon,

Daniel

Sicily may seem worlds away from California – 6,500 miles, as the Hoopoe flies - but we share many traits with this sun-drenched, blood-soaked, triangular island. We both possess cultures rich with the diversity of a constant influx of immigrants, similarly shaped by towering mountains, fertile plains and surrounding sea. They have castles and canoli; we have San Simeon and See’s Candy. And, of course, we are both blessed with a balmy, Mediterranean climate.

There are five million Sicilians on ten thousand square miles, while we, the People of the Bay, are close to eight million on seven thousand square miles. For sheer wine production volume, Sicily has us well beat: at over 150 million gallons in 2018, the island is the fourth largest wine producer in Italy (the world's largest wine producing country) after the Veneto, Puglia, and Emilia Romagna. California produces only about 15.3 million gallons of wine, but this is nearly 90% of our country’s wine, and grape growing and winemaking are an integral part of our cultural identity. Interestingly, only about 15% of Sicily’s wine is actually bottled; the rest is sold ‘sfuso’ in bulk to other regions, or on site to the locals.

Join us this weekend to taste and compare some of these delicious wines! We’ll be pouring California Rosés this Saturday and Sicilian tasting flights on Sunday. We’re also delighted to welcome Brendan and Nicolette’s friends and family for a grand old Saturday afternoon pre-wedding celebration. Come one, come all; it’s bound to be lively!

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Italian Whites & Chilean Pipeños. Frascati, Favorita, Garganega, and a whole lotta País. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.


SATURDAY 7/27: CALIFORNIA ROSÉ Tasting Flights from 2 to 6pm AND Brendan and Nico’s Prenuptual Party from 3 to 6!!!– Dry rosés from Phantome Cellars, Cote West, and Arnot-Roberts, $15 flights until 6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm.


SUNDAY 7/28: SICILIAN Flights: Catarratto, Etna Bianco, Frappato, & Etna Rosso. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.



Cheers,


Max

I've been watching the new season of Stranger Things, the dark sci-fi series soaked in 80s nostalgia. The last episode featured a town fair and it brought back the memory of the annual carnival that would pop up at my elementary school. At that age it was always surreal to me - the way our kickball 'fields' and basketball and handball courts - ultimately just a sprawling neighborhood block of asphalt - could transform into something so magical, so animated and wild. A full day of trucks and noise - classroom windows rattling and redirecting the pings of metal poles and the endless hammering. And then, seemingly in a blink, a small spinning steel city suddenly erected. The evening would descend and everything would glow, my whole little world all bells and lights and music and mischief. An irresistible mix of romance and danger in the air. Everyone laughing and hollering, and holding on to each other.

This SATURDAY, July 20th, from 11-5pm... two long blocks of 40th St. stretching from Webster to Opal (or from Broken Guitars to Hog's Apothecary) will transform into a pedestrian paradise of food trucks, an outdoor beer and wine garden, artisan vendors, and live music galore! No Ferris wheels or carnival chaos, but there will be activities for kids of all ages and special musical guests! A certain famous neighbor of ours, we'll call him Billie Joe A. (wait thats too obvious... let's just say B.J. Armstrong) and his friends will be headlining on the main stage and playing a set of covers sure to get things rocking into the evening. Mark your calendars and roll on down. The 40th St Block Party is FREE!!! OAKLAND YARD will have a booth in the center of it all, and the shop and our (air-conditioned:) indoor bar will be OPEN normal hours all day from 11-9pm with bottles to go and wines by the glass, as always!

But first TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! We'll be pouring Italian Whites and French Reds this evening. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY: ROSÉ Tasting Flights from around the globe.
2018 Von Winning Rosé (Germany)
2018 Bisson Ciliegiolo Rosato (Italy)
2018 Yves Cuilleron 'Sybel' Rosé (France)
2018 SKY Vineyards Rosé (Napa Valley)
Flights $15 from 2-6 pm and wines by the glass until 8pm!


Hope to see you all there,

Daniel

There is no history of ‘natural’ wine, for it is the history of winemaking itself. There is, however, a clear history of ‘unnatural’ wine, or spoofulated wine, as importer Joe Dressner called it. It wasn’t until the 1940’s, with the sudden and widespread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, that unnatural wine was born. After the war, the same chemicals used to make TNT and other munitions were redirected to the fields, and chemical companies convinced scores of vigneronsthat these additions would produce a larger, healthier, more reliable crop. Most of the prized vineyards of Europe were greatly damaged, some would say permanently compromised, by these innovations, and the new ‘natural’ wine movement developed, in large part, in response to this destruction, as a return to traditional farming methods, an effort to bring life back to the soil.

Our concept of ‘natural’ wine does have a history. For many winemakers, it began with knowledge of low-intervention winemaking techniques championed by vignerons like Marcel Lapierre, Jules Chauvet and Henri Jayer, but for us wine drinkers and retailers in the US, these wines, and the awareness that they were somehow different from the rest, came from conscientious wine importers, like Joe Dressner, Kermit Lynch and Neal Rosenthal. Back in the ‘90’s, they didn’t call it natural wine; it was small-production, organically farmed, un-manipulated, low-tech wine, and it simply tasted better than the elaborately concocted alternatives. By this point, it was about more than just chemicals in the field; now there were micro-oxygenation machines, over-powering strains of yeasts, Mega-Purple for color, alcohol adjustments and additives used to create a consistently marketable product. These importers made it clear to us that this was not really wine, and they cultivated in us a taste for the simple, unique agricultural products we continue to seek out and enjoy.

This Sunday, July 14th, we’ll pour flights of fresh, fruity French reds from producers who exemplify this authentic approach, those who made us fall in love with these wines decades ago. Come taste the wines of Lemasson, Puzelat, Bonhomme, and Dinocheau and decide for yourself if they are not more alive, interesting, and straight up delicious than their ninety-eight point competitors.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights!: Italian reds and Spanish whites. Scintillating Sicilian & southern Italian reds, and outrageously refreshing, organically farmed whites from the Penedes, the Basque country, and Castilla la Mancha. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.


SATURDAY 7/13: VINS DE SAVOIE – French Alpine flights – there’s something special about that mountain sun - $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.


SUNDAY 7/14: LOIRE VALLEY REDS: Pure, unspoofulated vins de soif, including a few of the classics imported by Louis/Dressner. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.




Cheers,


Max

I certainly don't remember my first BBQ, but I can almost still smell the smoke of so many from youth to yesterday. My father lighting up the chimney in the side yard. Endless summers at the Gleasons. Forgotten flames and burnt burgers. Age 12, consuming an entire jumbo bag of old Jujubes and a gallon of Mountain Dew and later vomiting in a bush. The time a company of salsadancers crashed the party. The time I grilled a giant tri-tip steak that went missing - convinced my friends had hid it, only to surrender to the shock and disappointment that our dog, Max, had indeed devoured the entire thing when we weren't looking.

I love BBQ's and their slow, secret rhythm that belies the wild 'anything goes' spirit of the spread - an all day buffet of odd belly fellows like salsa and jello. Funyuns and footlongs. Mesquite burgers and Mayonnaise cake.

With a retail shop, sometimes all the shortspeak and the shpiel, hashtags and the like - things that came along with promoting what we are and what we do - seem a bit silly. I sometimes joke that we specialize in Adventure Provisions. Wines to pair with parties and picnics and camping and coastlines. But BBQ Provisions, though far less sexy, might be even more succinct. And perhaps it all sounds a bit too whimsical, but at the end of the day there's really nothing that got me into wine more than the simple pleasure of the weekend BBQ. Nothing that gets me more excited to drink wine. A communal feast for friends, for families, for fun - and a mystical math where the scattered independent elements seem to somehow total one million in the end. And, if you're lucky, fireworks.


OAKLAND YARD is OPEN today! Special HOLIDAY HOURS for July 4th, from 11-6pm. No flights tonight but we'll be keeping the spirit going through the long weekend. SATURDAY 7/6 from 2-6 we'll pouring BBQ wines. Session wines. Picnic and party provisions. Crips white, dry rosé, fresh, chillable reds. A focus on fun and affordable, food-friendly, day-drinking delights. SUNDAY will be all Sparkling Flights at OAKLAND YARD... Flights from 2-6 both days and wines available by the glass too as always!

Happy fourth, happy long weekend, and happy grilling.

Cheers,

Daniel

As the cranes of unrelenting growth stack studios and one-bedrooms on every horizon, it is interesting to look back on Oakland’s not-so-distant past, its strange and colorful history, the stories that came before our own. In the 1800’s, before the electric commuter trains occupied our space, there was a horse-drawn tramcar line running up Telegraph Avenue, then called Humboldt Avenue. The horsecars operated out of a large barn on 51st, where the Walgreens now stands.

The horse barn was built beside Temescal Creek, the hidden watershed that defines our neighborhood, just a stone’s throw from the DMV, where Vicente Peralta built the first adobe structure in 1836, dubbing it Rancho Temescal. In 1820, Vicente’s father was given 45,000 acres – pretty much all of the east bay - by the Spanish Crown, for forty years of military service; his Rancho San Antonio stretched from San Leandro to Albany. Vicente and his brothers had more than 2,000 horses and 8,000 cattle, raised not for meat, but for hides and tallow. The Peralta’s built a slaughterhouse on 14th street and 12th avenue, where there is now a Burger King.

Temescal Creek, likely named after native sweat lodge huts the vaqueros discovered along its banks, is one of many ways water gets from the hills to the bay. Over the years, the creek has been culverted and redirected to accommodate new development, but it still carries much of the runoff beneath us from the east. Anthony Chabot, the ‘Water King’, dammed the creek in 1868 to create Lake Temescal, the first Oakland municipal water supply. Until the early 1900’s, there was still a wide, wooden bridge on Telegraph Avenue, where they’re now building a two hundred unit residential building and a Whole Foods.

While the march of progress continues unabated, let’s take some time to enjoy what we still have here: the sun, the hills, each other, and the small bits of artificially constructed and re-pumped ‘creek’ surrounding the DMV. And maybe fifty years from now, you’ll sit back and say, “I drank some delicious wine in that spot on 40th and Webster.”

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights!: Italian reds and Loire Valley whites. Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Nebbiolo, Melon, Sauvignon Blanc & Romorantin. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.



SATURDAY 6/29: ITALIAN ROSÉ Tasting Flights – All new dry Rosés from Tuscany and Piedmont. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.


SUNDAY 6/30: ‘ORANGE WINE’ Flights: Skin-fermented wines from Croatia, California & the Republic of Georgia. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.

Cheers,

Max

When new folks roll into the shop, we're often asked if the framed glass back wall opens or lifts up. Some are confused or disappointed to find out there is no green "yard" at OAKLAND YARD. We explain how we got our name, a reference to the Oakland Shafter Yard that existed at our location, the end of the line when the electric trains rolled through what is now 420 40th St.

The theme of connecting remains. I was at wedding last weekend - two women celebrating one of those truly 'meant to be' moments and committing to a million more moments together, surrounded by redwoods and friends and family. It got me thinking about the connection I made to one of them, through her brother - and how the same man who so lovingly honored his sister also stood before our and friends and family to give the grand toast at my wedding. I thought of the connection I made to another man who hired me years ago at a shop in Brooklyn, who would eventually be the one to actually marry me and my wife - and play cello for the ceremony - andagree to open a wine shop together that same year.

And OAKLAND YARD continues to be a place of connections. I'm thinking this morning of Alyson of Flower & Forage who did the flower arrangements for the wedding, and has for many others who connected here since. I think of all the celebrations Brendan of Phantom Cellars has DJ'd or played guitar, all of the birthdays Tacos Oscar has catered, the local businesses Cassandra and Seth of Gold & Rust have hosted in their new space. I think of the kind neighbor I met at the shop who gifted me the old rocking horse my daughter is now climbing on. I think of all the children of past and future who have and will mount (and fall from) that tiny wooden horse. I think of all the shoes and the vintage clothing and antique jewelry that will be here this Saturday. All of these unique and lovely things, finding new hands and new homes, a new partner and a new purpose. Someone new to love them.

SATURDAY (6/22) The Artisan Flea Market is ON! Artists and makers, food and fun! Design. Dress. Decor. Delights. Bring your friends and roll on through. Admission s FREE!
Saturday, June 22nd, from 12-5pm. Vendors include Gold & Rust, Mind's Eye Vintage, Flower & Forage, Westwind Succulents, Charlotte Stone, Lucas Ahlstrand, Lauren Tedeschi Ceramics, Same E., Pablo Cristi. Tasty treats from Tacos Oscar and Nokni Oakland. Beverages from Steep Tea Co.! Outdoor Beer and Wine Garden all day and Tasting Flights from Phantome Cellars inside!

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights! Greek Whites and Rhone Reds. Your choice! Flights just $12 from 5-9pm and wines by the glass as always!

SUNDAY 6/23: SPARKLING FLIGHTS at OAKLAND YARD... The sun will be out and we'll be popping corks and pouring dry, delightful bubbly from around the globe. Flights 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm!

See you soon,

Daniel

To liven up the shop, and to keep ourselves amused, we listen to music at Oakland Yard. By my calculations, we’ve thrown down more than 8,000 hours of the stuff since we opened, in 2014, and while you may not like all of what we play here – I’m often unpleasantly surprised by my own selections - my hope is that you’ll hear something new, something different, something that moves you, or makes you think.

Whoever is closest to the stereo when the music stops becomes the default DJ, and there are few rules about what can pass through our stately KLHs. Unless you’re playing B- sides and deep cuts, rule number one is no Hall & Oates. I don’t think it’s in the employee handbook, but it might as well be. Compilations of radio-friendly hits, like Bob Marley’s Legend, are also discouraged, as are the staples of dining in the nineties: The Buena Vista Social Club and the Gypsy Kings. To be clear, I don’t hate this music, but I’m always looking for something less tired, like Ronnie Foster, Nicolas Jaar, or Lulu Be.

We often play records in the shop, not because they are hip and cool, but because we’re anachronistic, and we sometimes lose internet service, and many of these old LPs are not available on Apple Music. Funk genius, Hamilton Bohannon, is grossly underrepresented online, but our forty-year-old wax brings it all back home, albeit a little scratchily. We’ve discovered that while Bohannon’s A-sides deliver red-hot, funky disco grooves, his B- sides are decidedly different; they are a series of dreamy, slow dances that can only lead straight to bed. Deliberately deployed, these B-sides have wrapped up countless nights in the tasting bar, with the interminable and gentle rocking two-chord vamp signaling that the night has come to a close.

Join us this week for some wine and music; hopefully you’ll taste and hear something new, something different, something inspiring, and if you stick around too long, you may fall prey the irresistibly soporific effects, the Siren-like call to bed, the Goodnight, Moon, of Bohannon’s Side B.

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights!: Italian reds and Spanish whites. Frappato, Aglianico, Montepulciano, Hondarrabi Zuri, Albillo & Verdejo. Flights $12 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm.




SATURDAY 6/15: LOIRE VALLEY Tasting Flights – All new Red, White, & Rosé from one of our very favorite regions. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.


SUNDAY 6/16: SOUTHERN FRENCH ROSÉ Flights: All Dry and delicious, pink wines from Provence and the Ventoux. $15 tasting flights from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 8pm.


Cheers,

Max