Speaking of favorite wine bars, I think I’ve found mine, or a great substitute for one – the Ipic theatre in Westwood. You can have the best wine in the world – just sneak your own bottle in, as I did last night. Relax in one of those killer Lazy Boy-type recliners, order some food and take in a great movie.
I wouldn’t say the food is Michelin quality, but it’s satisfactory. We had tandoori chicken and sweet potato fries. I especially liked the fries (they had some good dips for them) and everything paired nicely with the bottle of Brunello I brought. The Ipic’s own wine list sucks – a lot of mass-produced crap.
I think my new hobby is going to be pairing wine with motion pictures.
Tough question to answer; depends on what you’re looking for.
I seem to be spending most of my wine money at Wine Exchange these days. Kyle is super smart with great taste. He seeks out and maintains relationships with cutting edge producers and importers.
WineEx is small and the good stuff can sell out quickly. I suggest subscribing to their email blasts and pouncing on anything that looks good. I head down every few months to collect my purchases.
I like Woodland Hills Wine co, too. Always find nice surprises whenever I’m in the store.
I live in West LA but I’ll drive to K&L if I need a bottle right away. Don’t care for Wine House or Wally’s.
I’d do a Google shopping search of the best prices for Zalto. Riedel you can even find at Costco or other discounters for a nice price.
Not much price difference of Zalto across the board, but we’ve ordered them as gifts from Aldo Sohm because of the free shipping and no sales tax unless we’re shipping to NY. https://www.aldosohm.com/shop/zalto-universal
Don’t forget about the Schott Zweisel Titanium series. The only glass I trust myself to “drink and dry.”
Also, i’m very dubious of any of these local wine makers or blenders. It takes a real talent to source wine and make good wine out of it. It’s why we always go north for our wine hunts, another next weekend!
I’ve had good wine from urban wineries. It generally doesn’t matter where the winery is if they get good grapes. Angeleno’s come from the Sierra Pelona Valley AVA, which I know nothing about.
I’ve given up buying fancy wine glasses because I break about one a month. And the nicer the glass, the easier it is to break. I broke my two Zalto Universal glasses within two weeks of buying them.
) before the trailers ended.
