Reason #1: people have gotten busier. By “people,” I chiefly mean me, although I’m surely not the only one whose increasingly demanding work obligations have made it difficult to justify late-night wine guzzling on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Back when we were substantially more young and unemployed, meetings were held every week without fail — only holidays would prevent us from gathering in Brentwood or WeHo or Glendale for our expected dose of mid-week edutoxication. These days, however, the meeting announcements I post tend to receive just as many “wish I could” responses as “omg I’m there like alwayz” ones, and my own cluttered schedule has made it increasingly difficult to send out those announcements in the first place. Getting busier is just a part of getting older, I guess, a point which brings me to…

Reason #2: people have gotten older. In this case, by “people” I mean all of us, and by “older” I mean “unexpectedly mature and responsible.” A Young Winos meeting used to comprise little more than a boozy conglomeration of twenty-something misfits and miscreants crowding into a member’s apartment to drink wine — politely and attentively at first, but shortly thereafter without any aspirations to civility — and subsequently camping out for hours on the sofa, long after the last bottle had been drained, complaining about their jobs, their romantic prospects, and the lack of additional wine. Sadly, however, I can’t remember the last time we had a meeting like that. Our traditional start time of 9pm, which never seemed to be a problem for anyone in our early years, is a distant memory; people want to start at 8pm now, and they leave right after the meeting is done, instead of hanging out bullshitting until 2:00 in the morning. We’re becoming old people, and we don’t want to act like kids anymore. This, in turn, offers me an apt segue to:

Reason #3: I am no longer a twenty-something. I can’t deny the rumors any longer: I’m officially a 30-year-old person, and I’ve consequently been “aged out” of my own group. Sure, plenty of 30-year-olds have been polluting our ranks for years now (and no, I won’t mention any names, besides Jason Meltzer), but it’s a little different when we’re talking about the person who started the group. I was twenty-two when I posted that initial craigslist ad and first met Andrew, Jason, Erik… twenty-three when I first met Leah, Noah, Sasha, Jessica… twenty-four when I first met Emily and Jordan… and seven when I first met Max. Bottom line, I’m starting to conclude that I’m getting too old for this shit. How long is a guy supposed to keep maintaining an organization for twenty-somethings that he set up in his early twenties? I think we can all agree that the answer is probably “for the period of time in which he’s a twenty-something.” Anything beyond that, and one can’t help but feel that it might be time to set up a new organization.

So what is this “scaled back” version of the Young Winos? The other old-school members and I think it would be foolish to disband the organization entirely. Instead, we plan to keep the general format the same, but transition from an ostensibly “weekly” meeting schedule to something closer to a “quarterly” one. We’ll hold a meeting every few months, and all members — new and old — are welcome to attend. We’ll also hold dedicated special meetings (i.e. winemaker tastings, “new member” meetings, etc.) should those situations present themselves.

What does this mean to you? If you’re already a member of the Facebook group, don’t remove yourself, as this will remain our primary way to reach our current and former membership. When we do hold the occasional tasting, you’ll find out through Facebook. The group can also function as a forum to post wine questions, alert your friends to interesting events, and share your experiences with bottles that you drink. If you’re not a member of the Facebook group yet, you can join here.

Also: we still love the concept of the Young Winos as much as ever, even if the practical ins-and-outs are no longer commensurate with our schedules (and advancing ages). As a result, we’re very open to the idea of someone new taking the helm. If you’re a twenty-something with a serious passion for wine, and you believe you’ve got the unique blend of charismatic leadership, oenology chops, and dashing good looks to rally a new generation of millenials under the Young Winos of LA banner, please get in touch with me. I’d love to discuss that possibility with you.

For now, at least, I’d like to raise a glass to all of the impressive edutoxication this group has accomplished, as well as to all that’s yet to come. It’s been a crazy ride, and we’ll always have a ton of great memories — not as many as we might have if we hadn’t been drinking so heavily, perhaps, but great memories nonetheless. Keep in touch, and monitor the Facebook group. I hope to open a bottle with you all very soon.

–Jesse Porter, Head Wino

And why wouldn’t I want to make converts out of all of you? After all, Beaujolais is one of those rare wines that’s as beloved as it is reviled. Usually a wine is either extolled by basically everyone (i.e. Napa Cabernet) or has a pervasively bad reputation (i.e. Lambrusco or White Zin), but Beaujolais has healthy collections of both fans and haters. On the positive side, Beaujolais has several worthy champions in the wine press, like Eric Asimov of The New York Times and Mike Steinberger, formerly of Slate. Perhaps my favorite wine scribe, the legendary importer Kermit Lynch, includes the following passage in his masterful book Adventures on the Wine Route: “Beaujolais must be the most inspired invention in the history of wine. What a concept, downing a newborn wine that has barely left the grape, a wine that retains the cornucopian spirit of the harvest past. It even serves to remind us of the first time man tasted fermented grape juice and decided it was an accident of nature worth pursuing.”

Sadly, Beaujolais also has plenty of detractors, but many of them are presumably just rebelling against the regrettable wine known as Beaujolais Nouveau — and rightly so. Beaujolais Nouveau (literally “new Beaujolais”) is present-year vintage wine that’s specially bottled for the Thanksgiving season. Typically hailing from the least-celebrated vineyards in the Beaujolais region, the wine is harvested early (sometimes leaving it unripe), bottled, aged for about a week, and then shipped off to unfortunate customers all around the world. In most vintages, it’s pretty poor wine — and definitely not worth the $10 to $14 it commands. (Absolutely essential reading for this week’s tasting is Mike Steinberger’s treatise on the horrors of Beaujolais Nouveau, which you can read here.)

This Thanksgiving, I’m going to once again encourage all Young Winos to skip out on the Beaujolais Nouveau marketing ploy, and instead embrace one of the other excellent wines that hail from this storied region. It’s no surprise that Beaujolais has traditionally been a November hit; its light fruitiness and earthy undertones pair perfectly with the ripe harvest flavors that dominate the Thanksgiving table. For our tasting this week, we’ll “say no to Nouveau” and concentrate instead on the region’s other winners:

Beaujolais is the basic red, and is made entirely from the Gamay grape. It’s meant to be consumed young, so try to find a ‘10 or an ‘11. Beaujolais-Villages (the French word “villages” rhymes with “mirage,” not “pillages”) is a step up; these wines are from one of 39 villages designated as superior. Finally, there are ten Cru Beaujolais, each from an individual village from which the wine takes its name. These are the best and most interesting wines to be found in the region. They are:

Brouilly — fruity and grapey
Chénas — subtle and graceful
Chiroubles — very light bodied
Cote de Brouilly — heady and lively
Fleurie — floral and velvety
Juliénas — richly flavored
Morgon — purple and masculine
Moulin-a-Vent — hearty and balanced
Régnié — has two accents on it
Saint-Amour — silky and spicy

Be creative when searching for your bottle! Great bottles can be found for south of $20. Eric Asimov offered several 2010 Beaujolais suggestions in a recent column, while Mike Steinberger published a piece last year in which he calls the 2009 Beaujolais “required drinking” and lists several producers worth checking out. Also, you can click here to review our favorites from the ‘08 tasting! (Please note: the ten Cru Beaujolais above probably won’t say “Beaujolais” anywhere on the bottle, so you’ll have to look for the individual place names.)

One tiny caveat, so tiny that I used smaller font: there are a few producers making Beaujolais Nouveau that’s worth drinking. Last year I was fortunate enough to be introduced by a salesman at K&L to the Nouveau from Domaine Dupeuble Pere et Fils, who swore it was worth a try. (It also didn’t hurt that it’s imported by the aforementioned Kermit Lynch, whose taste in Beaujolais is beyond reproach.) I loved it, and I was thrilled to have found a winning Nouveau, but it was only the personal recommendation that convinced me to dispense with my usual prohibition. If you’d care to bring a Nouveau this year, please make sure you have some reason for doing so — a recommendation from a writer or a vendor you trust, for example — and don’t just grab one of those brightly-colored abominations you’ll find in the gaudy displays at the front of the store.

We’ll be meeting at Ryan’s place in West LA, and this week’s meeting starts at 8pm. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions), and I’ll send you a confirmation e-mail with the address. Once you’ve received your confirmation e-mail, go find an interesting bottle of Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, or one of the Crus — or, as always, simply bring ten dollars. Can’t wait to see you ebullient youngsters on Wednesday at 8pm.

First, make sure you have Notifications for Young Winos of LA turned on. If you navigate to the Young Winos of LA group on Facebook, you will find this in the Notifications menu near the top.

If you’re happy with just getting a notification when you check Facebook, you’re all set. If you want to receive an email as well, read on.

Go to your Account Settings, hidden under the triangle next to your name at the top-right of the Facebook window. Here’s what mine looks like:

Then, go to Notifications:

Under Email, click “All notifications, except those I’ve unsubscribed from.”

Make sure that you haven’t unsubscribed from email notifications from The Young Winos of LA! You may with to unsubscribe from certain other emails from Facebook.

Speaking of sweet spots, we’re turning our attention this week to the other side of the “harvest whites” coin: wines that satisfy the sweet tooth.  Whether it’s an unctuous dessert wine to wrap up a perfect Thanksgiving dinner, a serviceable German Riesling to share with someone special in front of a roaring fire, or a really excellent German Riesling to drink by yourself in front of a roaring fire, sweet wines — especially when paired with cool temperatures — are a welcome change of pace from the acid-driven, thirst-quenching dry wines that we crave during the summertime.  This week, in what’s become something of an annual tradition, we’re breaking from our usual habit of meeting in member apartments and instead descending on the tasting bar at Vendome Wines & Spirits in Studio City.  I’ve picked out all of the wines from Vendome’s selection, so no need to contribute any wines of your own this week.  (Additionally, all of the wines featured in the tasting will be available for purchase at a 10% discounted rate off the regular price.)

The wines that we’ll be drinking run the gamut from oh-so-slightly sweet to unapologetically and indignantly sweet, and one of the grapes that exists in both of those forms (among others) is Riesling.  “Rethink Riesling” was one of the strategies I plugged two years ago in a blog post entitied “Wines for a SoCal autumn,” in which I suggested a few seasonal wine themes to pair with the slightly-lower temperatures we get to enjoy this time of year (you can read the piece here).  There are crisp, off-dry Rieslings that drink nicely on those warm, still-feels-like-summer days, and then there are late-harvest Rieslings so lush and deep that they obviate the need to order dessert.  (Just look at that photo of golden Riesling grapes, bursting with juice, waiting to be picked on a cool autumn day.  Doesn’t it just make you want to pull on a woolen hat and gloves and go drink yourself silly on a windy farm road with bright orange leaves falling all around you?  Me too.)

Other wines that will make appearances will include Vouvray, made from Chenin Blanc in France’s Loire Valley, which is also vinified in both dry and sweet styles; Gewurztraminer, a French and German grape that produces vibrant, fruity wines; Sauternes, that storied French dessert wine, made from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, which is among the most age-worthy in the world; and several other surprises.  Anyone skeptical of the idea of “sweet wines” in general is encouraged to come out to this tasting, where I hope and expect that your preconceived notions about their drinkability will be dispelled.  (Plus, there’ll be delicious cheese.  ‘Nuff said, right?)

This week’s tasting will be held on Thursday evening, from 8pm to 10pm, at Vendome’s tasting bar. Admission is $15 (credit cards ok), which covers a full lineup of pours, plus cheese and crackers, plus whatever wine is left in the bottles once we’re done. Vendome is located at 11555 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.  Please click on this link to RSVP and let me know if you’re planning to attend.

Hope to see you there!

I was reminded recently of an LA Times article from a few years ago which dealt with autumn-appropriate white wines, and one passage in particular struck me as very relevant.  Whites for fall weather, the writer Patrick Comiskey suggested, ought to make an impression “not with energy but with weight … not so much to cleanse your palate as to envelop it like a blanket.”  It’s in the spirit of that directive that we seek out some full-bodied whites for this week’s meeting.

So what are full-bodied whites?  The go-to option for many wine drinkers, both novice and accomplished, is Chardonnay — especially California Chardonnay.  A grape capable of producing lean, crisp wines in its ancestral homeland of Burgundy, Chardonnay gets plump and juicy as it ripens under the California sun.  Add to that the copious number of months that many California producers age their Chardonnay in new oak barrels, and you’re left with buttery, indulgent white that tends to polarize winos into “love it” and “hate it” camps.  While it’s true that the ripeness and oak are easy to overdo, there are also plenty of big Chards that drink beautifully (and not just from California — Washington State, Australia, and Southern France can also be good bets).  If you’re bringing Chardonnay, make sure you ask your friendly wine merchant for a bottle that’s big, but balanced.

But you’re certainly not bound to bring Chardonnay; there are plenty of other full-bodied whites that deserve our attention.  The LA Times article has several excellent suggestions for other big, unctuous fall whites, such as Pinot Gris from Oregon, Sémillon from Australia, Fiano from Italy, or Marsanne and Roussanne (which are often combined) from France’s Rhone Valley or from here in California.  Or, if you’re feeling bold, ask your friendly wine merchant for something really off the beaten path, so long as it’s big and rich.  (Please note: part two of “Harvest Whites” will be a tasting of those wines that pair a touch of sweetness with our fall meals — Riesling, Vouvray, Sauternes, etc. — but this week we’re focusing on dry wines for autumn appreciation.)

We’ll be meeting at Adra’s place in Santa Monica.  The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a bottle of full-bodied white wine (or bring a $10 donation, if you prefer). See you on Wednesday night at 8pm!

As I wrote in 2010: “a weekend trip up to Santa Barbara County is an ideal way to introduce yourself to a whole new lineup of wine options; the region is teeming with small-production winemakers whose unique and delicious bottles, which probably aren’t available at your local supermarket, are definitely worth a try.  Download a regional wine map and venture down the windy country roads, where each sharp turn seems to reveal another vineyard –- or simply spend your afternoon in a village (i.e. Solvang or Los Olivos) where tasting rooms line both sides of the main drag.  You’ll not only enjoy a bucolic weekend away, you’ll be supporting local agriculture in the process, which will make you feel better about all the gas you burned driving up there.”

In fact, I took just such a trip a little over a week ago, and the proliferation of delicious bottles I encountered there played no small part in inspiring this meeting.  Santa Barbara is perhaps best known for its Pinot Noir, thanks to the 2004 film Sideways which catapulted Pinot (as well as Santa Barbara) into trendy territory.  But the ocean-cooled region is also excellent for growing Rhone varieties — Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Carignan, etc. — and the Rhone-style wines resulting from these are some of the most elegant examples to be found in California, typically running a bit less meaty and aggressive than their counterparts from Paso Robles.  Santa Barbara also produces a diversity of white wines, from Northern Europe imports (like Riesling and Gewurztraminer) to Rhone-style whites (like Viognier and Grenache Blanc) to California stalwarts (like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay).

Your task, imposing at it may sound, is to bring any of these wines that you’d like — so long as it says “Santa Barbara” (or any associated AVA, such as “Santa Maria Valley,” “Santa Ynez Valley,” “Santa Rita Hills,” “Happy Canyon,” “Santa Barbara County,” etc.) on the label.  If you don’t have time to grab a bottle before tomorrow’s meeting, don’t stress — I brought plenty of delicious wine back with me from my last trip, difficult as it was to not consume it all on the way home.  In the event that you can’t bring a bottle, simply bring $10 to donate to the cause.

We’ll be meeting at my place in Sherman Oaks.  The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a bottle of Santa Barbara wine… or bring a $10 donation, if you prefer. See you Thursday night at 8pm!

What wine should I bring? You can bring any white wine, as long as it’s not one of the following eight extremely common white grapes:

1.) Sauvignon Blanc
2.) Riesling
3.) Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio
4.) Viognier
5.) Sémillon
6.) Gewurztraminer
7.) Muscat
8.) …and the most common of all, Chardonnay

WTF, Jesse? That’s like every grape ever. Why can’t I bring one of those? Because there are so many other amazing white grapes out there that are just begging to be tried! You can’t live your life with just ten socks, or ten foods, or ten friends, so why should you limit yourself to ten grapes?

The possibilities are truly endless. You could bring a Spanish white — an Albariño from Rias Baixas, or a Verdejo from Rueda, for example. Or what about a bone-dry Grüner Veltliner from Austria, or a slightly sweet Scheurebe or Silvaner from Germany? If you want to go Italian, you’ve got tons of options: northern varieties like Arneis, Pinot Bianco and Traminer, for example, or any of the tasty whites from the middle and south of Italy, like Fiano or Vermentino.

If you’re feeling French, how about a Chenin Blanc from the Loire, an Aligoté from Burgundy, or a Marsanne / Roussanne blend from the Rhone Valley? Or what about an Ugni Blanc from down south? Speaking of south, why not go to Argentina and get a bottle of that impetuous grape Torrontés? Or stick to America and grab a Grenache Blanc from Santa Barbara County, a Pinot Blanc from Oregon, or a Vidal Blanc from the northeast.  Getting outside your comfort zone is a great way to have an enological adventure (or an enoventure, as I will refer to it numerous times at the meeting, well beyond the point when it ceased to be whimsical anymore).

Incidentally, this week’s meeting will be a great opportunity for anyone trying to join the Wine Century Club to rack up some grape tallies. For those who aren’t aware, the Wine Century Club is an informal organization of wine drinkers who have each tasted 100 or more varieties in their lifetimes. Becoming a member is easy: you simply make a list of 100 different grapes you’ve tried, and what the wines were called. Then you send in your list, and you get a certificate to hang on your wall. Truly badass. (For more information, check out the Century Club website.)  Even if you never intend to drink 100 varieties, this week’s tasting is going to be an awesome opportunity to get outside the box and drink some unique and rare grape types that you won’t typically find on the grocery store shelves or on average wine lists.

We’ll be meeting at Ryan’s place in West LA. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a bottle of white wine from outside your comfort zone… or bring a $10 donation, if you prefer. See you Wednesday night at 8pm!

By now you’ll probably have discovered that rosé is much more than the White Zinfandel that your aunt Myrtle likes to serve at her barbecues. (By the way, if anybody actually has an aunt named Myrtle, that’s awesome — please inform us of such at the meeting.) Rosé comes from all over the world, and it’s made with many different grape types, but the vast majority of decent rosés share one common characteristic: they’re made from red grapes, the juice of which has been drained off quickly so that the skins didn’t have time to impart more than a slight bit of pigmentation, resulting in a pink hue (as opposed to a full dark red one).

Rosé is perfect for the summer because it walks the line between the light, refreshing character of a white wine and the flavorful juiciness of a red. In a recent New York Times article, Eric Asimov writes the following: “in most rosés, a heavy dose of alcohol or a clumsy level of sweetness will unbalance the wine. The rosés to look for are crisp, textured and refreshing.” Here are some rosé possibilities for your purchasing preparedness:

If you want to go French, the Rhône Valley makes a number of great rosés (inexpensive ones can be found from Côtes du Rhône, and from other smaller appellations as well). A bit further to the south, Provence is the source of some of the world’s most popular rosé — and Eric Asimov calls it “rosé’s spiritual home.” Rosé from both Provence and Rhone will typically be Grenache-based, and may include numerous other Rhône grapes such as Syrah, Cinsaut, Carignan, etc. The rosés of Bandol, which by law are made of at least 50% Mourvedre, are considered some of the best and most character-driven in the world. Ask your friendly wine merchant if he can direct you to a French rosé similar to a Bandol (but perhaps slightly less expensive).

In Spain, Tempranillo and Grenache are used in making rosé, just as they are in the red wines of Rioja. Australia has gotten into the rosé game, and California makes plenty of interesting pink wine that isn’t White Zin — there are Rhône-style rosés, as well as ones made of Pinot Noir, random Italian grapes, and plenty of other varieties. Finally, don’t forget that a lot of sparkling wines are rosés. Feel free to bring a pink Champagne or something inspired by that classic style.

We’ll be meeting at Adra’s place in Santa Monica. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, grab yourself a tasty bottle of something pink and refreshing, hopefully something without a “heavy dose of alcohol” or a “clumsy level of sweetness” — or simply find yourself a $10 bill to contribute. We’ll see you thirsty Winos on Wednesday night at 8pm.

The Winos held a similar tasting three years ago, entitled “It’s the economy, Wino (so drink what you have) .” The recession may be easing, but the theme still seems highly appropriate. Forget the articles that list all kinds of great values for $8 or $10 or $12… why buy something new when you can drink what you already have? In a great blog post from around the time of our last meeting, Alder Yarrow of Vinography encourages his readers to preserve their budget by drinking that bottle they’ve never gotten around to opening:

Buying wine and not drinking it is a crime nearly as severe as buying a Ferrari and not driving it or owning a great record collection and not listening to it. Yet so many wine lovers, even those who don’t consider themselves to be “collectors” can quite easily fall into the trap of finding the acquisition of wine easier to justify than its consumption.

“Open That Bottle Night” is actually a nationwide initiative, started by two Wall Street Journal columnists, to drink the wine you’ve been saving for that special occasion. It takes place the last week of February, but we were deep into March Craziness by then, so we’re just catching up now.

Please bring any bottle you’ve been saving for a while, along with the story of where you got it (and why you haven’t drank it). Ideally, the wine was kept in some kind of reasonable environment… the Chilean Shiraz that’s been in the back seat of your car since it fell out of your grocery bag nine months ago might not be the best bet. Skip the Sauv Blanc that’s been in your fridge since you moved into your new apartment, and instead bring that bottle that’s been gathering dust on the floor of your closet.

If you don’t have a bottle that you think would be appropriate, another option might be to stop by your favorite wine shop and grab that interesting bottle that you’ve been meaning to buy for a while, but never got around to. (Or, if you don’t have time to get to a wine shop, then this week might be a good time to bring a $10 spot. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of wines… I’m bringing several bottles myself.)

We’ll be meeting at Ryan’s place in West LA. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions). Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, dig out that dusty bottle from wherever it’s been sleeping — or find yourself a $10 bill. We’ll see you Winos on Wednesday night.

This week, we’ll start with the older of the two: the 2004 Azamor “Selected Vines” (Alentejo, Portugal), of which you can read our 2009 review here.  To complement this bottle, we’ll be holding our first “Portugal” meeting in over two years, one which I hope will feature bottles from across the broad spectrum that is the Portuguese wine experience.  Although you don’t encounter too much Portuguese wine on most wine lists in this country, the fact is that there’s much more to Portugal than just Port.  This week we’ll find out what, exactly.

Whites. There are a ton of white varieties in Portugal that we may not have tried before, including Encruzado, Gouveio, Viosinho, Malvasia Fina, and Maria Gomes. The Winos have had a few bottles of Vinho Verde, that crisp and slightly effervescent quaffer that’s made to drink young… and may just be an ideal aperitif for yoursummer  hors d’oeuvres. When you get your bottle of white, see if you can find out (via the label, the internet, whatever) which grapes are included in the blend!

Reds. Here’s where things will really get interesting. Portugal boasts some of the most underrated and unknown value reds in Europe. According to Karen MacNeil, “they range from light and fruity to supple and spicy with dense plum and raspberry flavors.”  Major grapes include Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet, Baga, Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo), and Periquita — as well as some plantings of Cabernet, Syrah, etc.

Port. The legendary dessert wine is massive and flavorful… the perfect accompaniment to a cool LA summer night. Unfortunately, it’s a bit overwhelming to try to taste a bunch in a row, so lets cap the “Port presence” at two: if you have a Port that you love and you’re dying to share it, or you’ve heard great things about a particular bottle, please indicate in your RSVP that you’d like to bring a Port. First-come first-served on that one, as a meeting full of Ports would be a huge disaster. (Same goes for anyone wishing to bring a Madeira dessert wine… they’re delicious, but overwhelming in great quantities, so please contact me.)

We’ll be hosting the meeting at Wino HQ up in the balmy expanses of Sherman Oaks. The RSVP system functions like this: if you want in, you click on this link and tell me so (don’t forget your full name, e-mail address, and a cute message conveying to me your intentions).  Once you’ve received your confirmation e-mail, go out and find yourself a relevant bottle of Portuguese wine (or just grab a crisp $10 bill).  Hope to see you on Wednesday at 8pm.