03/11/08 – Oenotria part 2
Hey enthusiasts,
Winos keep dropping like flies. Only a week after we welcomed them back into the fold at the Vendome tasting, Theresa and Joe have informed us that they may be leaving for the east coast within the month. Their plan for now is to move in with Theresa’s aunt; Joe will work at a radio station, and Theresa will teach music at an elementary school. What an interesting family!
Two quick words — we now have a brand new website (same URL as always) that you all should check out! Much archival content still needs to be added, but we’re getting there, and it’s a huge, huge improvement over what we used to have. Secondly, we now have a Facebook page as well, compliments of Jordan. All of you with Facebook accounts, which is pretty much all of you: please search for the Young Winos of LA on Facebook and become our “fan.” Right now we don’t have much up there, but in the future we’ll deal with more and more content over Facebook, so join up now, and tell your friends (even if they’re not in LA).
By the way, please enjoy the laid-back tone of this e-mail… it’s the last time you’ll ever get a totally open-ended invitation to a Young Winos meeting, at least for the foreseeable future. From next week on, in anticipation of what may well be a fair amount of new interest generated by the LA Times piece, we’ll be implementing a strict RSVP policy per my e-mail of earlier this week. For now, though, we’ve got one last week of the usual suspects, and what better way to send off Theresa and Joe in style than by celebrating their cultural heritage with a delicious Italian tasting. I know we always do Italian at their place, but it makes me happy, ok? When are we gonna get to do this next?
I call this “Oenotria Part 2″ because we’ve already done this tasting, but it was over two years ago and I’ve been eager to do it again. Check out the meeting notes from last time on our new website (kudos to Jason for all of his hard work putting this site together). Basically, just read that e-mail to get a sense of what to bring. If you want more direction than that, pay particular attention to the following two wines:
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo — grown in the rugged hills of Italy’s east coast, this is a flavorful, rustic red made from the Montepulciano grape (not to be confused with Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, made from Sangiovese in Tuscany). Here’s a recommended bottle from Wine Spectator for under $15, and here’s a description of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo written by a lawyer fro Ohio.
Nero d’Avola — Sicily’s top wine keeps getting better in terms of quality. Expect a big round body, some nice plum, some nice spice, and some good tannins. Click here to watch Gary Vaynerchuk taste a few bottles after spending about five minutes talking about the Giants.
Please come out to what may well be our last tasting at Theresa and Joe’s:
(awesome address)
There’s limited guest parking in the left hand garage, but there’s apparently lots of street parking on 6th street after 7pm. Use the intercom outside the front door to find “Marcello” in the list; they will buzz you in. She wants me to remind you that they still have the dogs, and they still aren’t allowed to drink wine.
Bring a delicious bottle of something from the south of Italy or a $10 bill… check out the new site, and “fan” us on Facebook… and we’ll see you all on Wednesday at 9pm for the last “old school” Wino tasting for a while.
Jesse