This new little spot opened up near me called 320 Wine Lounge on La Brea and I can happily report that I’ve had a few lovely evenings there. They have good service and a great wine list.

This is a serve yourself tasting lounge… in other words, that means you have to work for your pours. Which, if you’re in the mood and have the energy, is great. My friend Maggie and I had zero desire after a long day to have to get up and refill our glasses every 10 seconds to try a new wine. So we opted for the bottle menu. Saves us time and well, let’s be honest, 4 glasses is just what a gal needs to gosssip about men, friends and life, catch up on work drama and just relax. The manager and I start discussing some wines and I express my interest the Jaffurs Petite Sirah (which happens to be amazing and I know from personal experience because I’m a member of their wine club 🙂 ). Of course, they’re out. Boooooo

Low and behold, he tells me about a wine tasting event they’re having a couple weeks later with the Jaffurs wine makers. “They’ll be pouring new releases and some library wines.”  Well… “where do I sign up!?” was my only response.

Starting with some white

A couple weeks later my girls Jen and Mags joined me for an evening of Jaffurs wines w/food pairings (according to the invite).  When we arrive (a couple minutes late) the lecture is still being given, but thankfully they weren’t waiting to pour until it was over.  We started with the Grenache Blanc. It’s lovely, light and crisp… perfect for a hot day. There are some crackers on the table… that’s can’t be the ‘pairings’ the invite stated.

Sipping and listening... sorta 😉

Next they bring out the Viognier and the Roussanne… both lovely, but the Grenache is my fav out of those. Next we get nice pours of a Syrah, a Petite Sirah and then a Mourvedre…and the pours kept coming!

Then the Upslope and the library wines are starting to pour… YUM!!! These were so good. I have a bottle up the Upslope that I purchased a while back… hadn’t tasted it upon purchase, but I just knew it’d amazing. Sure enough, it was just as I’d imagined. Delish!

the Upslope

Now at this point we’re on glass 203 of this tasting and I’m still looking for the food pairing part of this evening…they were great pours and they kept coming… almost too fast, but all this and no food? Can’t be. The last of the library pours are happening and we’re enjoying every sip.

Jen has a moment captured on a paper placemat

Finally we are told thanks and the tasting is over… no food. Now, I’m not saying this evening sucked by any means, but if you’re  pouring that much wine that quickly and the invite says “…and food pairings” then you better well give the food pairings!

Over all still great wines… just next time sort out the balance when an event like this happens. It’s sorta important!