Recent Posts
Domaine Laffourcade and Chateau Jouannet
Pascal Laffourcade 
Pascal was introduced to me by a mutual friend, Philipe. Pascal is the owner and winemaker of Domaine Laffourcade and Chateau Jouannet in the Loire Valley of France. His wines are imported by Langdon Shiverick. I tasted these wines at the beginning of October, and what a treat to start the month of Halloween.
Chateau Perray Jouannet Anjou Rouge ’09
Aromas of sausage, cassis and violets. Spiced licorice, plenty of earth and turned soil, and finishing with a stoney mineral flavor in the mid-palate. 30 hectares of schist soils produce 6,000 bottles.
retail $15 Read Full
Vineyard 29 “Cru” Cabernet Napa 2008
Two years of Prime Cru have come and gone, and since our inception in late 2009 we have grown to over 1600 members. As I looked over everyone’s questionnaires, I was overwhelmed with how many Napa Cab drinkers we have. So to stay true to our members, I ring in the New Year with a Napa Cab. But not just any Napa Cab, this is the quintessential winery out of Napa,
Vineyard 29.
Vineyard 29 is known for its state of the art winery and its constant pursuit of quality through science. What Vineyard 29 also finds to be true is… “ …surround yourself with great people and you too will be great.” This has been the case since the beginning. The vineyards were planted by the infamous David Abreu and the
cuttings came from neighboring Grace Family Vineyards. The winery has had many great wine makers in its past such as Heidi Barret and today, Philippe Melka. Read Full
Best of Chile, DeMartino’s Marcelo Retamal
Marcelo Retamal of DeMartino and Felipe Tosso of Ventisquero
Sometimes we can go searching for the best and never find it. We can spend hours and days and years trying everything we can just to make sure that we don’t miss the best. Well on my recent trip to Chile, I wanted to find the best. I knew I had 10 days to travel and taste through dozens of vineyards and hundreds of wines. The journey was going to start in Santiago with a short seminar/introduction on the terroir of Chile given by Marcelo Retamal. Marcelo Retamal is the wine maker for DeMartino. Sure enough, on the first day I got to try some of the best.
The Evolution of the C-Level Wine List
Island Prime and C-Level opened in August of 2005 on San Diego’s Harbor Island. When I first put the wine list together I had an abundant inventory of Napa Cabernets from the ’97 vintage which were purchased a few years earlier specifically for this restaurant. The original concept was to have a California wine list. That changed the moment I took over the program, I could not contain myself. I had worked in San Francisco in French Restaurant and a Latin American restaurants before coming to Island Prime & C-Level. I knew that people were open to wines from around the world. With much skepticism, David and Deborah (owners of Island Prime and C-Level) gave me the okay to pursue a more eclectic list.
333 Pacific Opening Wine List
When we opened 333 Pacific Restaurant in Oceanside, we were unsure of what the market was going to be like. Putting the list together was a bit of a challenge. There really wasn’t much in Oceanside as far as restaurants. For the most part there were chain restaurants and fast food chains. 333 Pacific was going to be the “new thing” in that area. The idea behind 333 Pacific was to host a quasi steak and seafood restaurant similar to Island Prime. The restaurant is situated directly across the street from the Oceanside pier. What sort of clients were we to get? Were we going to appeal to families, beach bums, local businesses or guests from the resort hotel upstairs?
