Debatable

Well, the first presidential debate is airing this Friday evening and it is probably going to be the most watched debate in political history.  Now, we hate to dissuade anyone from coming to our Friday tasting so use your tivos wisely and join us for some pre-debate political pontification.  But when you do sit down to watch the debate, let us offer some drinking....ahh...tasting advice.   

Are you a McCain fan?  Well you may want to go with our Orcella Orsus Garnacha 2001 or Copertino Riserva 2001, both those wines have quite a bit of age on them.  They've been around the block...straight shooters...and unlike McCain, have not spent any time in the direct sun.

Now for the Obama-Rama crowd, based on the reports we've seen, it seems you'll need something that pairs with arugula.  Perhaps our Auratus Portuguese white, a crisp, dry wine that would work with any rightwing-perceived-sissy-greens.  Or if CHANGE is what you desire, go for something different...maybe our Bordelet Dry Apple Cider from France or the Black Chook Sparkling Shiraz from Australia.  Speaking of change...

Should you need more incentive to watch the debates (though that is bordering on a crime)...here's an idea to keep your head in the game....

drink/sip everytime McCain smiles innapropriately

drink/sip everytime Obama says "silly season"

drink/sip everytime McCain says "my friends"

drink/sip everytime anyone says CHANGE (even Jim Lehrer)

Comment below if you feel you have genius Presidential pairings inside of you, just dying to spring forth...

     Everyone remembers where they were when the Great Chalkboard War of 2008 broke out....or least we do.  I was sitting at the front desk when I turned to Jen and said, "I think some guy just very methodically moved our sidewalk chalkboard sign two inches to the right."  What started as a curiosity became a small town battle in sunny, strange Eagle Rock. 

     Now, before continuing, some of you may be wondering what this has to do with wine.  Well, it has to do with mom and pop businesses, Los Angeles neighborhoods, and the relationship between the two staying healthy (and yes, it's a short week and September is a notoriously slow month so...humor us).  And we were recently reminded of how fragile this relationship can be with the unfortunate demise of Doughboys on 3rd street in Hollywood.  

     So, back to the war, we would keep our dinky little chalkboard sign on our half of the sidewalk which is approximately 13 feet wide.  Well, what began as a surgically precise shift of our sidwalk advertising became a grumble and a swift kick which ultimately left our advertising flat on the ground or facing the store instead of the street every day.  Polite confrontations posing questions like "excuse me, sir, why do you do that" and "are you angry at wine?" became pretty heated with quotes like "all you people are only in it for the money!" and "why should I have to walk on the side of the sidewalk! I want to walk down the middle and it's a free country!"  In it for the money?  Clearly he's never been in retail. 

     To be fair, though you see these types of signs up and down every retail corridor in our city, they are illegal.  And soon enough, after a few more run-ins with our friendly neighborhood sign abuser, we received a notice from the city forcing us to remove it from the public sidewalk.  And when an employee accidentally put the sign out the following week, our landlords were summoned to appear before the city downtown!  Ultimately, we settled with the city over the phone and all was forgiven provided we never EVER spit in the face of justice again by putting out our little chalkboard trying to make our business a little more noticeable. 

     This is a tough year on almost everyone and small businesses need to do whatever they can to get you to stop in.  But there is always this push and pull between residents who want services and restaurants nearby their homes, but don't want to deal with the decreased parking and increased noise associated with these businesses.  So how can you be heard?  Please, oh please, join a neighborhood community group.  These issues are on-going and need to be discussed frequently in order to keep people happy in their homes and businesses able to bring in enough money to survive.

     We're fairly sure many of you won't entirely agree with us and will agree more with the man whom we dubbed "Mr. Very Angry Irish Man", which is why we have the handy comment section below.  Please let us know!