la.foodblogging

Los Angeles is home to a growing movement of young wine lovers who program events in good humor, reasearch their wines with tireless curiosity and exhibit an undying taste for the grape. Here are a few tastings that make us want to polish our glasses and rid that lingering Altoids flavor from the back of our mouths.

1st Annual MartyFest 2005
Have you checked out Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock yet? You really should. Last weekend, for a tasting entitled Beauty and the Beast, owners John and Jen compared wines with hideous labels to wines with gorgeous labels. Tune into the results and let them pour you drinks in their glam tasting room. Tonite they are hosting their 1st Annual MartyFest. Chef Marty Yu has chosen for them wines sourced from an unusual selection of grapes (Aligote, Fiano, Carmenere, Malbec and Barbera) that he is pairing with appetizers. Colorado Wine Co. Tonite. 5:30-8:30PM. 2114 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock, 90041. $15 p/person. tel: 323.478.1985.

Rose in Silver Lake
The Sunday at Silverlake Wine tasting is the most structured and academic of the bustling shop’s weekly events. We figure this is a good thing since there is so much to learn about wine, especially the unfairly ridiculed rose, the featured pouring this weekend. Four roses and one sparkling wine will be paired with hors d’oeuvres that compliment the wine and/or represent the region featured. Silverlake Wine. Sunday at 3PM. 2395 Glendale Blvd. 90039. $20 p/person. tel. 323.662.9024.

Wines for Neiman Dinner
Sona owners and chefs David and Michelle Myers, the young pastry savant behind Boule, have organized a five course tasting menu that spotlights Neiman Wines. Neiman Cellars’ Drew Neiman is curating the selection of library wines paired with the Myers’ inspired eats. Monday night. Sona. 401 N. La Cienega btw. Beverly and Melrose. (We hope the pours are endless since its $150 p/person!) tel: 310.289.9977.

Lemonasia Barino
Okay, so it isn’t wine, but it’s on our drunken itinerary this weekend. Hometown bartender James O’Shea of Yi Cuisine recently won a national drink contest and $5,000 in prize money for a drink he concocted called the Lemonasia. The summery cocktail blends freshly squeezed lemon juice, cold sake, sweet and sour, triple sec and citrus vodka. One of our all-time favorite drinks is the Lemondrop (rimmed with candy-colored rock sugar) from San Francisco’s Orbit Room. We have long searched L.A. for an adequate replacement. Let’s hope the Lemonasia fits the ticket. Yi Cuisine, 7910 W. 3rd Street. tel. 323.658.8028. (via)

Photo note: Miles Raymond’s favorite varietal, the Pinot Noir, in this instance, Martin Ray Angeline 2003, Santa Rosa, California.