Terroir

A friend from DC and I start our night here. Three winebartenders behind a 12 foot bar. Stools occupied and the tables upstairs and down are half filled. The first bartender is flustered or disgusted by my request for a list. Why? The server to client ratio is 1:4. And pouring wine is quick. What else do you have to do besides talk about the wine?

Fortunately the second bartender is more patient. And the customers are brilliant. A pretty, hipster blonde reaches across two stools with a menu and a smile. I love those places with camaraderie-among-strangers.

We drank upstairs next to a DEA agent with his jacket off and his badge and handgun clearly visible. Typical SF organic winebar. Law enforcement drinking amongst hipsters, vinyl album covers on the wall, tattoos and fixed gear bikes parked inside.

In part because of current events, in part because my friend is Azeri and just to see if we can get a rise out of the agent we talk about Tabriz and his Persian grandmother.

He drinks red, I drink white and both are excellent. I naively expected natural or organic or biodynamic wine to taste not only different but worse than regular wine. Kind of like expecting a hybrid car to rattle at high speeds. After the run-in with the first bartender and the inevitable where-should-we-sit confusion it takes me half a glass before I remembered it was natural. Just outstanding wine.

Hopefully we'll post later about how unnatural normal wine is. From my last few years stumbling around Napa and Sonoma I suspect the industry polices itself quite well. We'll see.

After another glass we walk across the street to the food truck. Good, not great.