So, I started thinking about how I’d like to invite everyone to go to California with us to visit Paso Robles Wine Country… but the rental car isn’t quite big enough… and Loreen hogs the sheets as it is…
Instead, I thought I’d try to capture our Vino-Venture in words and pictures on the CLG BLOG!
We head out on January 11… I hope you can check in on our progress. See the link to the right for the Paso Robles trip page.
Regards,
Ron
Hello and Happy Holidays!
Just a quick note to let you know that you’re going to be seeing a new face behind the counter at Cafe le Grand. We want to welcome our newest addition – Caitlin. She comes to us from the world of corporate coffee (the land of the angry mermaid where bitter isn’t better) and we welcome her experience, energy and bright smile. And if you happen to stop in during the Holiday Season you may get a glimpse of a blast from the past, as Kathleen is home from school and grabbing a couple shifts. Other than that, we want to thank all of our employees (Jane, Robin, John, Melanie, Rachel & Apryl) for their hard work and dedication – and we encourage you to thank them as well.
If you’ve been in recently you have probably noticed that not only did we lose the couch, but we’ve rearranged some tables. In our quest to magically make the shop larger, fit more wine and not lose seating space, we’ve switched some tables around. Hopefully you find it more conducive to coffee, lunch, visiting, etc.
Lastly… have you noticed it’s winter? Just a brief note to thank everyone for their patience and flexibility as the snow piles around our lot get bigger and the lot gets a tad bit smaller. And remember, where there’s frozen water… there’s ice. So walk carefully and we’ll keep the salt on for you!
Have a great holiday season and we hope to see you in the shop!
Regards,
Ron
Remember the old American Express commercials that used this tag-line? I don’t know if it still (or ever did) applies with American Express, but I’m positive it does with the Cafe le Grand Wine Club!
We started the CLG Wine Club two years ago and currently have about 90 members who enjoy the monthly benefits of two fantastic wines and corresponding newsletter, The New Cork Times. However, the benefits don’t stop there, and I’d like this little post to act as a reminder to our current members and a wake up call to all of you who are not currently members. For pricing and an overview of the Club, see the Wine Club Information page to the right.
Let’s talk about our monthly wine selections – the retail value of the wines we feature ALWAYS exceeds the $25.00 Club dues. Sometimes by a little, and other times by a tremendous amount. On a couple of occasions we have featured some bottles of wine that retail at more than $30 – for the one bottle! Our Wine Club allows (and forces) us to purchase large quantities of the wines we intend to feature, which in turn positions us to get some great wines at great prices – and we love nothing better than to pass along the savings and great wines to our wonderful Wine Club members who support us through their membership and other purchases.
If you have not checked out the Member-Only pricing on select bottles, we strongly suggest you do. We have several bottles that we want to share with our Members by offering a discount (sometimes substantial). You can find the Member-Only wines in the end rack under the coffee pots, although the wines are also in their respective places in the shop and the bottles are marked.
Shopping (for some… and especially Loreen!) can be relaxing, energizing and interesting – shopping for wine is all that and more! It can be educational, informational, eye-opening, and palate-expanding. As a wine club member you can reap the benefits when shopping by buying 1/2 case (just 6 bottles!) at a time- in which case you get a 10% discount. Typical case discounts start at a full case (12 bottles), but as a reward to our valued wine club members, we offer this discount with the purchase of only 6 bottles. Think about this the next time you’re picking up a “bottle or two” and save yourself some money.
Speaking of palate-expanding… have you been to one of our wine tastings? If you’re a wine club member you can get $5.00 off the cost of one wine tasting, and enjoy 10 or 11 wines and several delicious food pairings. A great way to try some different wine, learn a little and enjoy an evening out.
As for those delicious pairings… the recipes are only provided to wine club members through The New Cork Times, the newsletter of the Cafe le Grand wine club. You can also read about the featured wine selections and other wine info in the monthly newsletter.
If you’re a CLG wine club member – thank you very much for your past, present and future support & patronage. If you’re not a member, we encourage you to consider joining and experiencing the benefits on your own.
Regards,
Ron
Catchy title, huh? Just so you know whether to keep reading or not, I’m talking about large format wine bottles… what were you thinking?
Recently we had a customer request that we seek out unique large format bottles for his collection. In speaking with others, and showing off some of the cool bottles we brought in, I started fielding questions regarding large formats and what the big deal was about them. I thought I would drop a Blog addressing this…
So what do we mean by a large format bottle? Anything larger than your standard bottle – which is 750ml. Large format bottles range from a Magnum (1.5 ltr… two bottles) all the way to a Nebuchadnezzar (15 ltr… 20 bottles!). A list of the most common names, which may vary depending on style/region of wine (the still wine (or Bordeaux style) name is listed first, followed by the sparkling (or Burgundy style) name) follows:
750 ml/ 1 bottle – Standard
1.5 ltr/ 2 bottles – Magnum
2.5 ltr/ 3 bottles – Marie-Jeanne
3 ltr/ 4 bottles – Double Magnum or Jeroboam (Jeroboam was the founder and first King of Israel)
4.5 ltr/ 6 bottles – Jeroboam or Rehoboam (Rehoboam was the son of Solomon, and King of Judah)
6 ltr/ 8 bottles – Imperiale or Methusaleh (Methusaleh was a Biblical patriarch)
9 ltr/ 12 bottles – Salmanazar (King of Assyria)
12 ltr/ 16 bottles – Balthazar (Regent of Babylon)
15 ltr/ 20 bottles – Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon)
And although I don’t recall how many litres or bottles it was, we saw what has got to be the biggest bottle ever on display at Miner Family Vineyards in Napa Valley… it was a Bigmofo. Pretty damn funny if you ask me! Actually there are some larger formats for Champagnes as well, including Melchior (24 bottles), Solomon (28 bottles), Sovereign (33.5 bottles), Primat (36 bottles) and Melchizedek (40 bottles). I don’t think these are readily produced, and often a winery will fill the very large bottles with water (or nothing at all) for display purposes only.
But seriously, what’s the attraction to large format bottles? Basically it comes down to age-ability of the wine. A large format bottle can age much longer (maturing slower) and will age better than a standard bottle. It’s a matter of air to wine ratio – a large format bottle has a much larger volume of wine and therefore will not be affected as much by the air in the bottle or “breathing” of the cork (if such a thing occurs – depending on who you talk to, it may or may not). There is some anecdotal information that a larger volume of wine simply ages better for other unknown reasons as well – whether it’s the characteristics of a larger volume of wine all in one place (after all, it’s aged in barrels in much larger volumes) or something unexplainable isn’t known. But if you’re interested in collecting and ageing some unique bottles, or looking to give a newborn child an aged bottle upon their legal-drinking-age birthday, consider a large format. Incidentally, it is the opposite with smaller than standard bottles – they don’t age as well or as long.
Okay, so you want to buy a large format… what are you going to pay for it? Remember, a “jug” wine isn’t considered a fine wine large format and shouldn’t be confused with high quality wines bottled for collect-ability and age-ability. Seek out a quality wine for such things… and be prepared to pay more than the single bottle price equivalent. Remember, the vast majority of wine is bottled as 750’s, so changing a bottle line, ordering a smaller quantity of large format bottles, getting a smaller number of large format corks, paying for shipping larger/heavier packages and storing large formats all goes into the price. Generally speaking you’ll be looking at the single bottle equivalent, plus a little something more… and more for the larger and larger bottles. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that – if you want something to last a long time, be a novelty to open with a large group of friends, and experiment & experience all that wine has to offer – absolutely!
Now that we’ve got you thinking… just let us know if there is a special large format, special size, specific price point or other criteria in a large format, and we’ll be happy to help you out!
Thanks for your time… and remember… drink, think and enjoy!
Ron
I apologize to all you David Bowie fans, but the song came to mind and I had to tie it in somehow. Just a quick post to let you all know we’ve changed some things around at the shop (once again). In our continued effort to increase our wine selection we’ve installed a new center rack in the Wine Room and moved the old one to where the couch is…was… and the couch has come home! I know this is a loss – after all, the red leather couch was a fixture for 4 years, and a comfortable spot to sip a coffee and read Wine Spectator. Well, I hope you take the couch with you in spirit… to your own couch… with one of our newest wine selections from the ever expanding unique inventory – and the new rack!
‘Tis the season… remember CLG for gifts of all sorts – wine & coffee gift baskets, a unique wine for the cellar, Cafe le Grand Gift Cards, glasses, trinkets, etc. We’ve got plenty to give and able to customize a gift basket to you based on price or other preferences. Also remember the celebratory nature of the holidays and pick up a special bottle of wine – sparkling, still, dessert and port – we’ve got something for everyone!
Lastly, keep us in mind to start your cold winter days – hot coffee, cappuccino, lattes and Chai! Definitely the best way to warm up for the challenge of the blustering weather ahead.
Thanks for spending a little time with me and have a great December!
Regards,
Ron
