We were out for a Sunday morning adventure. Well, actually it was a trip to the Studio City Farmers' Market. We don't like difficult adventures.The trip did turn out to be more than we bargained for, though. We strolled through the fruit stands - unfortunately, most of the fruit wasn't quite sweet and delicious just yet - and saw the various bead salespeople, the countless baby strollers and the gourmet corn tamale stand I can smell and identify without looking. There were a couple of guys singing folk music and another guy playing a steel drum, probably the happiest sounding instrument in all the musical world. Nobody's playing the blues on a steel drum.
Just about to call it a morning, we remembered the Artisan Cheese Gallery, just steps away from the Farmers' Market. It was an adventure after all. We went for the cheese and stayed for the flight of wines.
The aroma of their cheeses is magnificent. It's not overpowering, because all their cheese is put away and refrigerated overnight. It is a very pleasant aroma for a cheese lover to encounter.
Here's a rule of thumb: if there's cheese, there's wine. Artisan Cheese Gallery is no exception. Two walls are covered with racks of wine for sale and there are several displays in the floor space. A chalkboard on the counter shows which three wines are on the $8 flight. The flight is served in 3 stemless glasses on a wooden tray. The glasses have a dark spot on them in which the names of the wines are written, but it's no substitute for getting up and examining the labels yourself. A printed sheet containing information on the wine should be provided with your flight. I hope they'll do that in the future.
The worldly flight took me to Lodi, Sicily and the Medoc region of France. Here are the wines:
Peirano Estate Vineyard "The Other" 2007 - This blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Syrah has plenty of the earthy characteristics Lodi wine usually brings. This is the most distictive nose of the three, and it has a currant and plum flavor profile. Very nice indeed.
Chateau Poitevin 2005 - Described by a staff member as a Bordeaux blend of 55% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, this Medoc offering was quite dark in the nose and on the palate. The complexity was not surprising. I am always struck by the complex subtlety in wines from Bordeaux and the surrounding areas.
Planeta La Segreta 2007 - This is an interesting blend of the wonderful Italian varietal Nero d'Avola with Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. The nose was rather difficult for me to ferret out, but plums, raspberries and chocolate were detected by my wife. There may be a bit of coffee in there, too. It tasted like a Sicilian version of Pinot Noir, with plenty of spicy, dark notes.
Artisan Cheese Gallery
12023 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, CA 91604
818.505.0207
