Louis-Antoine Luyt Legno Duro

Louis-Antoine Luyt Legno Duro
Varietal: Carginan
Region: Maule, Chile
Year: 2014
Price: $20.99
Retailer: DomaineLA

The cool thing about having a wine store you love and trust completely is that you can buy shit based on the labels with greater success. Like, I know anything I buy from Domaine is going to be up my alley so I don't have a problem throwing down $20 for dope font work. 

In this case though, the dope font work was on a bottle from Louis-Antoine Luyt, so it was going to be good no matter what. The native Burgundian's Chilean wines are organic and fermented using carbonic maceration (the same technique that makes Beaujolais so damn delicious). 

I opened this wine, and jesus christ was it acidic. Like someone got in your mouth and titty-twisted your jowls acidic. I let it breathe for a couple hours, and holy moly. It opened up into a very drinkable and fun wine. It ironed out so much, but still maintained a sense of its organic grittiness. Like gravelly guitars with clean melodies.

It's so energized, it feels light on its feet, but also grounded. Like, literally grounded, as in soil. But also just grounded, like there is something more to it. Sure it's easy-drinking and goes down like water on a Saturday afternoon, but there is a thoughtful weight behind it. It reminds me of the dance scene in Pulp Fiction. It's as playful as doing The Swim but its as serious as Uma Thurman's stare. And I want to twist with it all night long. 

Tasting Notes: Dusty and spicy with bell pepper and wet garden herbs on the nose. Earthy but tart, with a bit of salt and metalic minerality. Smooth but dirty. Juicy on the front and dry on the back. Which sounds very sexy. BECAUSE IT IS. 

Ross Test: Definitely let it open up but then you're definitely good to go. 

Also Check Out: Louis-Antoine Luyt 'Pipeno Santa Juana'

Les Heretiques Red Table Wine

Les Heretiques
Price: $10.99
Year: 2013
Region: France
Retailer: Silverlake Wine & DomaineLA

I would like to pretend the above photo is that of an older, wiser Lydia Deetz but in reality this is what I look like after one full week of trying to conduct my three day jobs plus my own shit plus eight thousand conferences calls &/or meetings.

Last week, I was honored to be profiled on Grub Street by Sierra Tishgart. There was an email Friday, a phone call Monday, and Tuesday my life kind of changed. I'm only telling you this because when I was asked to be interviewed for Grub Street, I was like, "Of course! Awesome!  [an hour of high kicks alone in underwear in bedroom]" because I was crazy psyched, but at the same time, I had zero expectations because there have been a thousand things I thought would change my life that didn't. So now I never expect that.

I really did not expect how shit would suddenly go real Drake, like 0 to 100 REAL QUICK. 

Things are happening my friends, and I couldn't be happier, or feel luckier, or feel that all the time I felt I was writing for no one was well spent. And it's not even just the article and the opportunities that have arose from that. But just everything. So much is happening right now, more so than ever before for me, and I'm doing my best to breathe and enjoy it all.

Usually I try to bring this all together and tell a story. And I'm not sure there is a story here.

I'm just an exhausted and grateful woman drinking an insanely well-priced Carignan.

Which is actually, who I hope my readers are. I hope my readers work tirelessly for what they want, and then settle down with a beautiful wine at a reasonable price because they are still tirelessly working for what they want.

And this wine, is for those people. The people who work their asses off and never ask for favors and work even harder and just want to come home to a fuzzy glass of red wine and smile and give thanks and work even harder. Because you deserve a dope bottle of wine even when you know your career is coming one day and have $5.71 in your savings account today. 

Or so I like to tell myself. 

This wine is the best $10.99 wine I've ever met. I would take this to dinner parties full of industry professionals without blinking an eye. I wish I could pontificate more but IDK if you saw my face in that photo up there, but I'm legit tired. And if Better Call Saul wasn't on again tonight, you damn well better believe I would be in the tub from now until my 6AM call time.

But since it is, I've got to go put a mask on and zen the fuck out. Because red wines and facial masks just go together like, um, red wine and facial masks because that's the best pairing of all time. 

Tasting Notes: Bright and peppery on the nose, and similar palate. With velvety cherries and a bit of salty meatiness to it, reminiscent of a charcuterie plate. So damn drinkable, with a light lingering finish full of that pepper I was talking about. 

Ross Test: Fantastic!