Shameless Self Promotion

I am going to be the "guest sommelier" at what should be an excellent wine tasting on Sunday February 22nd. I was invited to do this by Andrew, the manager of the West Village wine car called Lelabar. Andrew hosts a tasting series on Sundays and sometimes he likes to have a guest host. On the 22nd, I'm it.

I'm not going to lie to you - I think most NYC wine bars kind of suck, so I wasn't all that enthused until I went to visit the place. Lelabar is actually a wine bar - most are simply restaurants that offer a few wines by the glass. At Lelabar every single wine, and there are many, is available by the glass. The space is sleek and minimally designed and rather intimate - there is a serious neighborhood vibe going on. And this is a lovely neighborhood.

Andrew reads and apparently enjoys my blog (to each his own, I guess), and he's given me full license to choose a theme and select the wines. I will be pouring 6 of my favorite reds from the Loire Valley - 2 wines each from Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur-Champigny to be exact. I'm not going to tell you all of them because that would ruin the surprise. But I'll share one right now, just to whet your appetite. The 2006 Bernard Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine will be poured, the gorgeous and terroir expressive beauty I wrote about the other day.

Lelabar will provide a food pairing for each wine. That's right - 6 great Loire reds, 6 food pairings, a little bit of Brooklynguy live instead of on this confounded interweb, and all for the ridiculously low price of $60. You'll drink almost a bottle of wine yourself and eat what amounts to a meal, and hang out with a load of other nice people in a great space in a great neighborhood, for $60. From 4-6pm on a Sunday - I mean really, what else are you doing then?

And yes, I will be compensated for my participation in this event, just to be clear. But again, I'm choosing the wines and I'm a nice guy in person, and this is the kind of place I would go myself, so I can stand behind this with pride. I hope you'll come out for the tasting if you live in the area - check out a cool wine bar and support your local Brooklynguy. To reserve your space (and they do limit spaces - this is an intimate spot) contact Andrew via email at Andrew@Lelabar.com. And tell him Brooklynguy sent you.