GOLD FOUND IN NORTHRIDGE, CA!
Last Friday, Oct. 29th, I was on my way home fromwork and decided to check out a new wine store, TOTAL WINE, on Tampa andNordhoff.
I walked in and immediately felt like a kid in the biggestcandy store imaginable! The storeis HUGE, clean, categorized by regions (i.e. Spain, Italy, France, etc.) andextremely well organized – and that’s just the WINE portion of the show. Additionally, this store is packed withliquor of all kinds and sizes, as well as a beer section that I didn’t evenhave the chance to really check out. They have a chilled wine section where all the “big boys” are kept ….Man, did I have fun looking at THOSE wines! They have all types of wine accessories as well.
While browsing, several people asked if I needed help. I thought I’d ask a few questions toone of the gals that had approached me (questions that being a wine student Ialready knew the answers to), and to my surprise, the people were unbelievablyknowledgeable, not to mention friendly!
I was asked by the wine manager if I had done any of thetastings (no, because I was like Alice in Wonderland walking around thisplace!) I decided to tryCalcareous (a winery out of Paso Robles, CA). I met the owner who was pouring wine, and bought a bottleof York Mountain Cab. Oh, and bythe way, the tastings are 10 cents!
I ventured to the back where there was an additional tastingroom, and I had Chimney Rock and a few others. Again, VERY friendly and knowledgeable people aspourers! Ironically while backthere, I heard a couple mentioning that “Eve should be here to check thisout”. I said are you talking aboutEve Bushman? Uh, yes ….. well,what a small wine world it is out there. I told the couple I knew her as well!
I was there for almost two hours, and still didn’t even get tocover the entire store like I had wanted to! I ended up buying three bottles of wine as well – the Cabmentioned above as well as two 2005 bottles of Bordeaux.
I would HIGHLY recommend this awesome store … the 10 cent winetastings are Friday till 6pm, Saturdays and Sundays …. You can’t beat it!