Labor Day Sale!

Friday 3rd-Monday 6th.  Gift Items are 20% off and Cases of mixed wine is 15% off!

Come in and check out our weekly events...

Mondays | Industry Night 20% off at the bar with your business card. For wine and restaurant industry

Wednesdays | Happy Hour 4 to 7, $3 glasses of wine and beer

Thursdays | Tapas nite, enjoy a bar topped with traditional Spanish tapas. $2 each

Fridays | Champagne, oyster and caviar bar all day! Oysters and caviar provided by Pier 46, along with 3 bubbles available by the glass, in a flight or choose from our wide selection of bottles

Saturdays | Flight night, featured wineries of regions or varietals.

Harvest prediction for 2010 is like guessing how many jellybeans are in the jar. The season started with lots of rain, over 40 inches for many North County vineyards. The cool, wet spring delayed budbreak and flowering, while the foggy mornings and below average daily temperatures have pushed back veraison (when the grapes turn red) by about 3 weeks. Many growers are adjusting croploads to parallel the weather, especially in frost prone sites. Most grapes have finished veraison, the seeds are turning brown, and the skins are maturing. Parts of Napa and the Central Valley have already begun harvest, and SLO County is not far behind. The 2010 harvest will soon be in the history books as another great Paso Robles vintage.

From the McLaren Vale where whites rule. The blend is classic of the Rhone valley offering lots of stone fruits from the Viognier and a rich nutty character from the Marsanne. The cooler climate of the McLaren Vale allows balanced acidity. This wine goes great with any poultry or seafood dishes. $19

A favorite Kermit Lynch Burgundy.  The wines of Domaine Maume define the Gevrey-Chambertin style:  traditional, earthy, powerful, and intense. Maume is a tiny estate in Gevrey-Chambertin.  The age of the vines ranges from 30 to 75 years old! | $64

One region, nine historical villages, each with its distinct character but all unmistakably Priorat.  Sun-scorched old vines cling to breathtakingly steep hillsides with their roots deeply plunged in the llicorella (slate) soils of this ancient region.  PORRERA, the easternmost village of the region, enjoys cooler temperatures due to its high altitude and canyon-like topography, lending a unique balance of power and freshness to the wine. 60% Garnacha from vines over 60 years of age and 40% Carinena from vines over 100 years of age.  Dark ruby-colored, the nose exhibits lots of spice, mineral, underbrush, black licorice, and blueberry.  91 points Wine Advocate. $20

I am usually not a big fan of California Sauvignon Blanc and almost always look to the Loire Valley or New Zealand for these wines; however, Mike Sinor has done a great job of keeping this little “porch pounder” varietally correct. $12

We only got one case of this wine so hurry up!  Cote Rotie look-alike. A blend of 85% Syrah and a whopping 15% Viognier (an homage to Guigal’s Cote Rotie La Mouline?), it reveals exotic lychee nut and honeysuckle characteristics interwoven with notions of sweet cassis, kirsch, and licorice. Medium to full-bodied with fabulous concentration, a velvety, voluptuous texture, and superb length, this is an amazing effort from the Santa Ynez Valley.  Anticipated maturity. 95 points Parker

Get it while it lasts. We all got to taste this wine last week and WOW! Northern Rhone, welcome to California. Lots of dark meaty fruit, white pepper and herbs. Big oak, structure and complexity. Over an evening or even a few days this wine opens up and is fun to explore. $52

We love these wines at 15c and they somehow just keep getting better. 45% Syrah, 35% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre. Notes of sweet cassis, spice, white flowers and crushed limestone draw one to the wine.  Another whiff shows freshly cut beef and smoked paprika. Well textured with notes of boysenberry, black pepper, dark fruits, clove, and cinnamon framed with ripe supple tannins. $65

“Hefe” means “yeast” in German. This American-style version of wheat ale is unfiltered.  Rich brewer’s yeast rounds out the flavor of this specialty ale.

A copper-colored ale made with an abundance of pale malt and a sprinkling of floral hops, resulting in a smooth, malty beer of considerable strength.  Enjoy the blond in moderation, or you may end up trying to turn a grog into a prince.

A collaboration beer.  Dogfish Head / Victory / Stone, Saison du BUFF is a 6% alc/vol Saison brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. This beer will be brewed three times, once at each brewery using the same recipe.

Every Wednesday in September Ali will be pouring at Ian Saude art studio in downtown San Luis Obispo. The tasting is complimentary, 3 tastes paired with small delights. Ian Saude is located in the old Taste location on the corner of Monterey and Osos. 6 to 8pm

Templeton Trio includes Pier 46, Nature’s Touch and of course 15c! We are joining forces to create an amazing evening of what we do best. Each business has only 10 tickets to sell so call now and sign up. $85 per person includes wine and food. Check out the menu

After years of opening cork bottles with many different styles of wine openers I am now suffering at the ripe old age of 30 from carpal tunnel in my wrist. I know that is probably the last thing you think of as a job hazard when selling wine but man it really hurts. This brings up the debate of alternative enclosures. People still have a stigma against stelvin or screw caps on wine and I would like to clear it up. There is nothing wrong with them; in fact I tend to prefer them. They are easy to open, easy to close back up, don’t leak and are virtually flaw proof. Not to mention you don’t need any special tools to get into the darn things. I think they should start using them on sparkling wine bottles! The only major difference between a cork and a screw cap is comes when aging a wine. If you plan on laying a wine down for years to come, the cork enclosed wine will age differently than the screw cap because it is more porous. Think about that and then realize that over 90% of wine purchased in the US is consumed within 24 hours of its purchase, so I don’t think we have to worry about that.