Just when I was about to give up, return to the safety of AOC and settle for the glass of wine and no wine dialogue—unless Manny was installed-- I got a tip on 55 Degrees in Atwater, tucked into a mini-strip mall, shadowed by a Starbucks. 
Den-like. underneath its eponymous wine store, 
all seven tables were filled early on a Saturday night. Mike Brosnan poured Valtellina and Chiavennasca (a white Nebbiolo) and talked up the oft-maligned Lambrusco to the small crowd, another crop of millennials. Wine curiosity here was the focus and fuel. There was nothing tangential. The strip mall was no impediment to success. But as Lou on Vine is also in a strip mall,
were the best wine spots in the most unattractive real estate?
Sandwiched between a Thai Massage parlor and a Laundromat, the interior's reality is so altered by paint and paper that the obvious and seedy is replaced by secret and sexy.
(And here I can break the fourth wall of my magazine voice. I discovered Lou last year, 2007, when I was in town for a Vin Italy thing. Loved it. Was thrilled they wanted to do a book event for me, which was one of the more fun ones (though nothing beats the Terroir SF event, that one was a hoot) so lucky for me, I already loved it, already sold on the place ---okay---back to the article.)
The man himself, Lou Amdur reigns over his tiny empire spinning wines as a DJ spins vinyl. He strives to focus on wines most naturally made and terroir driven, which is why he is Euro-centric yet unearths the best he can from the home state. His boite is also noteworthy for crisp pig candy and crumbly Hook cheddar. Next to me sat an architect with both a Lou on Vine and yurt building obsession. Our dueling iPhones made conversation inevitable. We confessed our guilty pleasure of loving the new MacBook Air. "It's so sensual," she said. "The fact that this kind of thing is undervalued in our culture, is criminal." The attraction between form and function whether in Mac or whether in wine bar was an undeniable truth.
She sipped and commented, "Crazy wine." It was the Coturri Albarello, an obscure grape transplant from Campania, she explained to me, "I don't know wine, I just let Lou take me wherever he wants me to go." (see Lou Amdur's comment below for the real explanation).
I was still contemplative about the meaning of strip malls, wine bars and the connection to form and function but nothing that I'd seen over these wine bar days prepared me for wine right inside of a parking garage. Julie Brosterman has one hell of an imagination. What was she thinking? Putting a distinctive wine shop in a space the size of my bathtub inside of the Valet Parking at 2 Rodeo Drive? It's a really good store, too! If setting up in unlikely locations was a recipe for success, Brosterman's place is going to be huge. And just maybe she needs to open up a wine bar.
Wine Valet
Den-like. underneath its eponymous wine store, 
all seven tables were filled early on a Saturday night. Mike Brosnan poured Valtellina and Chiavennasca (a white Nebbiolo) and talked up the oft-maligned Lambrusco to the small crowd, another crop of millennials. Wine curiosity here was the focus and fuel. There was nothing tangential. The strip mall was no impediment to success. But as Lou on Vine is also in a strip mall,
were the best wine spots in the most unattractive real estate?
Sandwiched between a Thai Massage parlor and a Laundromat, the interior's reality is so altered by paint and paper that the obvious and seedy is replaced by secret and sexy.
(And here I can break the fourth wall of my magazine voice. I discovered Lou last year, 2007, when I was in town for a Vin Italy thing. Loved it. Was thrilled they wanted to do a book event for me, which was one of the more fun ones (though nothing beats the Terroir SF event, that one was a hoot) so lucky for me, I already loved it, already sold on the place ---okay---back to the article.)
The man himself, Lou Amdur reigns over his tiny empire spinning wines as a DJ spins vinyl. He strives to focus on wines most naturally made and terroir driven, which is why he is Euro-centric yet unearths the best he can from the home state. His boite is also noteworthy for crisp pig candy and crumbly Hook cheddar. Next to me sat an architect with both a Lou on Vine and yurt building obsession. Our dueling iPhones made conversation inevitable. We confessed our guilty pleasure of loving the new MacBook Air. "It's so sensual," she said. "The fact that this kind of thing is undervalued in our culture, is criminal." The attraction between form and function whether in Mac or whether in wine bar was an undeniable truth.
She sipped and commented, "Crazy wine." It was the Coturri Albarello, an obscure grape transplant from Campania, she explained to me, "I don't know wine, I just let Lou take me wherever he wants me to go." (see Lou Amdur's comment below for the real explanation).
I was still contemplative about the meaning of strip malls, wine bars and the connection to form and function but nothing that I'd seen over these wine bar days prepared me for wine right inside of a parking garage. Julie Brosterman has one hell of an imagination. What was she thinking? Putting a distinctive wine shop in a space the size of my bathtub inside of the Valet Parking at 2 Rodeo Drive? It's a really good store, too! If setting up in unlikely locations was a recipe for success, Brosterman's place is going to be huge. And just maybe she needs to open up a wine bar.
Wine Valet
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