colares

A Friend Date at Barnyard

by whitney on February 2, 2013

My pal Joy and I hit up the soft opening of Venice’s brand new addition to the dining scene- Barnyard. We arrived and we arrived hungry. And thirsty. Duh.

The place was packed with cheerful diners. Maybe too packed? You know that moment where you think you might never be seated? That happened while we stood at the bar staring at all the people eating food that we wanted to eat and drinking wine we wanted to drink. BUT- then we got a couple glasses of German Gilabert Cava and all was right with the world.

THEN- we were seated and it was on. Everything on the wine list looked great to me, which is rare for hot new restaurants in LA, sadly. The interesting thing about the list was that it was comprised solely of wines imported or distributed by Farm Wine Imports. Therefore, Louis/Dressner, Jose Pastor, and a few Farm domestic selections were represented. Maybe having only one point of view could get old for returning patrons after a while? Maybe not.

I do know that I was excited to try a Portuguese red on the list from Adega Regional de Colares. I’ve had their beautiful Arenae Malvasia before and was super impressed. The wine this time was the 2009 Chão Rijo made from 100% Castelão. Castelão? Ok, sure! This was a little more modern in style than the Arenae wines they make, but still unique and enjoyable.

PS- we might have spent far too long sneaking peeks at a table nearby which happened to be where Nev from Catfish was seated.