Oakland, California
Last but not the least of my U.S. stories - While located in Oakland on the other side of the Oakland-Bay Bridge, Ordinaire can be considered as one
of the prominent wine bars/shops in San Francisco. Oakland is not that far from downtown San Francisco, even by car, that's where many people relocated along the years
because the rents have become
so expensive on the other side of the bridge in
San Francisco proper.
The wine bar was created 5 years ago this month by Bradford Taylor while pursuing a Ph.D at the University of California, Berkeley with a dissertation on the sense of taste in early 20th century modernist literature (I quote the Wikipedia page for the bar which is pretty exhaustive). I met Bradford in Paris about 5 years ago if I remember, when he had probably just opened the bar. In addition to the wine bar side, Ordinaire organizes on a yearly basis a natural-wine fair, the Brumaire Natural Wine Festival (just say Brumaire, it's on its way to become an established wine fair) where you can meet daring winemakers like Julie Balagny.
I drove there from downtown San Francisco before giving the rental back on Post street. Didn't see really what Oakland looks like, I just saw this amazing building a short distance from Ordinaire, the Grand Lake Theater which was opened in 1926 and remains managed by the descendants of the original founders.While we're at Oakland there's another wine bar dealing with natural wine there, it's Punchdown, and speaking of San Francisco proper there's of course Terroir which I visited a few years ago and also Ruby which I alas didn't have time to visit this time and about which I heard very appreciative comments from people in the know.
Couldn't believe my luck, I was expecting trouble to find a parking spot and found one right in Front of the bar (about from where this picture was shot), a car was leaving when I was approaching, don't expect the same chance,
you might have to drive around before finding one.
Historically, New York was the major city in the U.S. for natural wine bars and shops, California needed more time to join the fray but now the two markets of San francisco & Los Angeles combined may equal New York. I'm told that things have been changing very fast in the last couple of years, especially in Los Angeles where 5 years ago very few people were interested in natural wines. It's hard to say why, possibly in part because of major displacement of young middle-class people with bohemian ideals who can't afford to live in New York and San Francisco. Much of this upward trend in natural wine consumption in California comes from the fact that after San Francisco, Los Angeles is experiencing a boom of interest with the boom of new arrivals, as the city is still affordable for someone who want to start a business. What is nice is to see here that even young parents come to the wine bar with their babies (pic on right, other picture further down), I thinks it's a very healthy indirect intitiation to both a great social experience and the scents of these great beverages which these babies will discover later.
Josh Eubank received me at Ordinaire, he's one of the co-organizers behind Brumaire, the natural wine fair. The first glass we shared was an easy drinking rosé by Frantz Saumon poured here by Diego with who I could speak later, it was quite hot
outside and the refreshment was welcome. Josh is the founder of Percy Selections which
opened early 2012, one year before Bradford opened Ordinaire, and both of them were at the same time at UC Berkeley although they didn't know each other in spite of knowing people in common. Josh says that in the beginning he was selling these wines but few people were interested with renegade vignerons whom no other importer had brought here. Then shortly after, the mood changed and people began to be more open, not only by looking for natural wines (which were already imported on the West Coast), but specifically because they looked for more experimental, avant-garde artisan winemakers, that was the big change. In the last 6 or 7 years, Josh says, is that the customer has completely changed his idea of what a wine could be.
While Josh has never been a founding partner at Ordinaire he became very close friend with Bradford and the other people there, he began to sell them wine, for a time he was even doing the cooking there. And they set up the structure together to let Ordinaire import wine as well, which is something possible legally in California (and in the United States). Bradford had the intention to work directly with certain winemakers that were small, for which this common structure was useful. Percy Selections itself imports the wines of about 25 vignerons today.
I showed up around 1pm I think (it opens at noon), and a few other people showed up already. As said, this place is a cave, meaning that you can walk in and buy a bottle to go (prices are on the bottles on the shelves). And unlike what happens in New York which is the other major city for natural wine in the country, it can serve wine on the premise because the law in California is different. Regarding the margin applied on bottles, a cave adds less on what they pay to the distributor, for example Josh says that if as an importer he sells a bottle for 10 $ wholesale, the cave will sell it at 15 $ retail while a restaurant will price it 35 ur 40 $ on its wine list. that's why it's prohibitive to drink good wine in restaurants. A place like Ordinaire is much more affordable for demanding wine lovers in this regard as you can drink a bottle on the premise for only 10 $ of cork fee (a restaurant in comparison would charge more than twice the retail price).
Diego is the most important person here at Ordinaire when Quentin (on vacation when I visited) & Bradford is not here (and Bradford lives most of his time in Chicago now), Josh met him in Providence RI when he was a student there, Diego had a cool bar there even two, the first was Flan y Ajo (atapas bar) and the 2nd Bodega Malasana. Diego was passionate about wine and a talented cook, both kept in contact over the years, he moved top New York where he worked for Ten Bells for a while, and later when Bradford was looking for someone to manage the bar, they called him. Diego has been working for 2 years here this september, i was told he hated California at first but eventually changed his mind after a while.
Here were the wines available by the glass, the second price for each wine being for the bottle (cork fee included). You can have a flight of any 3 glasses for 20 $. Like in France, it's great to have a wine bar/bistro operating as a wine shop, you can find these lovely no-intervention wines at any time well into the night for an urgent thirst.
Whites : Complémen'Terre, la Croix Moriceaux, Muscadet 2017 9/29; Giglinger, Riesling Lerchenberg, Alsace 2016 13/41; Les Vins Pirouettes (Binner), "Glouglou", Sylvaner Alsace 2016 12/38; Benjamin Taillandier Blanc, Rousillon Blanc 2017 11/33
Rosés : Domaine Réalitère, Pastel, Provence rosé 2017 10/32; Beaver Creek, Lake County Rosé 2017 8/25
Bubbles : NV Lahertes Frères, Ultradition Brut Champagne 17/54; Plageoles, Mauzac Nature, Pet-nat 2016 13/39; Frantz Saumon, La Cave se Rebiffe, Sparkling rosé 2017 11/35.
Reds : Jauma, Disco Special, Australian Shiraz Blend 2017 12/36; Thierry Puzelat, Vin Rouge, Loire Gamay 2017 10/31; Nicolas Vauthier, Vals Noirs, Bourgogne Epineuil Pinot Noir 2014 14/N-A; Domaine Amagat, Contre un Arbre, Grenache 2014 9/28; Hardesty, Alexander Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 12/37
Josh opened a bottle of Schueller, a Riesling 2016 (I love this job), I asked Josh if it wasn't difficult to get bottles from Schueller here, he says it's possible when you know.
Schueller makes a lot of cuvées, some being quite experimental and some people cherry-pick, only want to take the easy cuvées. He says that this year they took 12 different cuvées from him, from the elegant, classicist ones to some that are pretty wild. He says in the U.S. it's relatively uncommon to find a cave, a restaurant that works by vigneron, by producer, they buy by cuvée, sometimes even they don't follow the producer every year [I know artisan producers hate that, they like reliability and loyalty]. Here at ordinaire they're not like that, they work with producers and take many cuvées from each, I guess for example the amateur who discovered a cuvée by the glass can then explore the other cuvées of the producer, it makes more sense than been left in the dark after drinking just one particular cuvée. Of course with Schueller it works by allocation because so many people ask his wine
The wine bar sells many small producers of natural wine, and these guys visit here from time to time, like Christophe Foucher of La Lunotte (Loire), he came for Brumaire, the natural-wine fair in California. Last time he got unwillingly into trouble by the way, he got lost somehow toward the end of the event on Treasure Island, and as there's no other way than car to reach or leave the island (there's no pedestrian access) he tried to still do it on foot and was arrested by the police in the middle of the night... They hope he'll come back, they consider him as one of the most talented vigneron, plus no artifice in him and in his work. I can't but agree, and such an attention in the vineyard.
Here at Ordinaire there are probably around 3/4 of the wines that are made without sulfites, the last quarter are made by people who sometimes and for certain cuvées only add some; there's for example Julien Altaber who makes cuvées without, sometimes with a little bit of it, but it's small amounts. The import includes higher transportation costs to make sure the wines aren't exposed to heat or temperature drops. Shipping is generally still done in the mild seasons.
The cellar at Ordinaire is upstairs, oddly, there's this cool room with shelves all around, from France, Spain, all over. there are bottles from Beaujolais, Jura, Savoie, Bugey, Alsace, Burgundy, Auvergne, Loire Valley. I spot a Schueller sparkling Rien Que Des Bulles 2011, I see Quartz from Claude courtois, also Alain Castex, and Un Bout de Chemin by Domaine des Pz... Lots of Spanish wine too, Josh suggest to open one of them.
__ Jean-François Ginglinger Pinot blanc 2017. Jean Giglinger was trained by Gerard Schueller, like Bruno. The wine has a weird turbid side we call graisse in France, it's a bizarre change in the transparency of the wine that happens sometimes when no correction and no SO2 is used. It is said to no affect the taste of the wine and it goes away by itself after some weeks. Restaurants prefer to keep the wine in this case until the problems goes away, because unprepared customers may be puzzled. The wine was delivered here a week or two ago and that's the first bottle they try, they'll wait that it settles to open or sell the rest.
__ Jean-François Ginglinger Riesling Steiner Zinnkoeffe 2016. Golden colour, no graisse here. No SO2 added here also. I love that, saline feel. This is a super terroir located near Jean-Pierre Frick's. Elevage in foudre.
Jean Ginglinger is the cousin of Bruno Schueller and his wines are samely made on a very artisanal way (here's the profile by Chambers Street Wines). Ginglinger has been making for 10 years certain cuvées without sulfur and since 2 or 3 years all his cuvées are made without any sulfites. With the same work style than Bruno and being less famous for now it's a good option compared to Schueller's hard-to-get wines. and Jean-François is said for his mentality to be closer to Gérard (the father) than Bruno (Jean-François and Bruno have about the same age).
__ Mas del Gegant 2015, Celler Escoda-Sanahuja. Well inspired, Josh, that was so good ! Superb wine, fruit, obviously unfiltered, fresh, dust and wilderness feel. Bottled in thick glass because there was residual sugar when bottled, but the wine is dry now. Blend of Merlot & Cabernet Franc if I read properly my notes. Really a superb wine, not to miss, my coup de coeur for the whole flight of wines I sipped here that day.
Kara is the other irreplaceable person at Ordinaire, spoke shortly with her and she made lots of compliments for my blog, which is always lovely to hear when you meet people for the first time on the other side of the world and when you know these people themselves do a great job. It happened many times during this trip and like I always answer, I just relay what the vignerons have to tell about their work and take pictures of their real (if sometimes humble) winery and free-range parcels...
I spoke a bit with Diego, He says what's hard here is to find a place to live, and it brings other problems like if you need staffing for the restaurants there's no way they can find an appartment or a place to stay because it's so expensive. At the end nobody can keep a staff for a long time, they keep looking for new hires. Here he likes the opportunity to live near winemakers he love, like for example Aaron and Cara near Sacramento (I myself first heard about them through Ordinaire's Instagram page), Dani [Rozman] and other people, he says it's nice to be close enough to see them.
Diego says that the interest for natural wine in the last year, or even in the last 6 months has literally exploded. A few years ago when he worked in wine shops in the east people would order these wines but had a hard time to get over the acidity but here what he sees these days is that people are eagerly looking for orange wines or light funky red wine, the change even in this region is accelerating. It's good for him cause he can help people discove the wines he likes, but on the other hand the supply is the same, it puts some pressure on the market. Working here is great, and there are all these winemakers dropping in for a tasting, adding to the excitement when you taste their wines with the patrons.
__ Sonoma Mountain Winery, Chardonnay 2017, by Nick Coturri. Dry white, 15 % alcohol.
Josh has opened a bottle by Nick Coturri (the son of Tony Coturri), he uses Tony's bond to make his wine, but it's a different winery, so to say, different vines and different vinification. Here is one of the few wines in this country made without any sulfites and allthewhile traditionnal California wine. Nick considers his wines classic California wines and they're made without sulfites like his father's who has been making wine since the 1960s' or early 1970s'. Of course there's a new generation of winemakers here working without any sulfites but there's an influence from what they have tasted from Europe and one of the challenges is to find a California identity which is distinct from what is made in Europe. When you want to reproduce a light, happy wine from the Loire Valley but it often requires things like green harvest, carbonic maceration in places where it doesn't necessarily make sense, and for an end product which is not very distinctive, sometimes it can be fun and sometimes it turns insipide. Nick is someone who has no fear of alcohol and ripeness and he's in line with traditionnal California style.
Nice texture feel in the mouth and tongue, fresh & balanced wine, the 15 % alcohol doesn't feel at all, pretty surprising, you keep this freshness feel all along. Made without sulfites, important to remind. Nick would say that the alcohol is less important than the ripeness, harvest ting ripe fruit is very important. This is a fermage (contracted) vineyard but he farms them.
Here are a few pictures of the wines on the wall, many cuvées indeed, the price chalked on the bottles are the cave prices, to go, and you have just to add $ 10 if you want to sit down and drink it here. I set the size of the clicked picture larger than usual, hope you can recognize the cuvées with their respective price.
Well, no need to say that on my way back I was feeling quite high and elated with all these nice healthy wines and the great people I spoke to. The ride was smooth in spite of the traffic (not too bad like you can see, except at the end of the bridge) and i managed to make it to Post street without problem, even though I managed to take pictures while driving, which I know makes my case even worse, I apologize to the commuters around. This said, I love this picture of the Oakland Bay Bridge because you only guess it at the end of the tunnel. By the way I prefer this bridge to the Golden Gate, I love this design with two decks, the westbound above and the other underneath, and don't understand why it is so unanimously ignored. But it seems I'm not alone to think it deserves to be recognized...
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