You think it’s bad trying to get to Staples Center for a game or concert on time for a 7:30-8 start, how about trying to get down there for dinner *and* an event. My first inclination was to leave about 3:00pm, thereby having only to endure the out of work actor/writer/director/editor/DP/composer traffic on the 101.
And yet it is for creative pursuits I’m heading downtown today, as I’m pretentiously a season ticket holder for the LA Philharmonic. Actually, I shouldn’t be so self-depricating. I love classical music and the Walt Disney Hall should be a destination for you, whether you live in LA or are just visiting.
Amazing site lines, beautiful acoustics, everything pretty much perfect. My expectations of sitting in traffic though to get there do not follow the usual crawl downtown. I don’t anticipate any of us, dressed in suits, leaning out the window hollering to our fellow fans about Gustavo Dudamel’s performance or blasting our Tchaikovksy out the window like you do for the Lakers or Springsteen .
But because I am going to cut my day a bit short and also because I’ve now got two wines waiting in my blogging que, I thought it was time to play a doubleheader, those great all-day affairs of yesteryear.
In my youth, a double header was a scheduled game, pay one price for both. Now, there’s no such thing unless the weather is involved. And on those days, two separate crowds come and go for each game – how dare a professional sports league give the fans *more* than their monies worth?
So for those who recall those wistful days of eight hours of nothing but baseball here goes:
GAME ONE:
At $4.99 this Chianti from D’Aquino came in the quaint old wicker bottle. The one I bought looked like it had been recycled from a much older vintage (say: 1971) or at least spent a good amount of time undecteted at the back of some dirty warehouse.
The wine was light in color and had a fruit candy smell, not quite a Life Saver, but maybe, a wine flavored sucking candy – and for all of you entrepreneurs out there – I just patented this idea. Sorry you’re too late…
The first sip was tart & tannic with a hint of fruit on the mid-pallate. The finish was dry. Put another way, there wasn’t much to like or dislike about this wine.
SINGLE
GAME TWO:
I’ve been a fan of Cote du Rhone’s for awhile now, the first one being made by Guigal and written about someplace I cannot remember. All I recall is that it was one of the first times I sought and bought and although I’ve not looked for this same wine in a few years, I’ve not often found a CdR I did not enjoy.
This effort, the Cellier du Rhone also set me back $4.99. It had very nice color and a nose of strawberries and rasberries. The wine was decently balanced but not as much as I would have expected based on what it looked like (hardly a scientific method, I know).
But again, nothing bad I can really say about it. Did not get better as the night progressed but it served its purpose.
SINGLE
