Eclectic Wine Bar & Cafe, North Hollywood

On a business trip to Los Angeles with two wine-loving colleagues, Karen and Gill, we found this neighborhood gem in North Hollywood. The Eclectic Wine Bar is just exactly that - eclectic menu, eclectic customers, and a good selection of electic wines. Gill selected a white, the name of which I forgot to record...I am sorry! In addition to a range of wines by the glass and bottle, the restaurant was featuring two flights; one of sparkling wines and one of Rhone-inspired reds. I chose the Rhone-inspired wine flight as did Karen.

The first wine was Cotes du Rhone Belleruche M. Chapoutier from France, a 50/50 blend of Grenache and Syrah. The nose was lovely and soft with a hint of violets and cherry. The wine was well-balanced, with flavors of cherry, vanilla, and raspberry. Both Karen and I thought the wine was a bit hot at the end, although the finish was round and full. Neither of us liked the sour notes from the Syrah. I gave this a 6 out of 10 points.

The second wine was a Tintara Grenache from Australia, and I thought it was a very well done example of this varietal. The nose was delicate with notes of cherry and rose. The wine was lovely, well-balanced, rich and round, with elegant flavors of mulberry, cherry, white pepper and rose. The finish was superbly smooth  and delicate, with lingering pepper - I wanted just a bit more fruit on the finish. I gave this a 9 out of 10 points.

The third wine, a Syrah Summerland Santa Ynez Valley, was my least favorite, although I should note that Syrah is one of my least favorite varietals. This wine was sour from start to finish, and had such a strong dried flower scent, it overpowered everything for me. I found it to be flat and uninspired, and did not finish the tasting. Karen also did not like it for similar reasons, although she did finish her sample, indicating there were poor wineless people in third world countries who would go without thanks to my squandering ways. Sorry, as you know, I believe life is too short to drink bad wine.

I loved the symmetry of this flight - Grenache/Syrah blend, then Grenache, then Syrah, and thought it was an inspired selection. The wine bar and restaurant were very nice, with a warm, comfortable atmosphere. It was quite noisy, especially around 9 PM when the place really started jumping. However, I would definitely return again for more inspired wine flights.