Wilmore & Phil Trani's

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Margie's Fun Wine Activity event for May started off a tThe Wilmore, a small wine tasting bar in the Bixby Knolls area.

We had 4 wines and nibblies. A NV Louis Perdrier Champange, Nice wine. The second pour was a 2011 Domaine Mureaux Sancerre. To me this was the best wine of the tasting. Third wine was a 2011 Luli, Santa Lucia Highlands, Pinot Noir. I found this wine to be relatively weak.  Not much going for it. The last one was a 2020 Dragonette "Seven" a blend of 7 Rhone grapes. This also was a good selection.

Ernie, the owner, put out a nice selection of cheeses, salami, olives, etc.

After finishing at The Wilmore we headed down the road to Phil Trani's restaurant. This place has been in business it seems forever. The original one in San Pedro was a hang out for a lot of sports figures and some of the memorabilia is on display in the bar of the restaurant. They have redecorated the restaurant which is good because it was in dire need.

We had  a large round table which was nice  because of all the glasses and bottles that were on the table. A wide variety of food is available here. Everything from steak to Italian dishes. Several people ordered fish. I had the herb crusted Chilean Sea Bass which was very good. In retrospect I should have ordered it without the herbs. Dinners came with soup or salad. I had the house salad which consisted of romaine lettuce which was very cold and crisp and choice of dressing. Nothing special but because the lettuce was so crisp it was nice. After the salad and the nibblies at the Wilmore I could have stopped eating at this point and been quite satisfied.

Phil Trani's used to have no corkage but had raised it to $10. Margie did talk them into $5 per bottle since we bring out own glasses and open the bottles and basically are self sufficient when it comes to taking care of our wines. We had a good selection  of wines.

NV Piper Heidsick , California, Sparkling
2006 Clos Pepe, Sta Rita Hills, Pinot Noir
2003 Thomas Fogarty, Vallega Vineyard, Yountville, Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Halter Ranch, Paso Robles, Viognier
NV Veuve Du Vernay, France,  Brut Rose
Bret Brothers, Vive-Classe Cimat-La Verchere
2008 Grand Vin de Bourgeone
2010 Argiolas S'elegas, Italy, Nuragus di Cagliari
2009 Argiolas, Perdera, Isola dei Nuragau (blend of 3 Monica grapes)