LJ Crafted Wines

​I am not a big fan of urban wineries.  Unlike beer, wine is not particularly better served fresh so it is hard to see how an urban winery can be competitive with wine bars.  So, I was pleasantly surprised to find one, LJ Crafted Wines, with a very competitive and interesting twist.
LJ is located on La Jolla Blvd. in the Bird Rock region of San Diego.  I shall now digress from discussion of LJ to a general discourse on wine tasting, a necessary lead-in to LJ’s uniqueness.
Basically, when I go to a winery I really can’t say I do wine tasting, or at least do it the right way.  I mean, you’re supposed to spit out the wine!  Never going to happen….  From the sommelier point of view, wine tasting is a formal procedure to determine the quality of the wine.  But what about its likeability?  I mean, I have tasted a lot of high-quality Tempranillo that I absolutely hated.  So, if I am not wine tasting, what am I doing?  I thought a lot about this, giving it a whole ten minutes of my time, and have come up with a brilliant term for what I, and most of you, do at a winery: “wine sampling” Pretty clever, huh?
Now as we are sampling the wine it is quite acceptable to swallow it.  In fact, I suggest more than one swallow to fully appreciate the wine.  I define wine sampling as the method of determining if you like a wine.  Of course, wine sampling is this a perfect way to find a wine to bring home. 
There are three issues you must address in selecting a wine to buy.  First, as noted above, you sample the wine to see if you like it.  Wine tasters spit out the wine so the alcohol does not affect their senses.  As you are likely to have more than one sip of the wine when you open it up to drink, it is most likely you will be under the influence of the alcohol for most of the time you are actually drinking the wine.  Hence, true wine sampling entails swallowing the wine.  In fact, more than one swallow would seem most appropriate.
Once you have determined which wines you like, then you have to decide when you are likely to drink the wine.  The wine you like might never get opened.  For example, you might find a wonderful white wine that goes great with fish.  But if you never cook fish at home, it will never get opened.  The wine might need to be aged, but if you don’t have a place to properly store the wine you should not buy it.  Of course, there is the downer – the price.  The wine might be great at $40 a bottle, but at $100….
But here’s the thing:  most people drink their wine within a week or so of buying it.  And that’s where LJ comes in.  You see, they don’t sell wine in traditional bottles.  Rather, they sell wine in reuseable bottles, as shown in the picture below, much like the growlers used in the craft beer industry.  Just like a propane tank, when the bottle is empty you bring it back to exchange for a full bottle.  They recommend that you drink the wine within a week of purchasing it.

​To do this, the wine in the barrel must remain the same as the barrel is drained down.  In particular, the vacated space cannot be replaced with air – the oxygen will ruin the wine over time.  A low pressure system of replacing the wine with inert gas is used instead.  The system is patented, by the way.  Oh, and for those of you who care, the growler method greatly reduces the use of bottles, hence saving a lot of energy.

​As you can see in the rather bad pictures following this paragraph, they offer a nice selection of wines.  On the white side are two of my favorites – Chenin Blanc and Albarino.  The reds include the two most popular – Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.  In truth, they are greatly overshadowed by the Sangiovese. 

​None of the wines are made from grapes grown in Southern California.  The wines are made in Napa and shipped down to San Diego in the barrels.  You can also get their wines in growlettes – two glass growlers – or in cans with twist tops if you want the wines shipped to you.
Perhaps the best part of LJ is not the wine, but the food.  Specifically, the dates.  We tried both versions.  Delicious!!!