Everson Royve Wineshop In Pasadena | Los Angeles
You may have met Joe Capella if you've ever lingered late at one of Silverlake Wine's Thursday-night tastings.
He's the customer who generously poured you a taste of Sine Qua Non's late-harvest Roussanne, the wine that smelled like flowers and tasted like mangoes and runs over $150 for a half-bottle. Capella is an easy guy to like.
He is not quite a customer at Silverlake Wine anymore, as he and two of the store's three owners, Randy Clement and April Langford, have opened Everson Royce, a new wineshop in Pasadena.
Named after Clement and Langford's twin sons, the shop brings Silverlake's small-producer focus northeast. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are given center stage, but there's more available than Grand Crus and California cult wines. There's the Chanin 2009 Bien Nacido Chardonnay, for example, that's one of the most restrained and elegant California whites we've come across, and it tastes far greater than its $30 price tag indicates.
The tower of pink wine (pictured) just inside Everson Royce's door has your picnic needs covered. Our pick of the lot is the 2011 Birichino Vin Gris ($17 for 750 ml), made predominantly of old-vine Grenache. It brings summer fruit and savory herbs to the glass.
Everson Royce, 155 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena; 626-765-9334 or eversonroyce.com