Bar & Garden Amazing New Wine And Spirits Purveyor

Culver City's newest wineshop is in full bloom

There is too much to love at Bar & Garden, Culver City's newest wine and spirits purveyor.

Tucked inside what was once a 60-year-old liquor store, owners Marissa Mandel and Lauren Johnson have assembled rows of craft spirits, aperitifs, shrubs, and other cocktails accessories you'll recognize from the city's top drink lists.

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But the biggest surprise is Bar & Garden's plentiful–and still-growing–array of natural wines, which range from sulfite-free to biodynamically certified.

Many of the featured wines are adorned with handwritten notes explaining their significance to Mandel and Johnson. "This label looked like a hideous Christmas ornament," read one note next to a 2009 Trascampanas Verdejo ($15 for 750 ml), "but the wine was so good, we had to have it."

The couple hopes to have their tasting bar, fashioned from a long plank of driftwood, running in a few weeks.

You could start by sipping a splashy, aromatic 2011 Vine Starr Zinfandel ($22 for 750 ml) from Berkeley's Broc Cellars, then leapfrog to a super-funky 2010 Côtes du Rhône "Le Coulet" blend ($19 for 750 ml) from Domaine Chiniard.

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We don't expect this shop to stay quiet for long, but for now, we plan to take full advantage of this charming hideaway.

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