Making Out au Naturel at Terroir Wine Bar

I'm not saying that making out is the only thing that happens at Terroir, the excellent, new-ish wine bar on Folsom at 7th that dedicates itself to small-batch wines produced in the most natural of fashions. Quite the opposite.

But at our "Obama's 100" fundraiser meeting tonight (over some delish Loimer Alsatian Riesling), our table couldn't help but appreciate the fact that Terroir has some mad ambiance. Sorry for paparazzi-ing your makeout, maker-outers, but you just kept making out for-ev-er, and after a while, we could resist the urge no longer.

Blame it on the Minervois.

I really like that Terroir serves its charcuterie plate with a wooden handled, folding Opinel pocket knife. Very French.












I also liked that when I asked if they had any of Loire Valley cult hero Didier Dageneau's zany wines (in an attempt to zero in on links between their obviously erudite list and my own wildly random wine knowledge), the very French barman replied, "Ah, Dageneau? No, no, no. He used to be very 'bio,' but recently, he started sulphuring, using non-native yeast, that sort of thing. And to be honest," he continued in a conspiratorial tone, "Some of his wines don't age very well."

Zing!

Noting the likes of Radikon and Quintarelli on the extensive list of wines by the bottle, I could tell that I was in the presence of wine brainiacs much like my winemaker pals up in Napa. They're quite thorough in their devotion to the natural at Terroir; they only play music from vinyl records in the tall-ceilinged, warm wooden space, and when I asked if I could take a few non-flash photos, I received this adorably snooty reply in a very French accent, "Only if it is not for a blog."

(Sorry brothers!)


As we were leaving, my girlfriends commented that the guys running the place were cute.

Assess for yourselves!

photo of owners: Terroir

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crappy, grainy nighttime photos of Terroir: TB