Bar Pilar Newsletter (March 14)

Behind the curtain of LA's iconic Italian restaurant, a fake country club in Provence, and more

Hi BP Club. It’s been a big couple of weeks since our last newsletter. I definitely bit off more than I could chew. I’m working on a new series (one I’ve been wanting to do forever), filming my spring partnerships (two of my dream partners reached out to me! eek!), have been on a couple of podcasts (I think I talk too much), and, perhaps most importantly, I’ve been staging at Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles. More on that below but, in brief - go to Mozza, their team impressed me even more than I had envisioned, and going behind the curtain of restaurant wine service has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my wine education.

CHAMPIONS (the best wines I’ve tried this month)

Unsurprisingly, many of the best wines I’ve had this month have been on Mozza’s wine list. The wines they stock - pretty much all Italian - are insane, and I was fortunate enough to get to taste with the team. Highlights were the Elena Fucci SCEG Aglianico del Vulture (I had no idea Aglianico could have such vivacity), the Bergamnnhof Kalch from South Tyrol (I’m such a sucker for Cab Franc, and clearly I need to be drinking more from South Tyrol), the RossoNoah from Alto Piemonte (I’m convinced a better pizza wine has never existed), and the Tiefenbrunner Muller Thurgau Feldmarschall von Fenner (which earned Tiefenbrunner a spot in our Cult Classics Cellar. I hadn’t realized Muller Thurgau could reach that level of complexity).

I also had a chance to host a tasting for some VC friends from my former life (I left my job like a month ago, I know, but after these past two weeks it feels especially distant - I think that’s a good thing?). I served them some of the classics, like the Domaine de la Taille aux Louis Clos de Mosny from JP and Jacky Blot (hiiiiiiighly reductive and cutting, but exceptional), and Moussé (can’t go wrong there). Details on both of these - where to find them, principal varietals, prices, and more - are also in our Cult Classics Cellar, along with our Cult Classics features from the past two weeks (Laherte Freres and Domaine Huet). If you haven’t tried the Domaine Huet Moelleux yet, prepare for your life to be changed.

POWER COUPLES (the wine & food pairings I’ve been obsessing over)

I know most of you probably saw this yesterday, but I have to start with this pairing I created to pair with the Domaine Huet Haut-Lieu Sec. This is one of those examples where I really built from the wine -I started by assessing the acidity, body, and alcohol levels as well as the tasting notes to think about what would really bring out the balance and best qualities of that wine, and created a recipe from there. I will be putting this on my regular afternoon aperitif rotation for the next eight months of warm weather.

For dessert I’ve been loving Pedro Ximenez, a type of viscous and delectably sweet sherry that tastes like raisined figs, poured over vanilla ice cream. I first had it at Bar Le Côte in Los Olivos (I will drive the 2 hours from LA any day just to eat there) and was hooked. If you like Crêpes Suzette, highly recommend giving this a try. There are a lot of great bottles, but this one by Lustau is a classic.

WINE AND DINE (what’s on my radar for eating & drinking well - in LA and around the world)

Well first, I found my new favorite wine bar in LA - Bar Etoile. The vibe, the small plates (Yes, I’m one of those small plate-y people. No one is surprised.), the music, the staff, the wine list. The wine list!!! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it was so good, since it is the sister restaurant of legendary LA wine shop Domaine LA, but it really didn’t disappoint. We started with a bottle of Marguet Champagne, and paired our dishes with a fabulous bottle of De Moor Aligoté (also detailed in our Cult Classics Cellar). I couldn’t get enough of the place, and I’ll definitely be back. My boyfriend and I also popped in for an impromptu dinner at Spina in Atwater, when we didn’t want to wait for a table at Bar Sinizki down the street. What Spina does - a cool kid, no reservations, neighborhood Italian joint inspired by the local haunts in Sardinia and Southern Italy - it does extremely well. I think it deserves much better reviews than what I’ve seen online for the vibes alone, though the ravioli were genuinely impressive.

As for wining and dining beyond LA, Lingua Franca’s ten year anniversary events are very much on my radar. They’ll be pouring their wines over special, celebratory menus in four elite restaurants across the country (Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder in April, Saison in San Francisco, Le Bernardin in New York in September, and Canlis in Seattle in October). I can’t think of a hotter ticket in the American food & wine scene right now.

The most exciting event in my personal wining & dining life, however, has without a doubt been the privilege of staging at Osteria Mozza. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “stage” is essentially an unpaid period of shadowing and learning via doing at a restaurant. It’s a term and experience typically reserved for restaurant chefs, but, thanks to the introduction of a good friend and the generosity of the Mozza team, I’ve been able to apply the concept to restaurant wine service. I’ve always liked Mozza, and was especially happy to get some exposure there since my Italian wine knowledge is somewhat lacking, but I’m now a die hard fan. The team’s attitude toward exceptional hospitality, collaboration, and developing taste (the taste of themselves and of their many, many return customers) was nothing short of incredibly impressive, and their generosity and warmth towards me somewhat baffling (I guess the hospitality mindset even carries over to the random girl in the way, not really able to contribute much, during a busy service). I had the opportunity to taste with them and observe as they assessed new wines for the list, while they fielded my questions about pricing and customer preferences. They showed me how they work with the kitchen, and how they contribute to every aspect of service and see themselves as a messengers of great hospitality in all respects, rather than wine specialists in their own, exclusive lane. They let me observe as they walked uneasy customers through a wine list, and made tailored recommendations with ease. While I have a pretty high level of wine certification - there’s such a gap between the academic and experiential aspects of wine. I feel I learned (and honestly, tasted) more during one evening with the Mozza team than I did from weeks in class, and I’m so grateful for the experience. I’m going back, so I’ll have more to say.

SPILL IT (industry news, trends, and my two cents)

I know I’m supposed to talk about tariffs and their impact on the wine industry. But honestly, it’s been a crazy two weeks and there are people way more knowledgeable than I weighing in on that. You know what I want to talk about instead? The Rochambeau Club.

The Rochambeau Club is an incredibly exclusive, 80s style tennis club in the South of France. Applying for membership to the club is very similar to applying for the right to swipe on Raya; there’s an extreme backlog of applications, and yours can take between 48 hours to two years to be accepted or, more likely, declined. Andre Agassi once smoked in the plunge pool. Flash photography is strictly prohibited. They serve caviar at their breakfast buffet.

There’s just one oddity - it doesn’t exist.

TikTok brand analyst mirandadoesbrands (she’s great, by the way) did a comprehensive video on this, but essentially the Rochambeau Club is a case study in expert brand building for wine brands (or any brands, really). The completely fake, ultra-exclusive club stemmed from the creative problem solving of the two founders of Racquet Rosé - they desperately wanted to launch a rosé brand, but were struggling to differentiate themselves in an extremely saturated market.

Enter the Rochambeau Club. The expertly designed website and curated Instagram feed evokes exclusivity, “old money” luxury, European leisure, and Mediterranean sunshine. It’s exactly the kind of place you’d want to have a glass of rosé - or six - in the afternoon sun after your tennis lesson. The preppy, luxury 80s aesthetic and “backlogged membership applications,” though fictional, help elevate the perception of the brand, justifying a higher price point. But, when you look carefully, you’ll see that the site isn’t all that serious. Review of membership applications is backlogged due to “Antoine’s ongoing elbow issue,” “most of the quiches are available poolside at no extra cost,” fashionable intolerances are indulged only “up to a point,” and the Club is currently hiring for a “Junior Oyster Shucker.” The broadly elitist aesthetic and attitude, sprinkled with playful jabs at the lifestyle of the leisure class makes those who can see the joke feel “in the know,” and thus more aligned with the brand. To paraphrase a recent interview I listed to with Gstaad Guy on Logan Paul’s podcast (not my usual podcast, but I was intrigued): the elite kind of like it when you poke fun at them, it makes them feel seen. That’s exactly what Racquet Rosé is doing with Rochambeau Club: building an immersive world where their precise target audience feels seen, and therefore believes that Racquet Rosé is a natural extension of their lifestyle. On top of that, the membership application portal, “Club Sandwich” newsletter, and application to join the Club’s rotating membership dinners all provide fun and seamless touch points where Racquet Rosé can gather emails of their biggest fans, making it easier to reach their community.

All that is to say that I know premium and luxury wine brands have been struggling to find new ways to connect with the younger generation without compromising the integrity of their brand. I think more of them could be following this playbook, be it for a new product launch, a seasonal drop, and special collaboration, or an event series. It doesn’t have to be for an entirely new company or varietal. Consumers now want multiple ways of connecting with brands, and each time a brand wants to create a “moment” through a new vertical, campaign, or event series, they can create a new “mini world” to build anticipation and give their communities a novel way of experiencing their brand.

Also, not nearly as exciting as a fake country club hiring a Junior Oyster Shucker, but I went on Instagram Live with Jason Haas of Tablas Creek last week. We had a really fun conversation, so please go check it out if you haven’t yet! We shared a recording of the live conversation to my reels tab on Instagram, and to the Tablas Creek Instagram.

AFTER HOURS (everything else I’m obsessing over at the end of the day, over a glass of wine - travel, fashion, music, more)

I’ll keep this part to the point, since I just yapped your ear off about rosé world building, but I finally watched High Fidelity (one of the best versions of a Rom Com I’ve seen, and I wish we still made movies like this). This kicked off an obsession with the music of Primal Scream. I have yet to figure out how to weave this into a wine playlist on our Bar Pilar Spotify for you guys, but I don’t know how it took me so long to discover their music. It’s spectacular.

We’ve been doing a ton of vintage shopping for our house redecoration and it is REALLY coming along. I have an aversion to millennial grey and white (why does everyone’s house look the same?!?!), so I’ve felt very strongly about finding unique pieces and treating each addition to our space as brushstrokes over a canvas, letting it come together in an unexpected and organic way over time. That obviously requires a lot of vintage shopping, and we’ve found some crazy (crazy!!) gems at Sunbeam Vintage and Vintage Junktion.

I’ve been enjoying a number of other publications recently, like

Isabelle Heikens

Substack (a great resource for hosting), Low Hanging Fruit by Supervino Bros (a great community for natural wine-specific content), and of course

Emily Sundberg

’s Feed Me (I have no idea how she can write so much every day).

And a genuine question for you guys, if you’re willing to weigh in in the comments - why does no one seem to be liking this season of White Lotus as much as I do? Everyone I’ve talked to seems disappointed in it (their choice to change the song, the “slow” pacing). I respectfully, completely disagree. I love that they’re taking more risks this season than they did in the second and, most importantly, I think it’s the best casting and character development we’ve seen from the series so far. Thoughts? Maybe I’m liking it more than everyone else because I pop open a bottle of Sauternes every time an episode comes on, but I’m seriously perplexed.

Anyway, talk soon and have a great weekend <3

Pilar