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Irregular Wine Tasting
by Victor Rodionoff

With their relentless advertising, fiber companies have conned us into believing that regularity is everything.  But beyond the strictly gastroenterological realm, regularity denotes conformity to established rules and criteria, and the tedium of formality. And few things are more bound to routine than wine tasting-that rigorous ritual so preoccupied with prettying the act of getting lushed. After all, if-as the disaffected Miles of Sideways has shown us-one aim of tasting is to get at least slightly blotto, why the need to cower behind veils of snobbery and stuffy etiquette?  In response to these airs and the flourishing population of wine consumers, The Echo brings us their Irregular Wine Tasting.

This week, in its 34th installment, Irregular Wine Tasting will feature six wines from Brave Stallion Vineyards of Chile, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Merlot (despite Miles’ objections), Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah along with complimentary fruit and cheese courtesy of Gelson’s. I’ll concede that thus far, it sounds somewhat typical-regular, even-but here’s where it begins to get irregular: Paired along with these Dionysian delights will be six films of underappreciated Angelino actor Glenn Anders, who appeared in such films as Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai and D.W. Griffith’s Sally of the Sawdust. More irregular still, host Julian Davies will challenge participants to trivia while DJ Cuz’n Roy Lee Gittens spins tunes to more smoothly facilitate the drinking, er, tasting. Making it less regular yet, the good folks at The Echo will be offering infinite refills, lest participants are unable to easily get a good profile of the wine (i.e. lose their buzz). Irregular Wine Tasting will be held on the Echo’s infamous patio, offering a nice counterpoint to tasting’s traditionally haute contexts. Admission is irregularly low at only $20 per person and lift off is at 8 p.m., but arrive early for seating.