Augustine - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Augustine


photo by Ryan Tanaka

Augustine extends the reach of Matthew Kaner and Dustin Lancaster, the formidable wine team at Bar Covell in LA’s Los Feliz neighborhood, to Sherman Oaks. Their partner, Dave Gibbs, moved to the San Fernando Valley to raise a family and found dozens of thirsty, well-heeled, like-minded imbibers looking for a wine hangout. The decor is almost defiantly unassuming; the space is small, candlelit and relatively hushed. Power pop lurks at a low murmur somewhere beneath the conversation; dead soldiers line the top shelves. Evan Algorri is in the kitchen, braising octopus and beef cheeks, but the focus here reflects Gibbs’ longstanding penchant for old wines: On any given night, a dozen older bottles are available in well-priced pours—from the fairly old, like ’88 Hanzell Chardonnay, to the very old, like ’64 Charles Krug Cabernet, ’58 Haut-Brion or Barbeito Verdelho Madeira, vintage 1885.


This review appears in the print edition of the June 2015 issue.
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Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.


This story appears in the print issue of June 2015.
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