Ella Dining Room and Bar and also Champagne School

 If you have never been to Ella Dining Room and Bar and you live driving distance from downtown Sacramento, I highly recommend this great place to you.  It has the scale of a Los Angeles hotspot  and still maintains a cozy feel, with food and drink any region would be happy to claim.  I was fortunate to attend a Dine and Learn there where we asked them to prepare comfortable meeting space, a little mid meeting sparkling wine at the bar and then a nice dinner.  The staff including events manager Nicole and Wine Manager, Joseph Vaccaro, rolled out the red carpet for us.  So, much to my delight, the "little mid meeting sparkling wine lesson was as follows:


 NV Nicolas Feuillattte Brut Reserve Particulere, Reims France: a blend of 20% chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 40% Pinot Meunier, the first sip was a reward for slogging through hours of training and definitely woke up the audience.  Pale gold in color with tiny bubbles and aromas of pears and something nutty.

'02 Roederer L'Ermitage Estate, Anderson Valley, California: Imagine my delight to re-taste one of my favorites.  Golden color with bubbles that made me want to sing some Don Ho and a creamy, lush mouthfeel.  Flavors of baked apple with vanilla hints, spice and apple pie.  The blend is 54% Chardonnay and 48% Pinot Noir.  The wine is all delicious.

'07 Shramsberg Blanc de Noirs, Napa Valley, California: We had all previously attended an event where on our tour of Shramsberg we almost to a person joined the wine club and so were all familiar with this selection.  Still this predominantly Pinot Noir (74%) blended with chardonnay (26%) was a crowd pleaser.  Structured with pleasant acidity and flavors, this stood up well to the salmon canape offered as an accompanying small bite.

MV, Krug Grande Cuvee, Reims, France:  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, Joseph told us this champagne is "what God gives his angels when they are particularly good". Yum! This character of this selection was so different from the others.  Darker and more complex with toasty, smoky, nutty notes and a mist of honey, with pears, apples and even a hint of mocha.  Divine!  We pretty much drained our glasses of this wine!

All the while Joseph anwered our questions and explained the compendium of difference between sparkling wine and champagne.  We spanned the gamut from folks with impressive cellars to non-wine drinkers, and all of us came away learning a lot, and most importantly enjoying the journey.  I was immensely grateful for all the hard work and planning that went into this event, so cannot recommend this restaurant enough. If you are able to book a wine dinner or even just drop by for Happy Hour, you will be delighted.  And bonus, Facebook or Foursquare check-ins will get you free valet parking!

Make time to visit
ella dining room and bar
1131 K Street (Corner of 12th & K Street)
Sacramento, CA 95814