Listen in as Stretch and Dan visit the 3rd Annual Pinot Days festival at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport. While there they chat with reps from some of their favorite California wineries, including Rodney Strong, La Fenetre and Big Basin.

The Grand Tasting showcased over 80 phenomenal producers of pinot noir. The boys were able to sample up to 300 pinots from every important pinot noir region, from the Russian River Valley to the Santa Rita Hills, Oregon to the Anderson Valley, Burgundy to New Zealand to the Sonoma Coast.

Stretch and I drop by the just-opened Stella Rosa Pizza Bar in Santa Monica to get the skinny on pairing pizza and red wine... and really, there's nothing skinny about it. Deliciously decadent is more like it. Also check out my interview with wine god Peter Birmingham at a Rioja wine tasting at Hatfields in Hollywood.

Here's what our pals at Urban Daddy had to say about Stella Rosa:

This isn’t the kind of place where you’ve got too many decisions to make. You came for pizza and wine, and you’ll get it—either at the 15-seat bar or at one of a handful of tables. We’d suggest settling in up front by the windows, since this is one of the few areas in town with actual foot traffic to liven things up. (“Nobody walks in LA... except on Main Street”: less catchy.)

And besides, they’ll bring the bar to you. They’ve got a roving wine cart here, so before your table is covered with crisp, hot, 12-inch pizzas topped with mushrooms, pepperoni and mozzarella and cooked quick at 650 degrees, you can start exploring a veritable wine country on wheels.

Your favorite kind of wine country.

Stella Rosa Pizza Bar
2000 Main St
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-396-9250

Back in December, the good folks at Newcastle Brown Ale threw me and about forty of my bestest buddies a swell holiday party at Ye Olde King's Head in Santa Monica. It was part of a campaign tied to a tradition in the U.K. called “Walking the Dog,” where exercising Fido is a front that allows you to slip out and enjoy a pint of Newcastle with your mates. At the King's Head a good time, as the old bromide goes, was had by all. And of all the beer brands that might have offered to throw me a party, I'm glad the one (and only one) that did was Newcastle. Because I like Newcastle. I like it a lot. Indeed, it ranks with Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale and Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale among my favorites in the category. (Note: Newcastle is owned by Heineken, and I'll also cop to being a fan of the crisp Heineken Light.)

Once while I was traveling through England, a pub owner In Plymouth told me an interesting story about Newcastle. About a decade ago the company removed the word "ale" from labels in England, having done some market research that revealed younger drinkers thought ale was for olf fogies. About four years and a lot of money in printing costs later, they discovered the change hadn't affected sales in the slightest. So they slapped "ale" back on the labels again. This goes to show that market research is mostly a bunch of bullshit. Yeah, I said it -- bullshit. Overly analytical, expensive and unreliable. Make a good product, use common sense and sound decision-making, and you'll be alright for chrissakes. At least, that's my two cents on the matter.

My final note about Newcastle pertains to the glassware in which it is traditionally served. It's called a Wellington glass or a "Geordie Schooner," and it's meant to be topped off regularly so that the beer maintains a frothy head.