So, what is it? Where is it? Well, you won't find any signage on the building. One of the doors which is rarely opened just says "6500". The rear door has nothing on it but a few tattered wine labels. You would never know this place existed and even if you looked for it you may not find it.
This is a professional, underground, climate-controlled, wine storage facility where you can rent a locker and store your wine at the proper temperature and humidity. It's located roughly under Leslie's Pool Supply in Platt Village. When you enter through the rear (hehe) you'll find yourself going back in time as you descend the steep wooden staircase. You'll pass through several doors until your reach the chilly 55 degree abyss. It's perfect for those hot summer days! Locker sizes range from just 12 to over 500 cases which are large walk-in rooms.
This place has a lot of history and many different owners. I remember back around 1995 ... when, on Friday nights, affluent aficionados "in-the-know" met in this underground, unfinished, cave-like basement. The ritual of opening classy, high-end and hopefully perfectly-aged wines was commonplace here. It was high-end Bordeaux, Burgundies, Cult Napas, allocated wine - stuff the public couldn't even acquire if they wanted to. The most sought after wines were locked up within these walls. Thousands of bottles and probably millions of dollars. No one really knew how much wine and what the value of this wine was. There was no two-buck Chuck or boxed wine allowed here. Not even the regular "California" or Coastal wines were ever seen here.
I was freakishly allowed into "the club" after some serious pleading and after I showed I was able to produce my own noteworthy wines at the Friday night parties. I was allowed to rent a 12-case locker. Over time, I upgraded my locker to a larger one and then an even larger one as I amassed my collection. My wine collection grew and at one point I had over hundred cases (1200 bottles) myself ... and I was a nobody here. I had only a small collection compared to others! I bought a lot of wine on speculation, hoping that the wine would increase in value as it aged here in the perfect environment.
The renters would meet every Friday night and try to "one-up" the other with a better wine, Everyone had to participate. These guys would regularly pull bottles from their cellar and create a vertical or open a bottle or two wrapped in a paper bag or tinfoil for the others to guess the vintage, the varietal, the winemaker, the region and even the appellation.. In one evening, you could easily find 30+ bottles of rare wine open and sitting on the main table for you to enjoy. Everyone had 6-8 Reidel glasses with a variety of wines, allowing each one to open up over the evening. Personal notes were shared across the room. The palates and knowledge surrounding the table were mind boggling. These were scholars, doctors and lawyers and such. People that could afford these wines. Then there was me. I was lucky I guess because this is where I sat back and listened and learned from the experts. I couldn't put a price on the knowledge I gained. It was unforgettable. If you want to read more about the Secret Club, there's a December 2003 article in the LA Times ... http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/10/food/fo-winestorage10 - Page 2, about half way down...
Alas, it all changed after the second owner sold it and moved out of state, We still had some Friday nights, but it was different now. The tastings are all but gone now. What's left is a back room with a large table and chairs, lots of photos of times past, and hundreds of empty noteworthy wine bottles surround the room. Oh, if those bottles could talk ... Cheers! read more