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LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM If relaxation is what the doctor ordered, District fills the prescription with a squishy couch, free Wi-Fi and a menu with 11 beers and 19 wines by the glass. Unlike a coffee house, their food menu, though small, has some good items – stuffed olives, a cheese plate, pasta – but one item stands out from the rest – the pizza. It's made from scratch by hand in the store, baked up fresh and served with the bread soft and the cheese steaming. The store offers a good selection 35 bottled wines, most priced somewhere between $15 and $20. That's not bad for the wine appreciation lesson Mesna and Dunton give along with it. "We do a lot of research on wine makers, regions, vintages, then we have the vendors come in and we try them," she said. "Our customers are the ones coming in and enjoying the wines. Our job is just to teach them more about what they're drinking." The lesson that day was why and what they chose to be their house wines, two wines from the State of Washington, a place not widely known for making wine. "They focus more on quality. They have stricter guidelines and regulations than California wines," Dunton said as he pulled out his favorite, a Chardonnay from Stonecap Monson Family Estates. "I like something crisp, fresh, not too heavy," he said. Another of his favorites comes from Napa. It's called Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon from Roots Run Deep Winery. "I like it because it's big, full-bodied and you don't get that heavy feeling so you can have it with steak, and it won't put a sweater on your teeth," he said. WHEN YOU NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR TODAY Willow Urgent Care offers board certifi ed physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, licensed X-ray technicians and friendly staff to serve your needs. No appointment necessary. MON - FRI 8AM - 8PM SAT - SUN 9AM - 5PM WILLOW URGENT CARE 2704 EAST WILLOW STREET SIGNAL HILL, CA 90755 562-595-0203 WILLOWURGENTCARE.COM But preaching about their favorites is easy, Mesna said, leaning back with a sigh. Helping other people find something they'll like, that's harder. "Some people say some things are sweet, and another person will say they're not," she said. Dunton said his trick is to find out what his customer likes to eat first. If the customer likes sweets, they'll probably like sweet wine. If they like coffee, they'll like a heavy body. "It's basically a process of elimination," he said. Do they like red or white? Light, medium or heavy body? A lot or a little tannin? Do they like spice? "When I get a feel for what they like, I bring out some things," he said. Then they go through wines one-by-one until they find something the customer likes. And what the customer likes is what matters to the couple. That's how they built their collection. "We started with a small template with four or six wines, but we really got a lot of customer feedback and we carry a lot of their suggestions now," Dunton said. They do play favorites, though. They like to support small, family-owned wineries, Mesna said. "A lot of them make only 250 to 300 cases per year," she said. This policy makes sense for an independently- owned wine bar sitting in the indie-friendly Arts District across the street from Sipology, an indie coffee house and a hot spot for artsy hipsters. Their idea for the wine bar and the neighborhood was too perfect to pass up, said Mesna, who lives nearby. "When we think about what we would want next door, we'd want a wine bar," she said. n District Wine 144 Linden Ave. 562.612.0411 Photo courtesy of Angela Mesna 31