Yes, Comedian Eric Wareheim Brings His Own Stemware to Restaurants

We chat with the comedian, winemaker and cookbook author about his forthcoming book on steakhouses and new canned wine. [...] Read More... The post Yes, Comedian Eric Wareheim Brings His Own Stemware to Restaurants appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Apr 21, 2025 - 16:08

Predictably, actor/comedian/producer/winemaker/cookbook author Eric Wareheim is chatting with us while driving around the hills of Southern California. This IS Los Angeles after all. We’re discussing the 10th anniversary of his Las Jaras Wines, his soon-to-be-released book Steak House (coming fall 2025 from Ten Speed Press), the Los Angeles wine scene and why he hangs out with chefs far more often than actors.

The answer to the last bit is actually pretty simple. When you’re new in Hollywood and curious about food and wine, you figure out how to get linked up with the good stuff. Spoiler alert: It’s restaurant people. It’s ALWAYS restaurant people. Wareheim remembers: “Comedians and chefs are just bonded because they know where to go. The chefs would take us out. And with food instantly came wine.”

Wareheim has the wine bug in a big way, first caught from dining out with food and friends, then from traveling to taste and explore the world’s great wine regions. He’s become particularly enamored with Europe’s most historic appellations.

Eric Wareheim sitting in a sculptural chair — Photography by Timony Siobahn Ramos

“These were my first trips to Italy and to Sicily. And when you go to a winery there, it’s just so profound, realizing generations and generations and generations of people and artisans have been doing this thing for a thousand years. It just blew my mind and I got deep.”

When Eric says deep, he means DEEEEEP. Beaujolais. Jura. Rhone. Piemonte. The dude can get pretty excited about his favorite producers and regions, getting lost in the glass and talking about it for hours at a time. His passion for food and wine is palpable.

“The move in L.A. is you go to San Gabriel Valley and you bring your own wine, and you bring your own stems. And to me, that is freaking heaven.”

…Bringing your own stemware to a restaurant? Eric was always meant to make wine.

Sweet Berry Wine

And then, as if scripted by some renegade rom-com screenwriter, Wareheim met Joel Burt. “We met at a beach party in Malibu, and he was opening a bottle of wine with his boot. Because, of course, we all forgot wine keys, and he was just smashing! And I was like: ‘Who is this guy?’ I just gravitated toward him. And that day I asked him if we should start a business together.”

Spoiler alert: They did.

Wareheim and Burt founded Las Jaras Wines, a minimal-intervention wine company in Sonoma that sources fruit from Santa Barbara to Oregon and has devoted fans all over the world.

It’s not hard to see why. Las Jaras sits neatly between natural wine’s most artistic leanings and impeccably clean farming and fine-tuned technique. Many of Las Jaras’s releases are esoteric and playful wines, like their first release, Sweet Berry Wine.

On the label is a rendering of John C. Reilly’s character Dr. Steve Brule, who pops in wine-tinged pinkish purple. Anyone who’s ever seen the meme-worthy skit from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! can still hear him screeching drunkenly: “No way José am I spitting this stuff out—it tastes like fruit!”

Eric Wareheim portrait in the leaves — Photography by Marcus Nilsson

Las Jaras has grown just a bit since that first vintage of one hundred cases. It crafted around 20,000 cases last year, including pét nats, easy-drinking bottles and a new line of canned wines called Waves in partnership with artist Jen Stark that are perfect for SoCal beach days.

Many Las Jaras wines have a classic natural wine, art-forward aesthetic, with names like Glou Glou, Superbloom and Slipper Sippers Nouveau, and label designs by artists Joe Beddia, Jade Roche and Sara Rabin, respectively.

Over time, Las Jaras tracked down new fruit sources capable of becoming ageworthy wines that warrant greater contemplation in the glass. These offerings have a more traditional-looking label, with the Las Jaras name printed in gold over a creamy white or richly-textured black.

The Cuvée Esmé Anne Chenin Blanc from the Norgard Vineyard in Mendocino County is an homage to the classic wines of the Loire, aged in two sizes of Stockinger barrels on the lees (no stirring) and then finished in stainless steel. It’s a gorgeous domestic version of Chenin, full of vibrant acidity, nuanced minerality and balanced fruit, with 10% of the proceeds benefiting wildfire relief.

The Las Jaras wines are an act of collaborative creativity, but they’re also an impetus for exploration around Southern California. Wareheim relishes the opportunity for them to reach a totally new audience. “I like to put my wines in places that I love, you know, just gives me a thrill. I also wanted to be in all of the neighborhoods, especially places where people don’t normally get quality wine.”

Steak Knives Out

Aside from navigating the currently fire-swept Southern California landscape, Wareheim has more than a few plates spinning as he and Burt celebrate the 10th anniversary of Las Jaras. He’s also ramping up to the release of his new book. Steak House is a culinary exploration of America’s passion for steak and the lavish, quaint and quirky places that serve it.

For the book, Wareheim and his team traveled to all 50 states and dined at 60-plus steak houses that stood out not just for tasty grilled rib eye but also for being excellent venues to sit down and immerse oneself in the experience.

As the idea for this book came alive, during the pandemic, Wareheim gradually became aware that steak houses possess a somewhat singular energy.

“Everyone’s happy, someone’s celebrating something, someone’s on a date, and I was like: ‘Why do I love this? And why do most of my friends consider the steak house to be the place that you feel the best?’ And I wanted to explore that.”

The steak house experience, while not a uniquely American phenomenon (just ask the Argentinians), does have a certain glorious excess around these 50 states. The familiarity of

leather booths, serrated knives and gaudily expensive side dishes are recognizable from Boston to Los Angeles and beyond. And you just know you can get a massive hunk of meat.

The book is a love letter to this cuisine and culture that is perhaps in decline, as well as a photo essay, wine-pairing guide and cookbook. Steak House will be Wareheim’s second book at the intersection of food and wine. The first, the New York Times best seller Foodheim: A Culinary Adventure, has been described by the publisher as, “A guide to cooking better than your grandmother, throwing epic parties, drinking the right wine and sucking the marrow out of life.”

Wareheim is trying to spread the word that the intersection of heritage, food, wine, laughter, friends and family is a beautiful, beautiful place. We should probably all spend a little more time there.