This week I watched a French horror film from 1978 called Les Raisins de la Mort, which translates to “The Grapes of Death.” Directed by low-budget legend Jean Rollin, it’s occasionally gory, but still atmospheric and creepy—it’s not dubbed either, and the French dialogue adds a bit of authenticity to vineyard-centric plot. Most of the [...]

One of the prime attractions of wine (other than the taste) is the endless sense of discovery that comes with it. In addition to learning about geography, history of a region, climate, grape type, and how each bottle pairs with food, is the less romantic, but practical component of price. Who doesn’t love an overperforming [...]

We’ve written a lot about Chilean wines in the past month (see the blog on September 15 and September 3) but as for the country itself, 2010 hasn’t been the best year: An 8.8 magnitude earthquake centered in the Maule Valley region killed more than 500 people and damaged several wineries; their soccer team lost [...]

I spent this past weekend going through a few of the other wine stores in downtown Chicago—I always like to see what everyone else has on their shelves, and talk to the salespeople—I either learn something new, or feel secure in the wine knowledge Just Grapes has bestowed upon me! One place I browsed had [...]

October is here, and there’s a lot to celebrate: It’s the first “real” month of fall (weather-wise, anyway), you can watch a horror movie every night of the week and not feel guilty, and of course, costumes and candy on the 31st. It’s no ordinary month, and we have no ordinary First Wednesday Tasting tasting [...]