“It’s so good! Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!” .. until ten minutes later you get a massive headache and the parties over before it ever got the chance to get going. A question that always seems to arise during wine speak with customers is why they or a friend or relative of [...]

Six years ago—November 2, 2004—Just Grapes opened its doors at 560 W. Washington, and thanks to you, we’re still selling bottles and expanding palates today! Back in 2004, Just Grapes was the first wine shop in Chicago to offer Enomatic tasting machines (pictured on the left above.) Although the idea has definitely caught on elsewhere [...]

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 [...]

As you probably noticed from our recent End of Summer Blowout Sale, we needed to make room for a lot of new wines here at Just Grapes. Well, those wines have arrived, and this weekend, you can taste several of them for free! Join us from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 2, [...]

Which side are you on? In Bordeaux, France, that question could mean you generally prefer wines that showcase more of the left bank/Garonne river (Cabernet Sauvignon) or the right bank/Dordogne river (Merlot.) When it comes to South American wines though, “which side are you on?” is more of a continental conundrum. It can refer to [...]

Chile, like its neighbor over the Andes, Argentina, has long been a discount darling of the wine world, especially in the U.S. market. Funny thing though: The winemaking has generally improved to world-class quality over the past few decades, but the prices have stayed low. That means you can enjoy a top bottle from one [...]

Fall is, in many minds, the time when harvest beings and the year’s bounty in crops is collected. It’s essentially the end of the growing season here in the Northern Hemisphere, but when it comes to wine, harvest can technically happen at any time during the year, depending on where the grapes are being grown—the [...]

That’s a pretty bold statement in the world of wine, and especially within legendary Montalcino—a hilltown in Tuscany blessed with some of the finest vineyards in the world. It’s an area famous for producing Brunello, which is a clone of the Sangiovese grape, and thrives in Montalcino’s climate. To say one winemaker is the best [...]

There is no doubt that the 2004 film Sideways has been a boon to Pinot Noir, educating masses of casual wine drinkers about the delicate grape through its equally delicate protagonist, Miles. What that audience might not know though, is that Pinot Noir is truly global—grown all over the world in microclimates perfect for the [...]

Phileas Fogg may have traveled around the world in 80 days, and Prince may have written a song about going around the world in a single day, but we’ve got them both beat by taking your palate around the planet in just two hours, during our next First Wednesday Tasting here at Just Grapes. Join [...]