Holiday shopping got you down? Just can’t find the perfect gift for those people on your list? Just Grapes has the answer! We’re truly a one-stop shop for everyone on your shopping list (even the little ones–our never-expiring tasting cards will still be valid once they turn 21!). To make it even easier, we’ve put [...]

While very few welcome winter with open arms, there is something undeniably charming about softly falling snow, the tiny white lights glittering from trees lining the streets, and the general warm fuzziness of family and friends around the holidays. In Chicago especially, there are tons of wintry events going on to keep the holiday cheer [...]

By Maggie Smith
Our monthly make your own barrel meeting was last week. I hate calling them meetings since at your typical work meetings you don’t drink wine, dine at Province, and chat with amazing food and wine loving people. However there was some “work” to be done. We combined our Cabernet tasting with our Pinot [...]

By Maggie Smith
Are you one of the many confused wine drinkers that doesn’t understand why some wines are labeled Shiraz yet some are labeled Syrah? Lets do some myth busting and work this out!
Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape, just different styles. Syrah has been around for…let’s just say forever; and then comes this [...]

By Maggie Smith
Are you one of those people that love to drink wine but steer clear from French wine because you just don’t know what type of wine is in that bottle? There’s usually indecipherable French writing, probably a picture of a chateau-looking house, and what seems to be a name of a place or [...]

by Maggie Smith
Tasting wine for a living is a tough job, but someone has to relay this information to you! Last week at Gibson’s Steakhouse, our barrel group’s “mission” (linked blog post from last thursday) was to bring a bottle of wine in the $50-to-$100 price range from anywhere in the world to blind taste, [...]

It isn’t love for warmer weather that keeps me firmly rooted in my craving for all things Chardonnay. And Chardonnay isn’t strictly a warm-weather white. Bigger-bodied, creamier-textured Chardonnay can be (and, in wine-savvy establishments, often are) served slightly warmer than your Pinot Grigios and Sauvignon Blancs.

By Raquel Scianna
Here at Just Grapes, we pride ourselves in having our fingers firmly affixed to the pulse of all that’s hot and happening in the world of wine making. on September 24–with a little help from our trusty Cream Wine Company rep, Shane Salois–we dug a little deeper into an up-and-coming [...]

By Brett Ashley McKenzie
The whole gang at Just Grapes was psyched to learn from our Cream Wine Company rep Shane Salois that Cream had recently added an Italian portfolio to its stellar wine offerings. Their timing couldn’t be more perfect: Just Grapes is offering an in-store  “Wines of Italy” Master Class on Thursday, August 13th, [...]

It’s great to introduce people to adventurous and exciting grape types like Cabernet Franc. If you’re not familiar with this varietal, it is one of the common blending grapes in Bordeaux, mostly used on the right banks of Pomerol and Saint Emilion. The Loire Valley also grows this grape (most commonly seen as “Chinon” on the label.)