Now, we know how I feel about neglecting sparkling wine during a meal (or any time for that matter): nonsense! But dessert wine? It’s the red-headed step child of the evening’s libations, rather than the climactic sipper for which it is intended. As children, we couldn’t wait for dessert; hiding vegetables in napkins, sneaking bites [...]

Does the third Thursday in November mean anything to you? If it doesn’t yet, it will now. Considered Beaujolais Nouveau day to wine lovers around the world, this November 17th is the day the 2011 vintage of this delicious wine will be released. Beaujolais Nouveau (or, Bo-Vo, as I like to call it) is a [...]

“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 [...]

Last night something special caught my eye in the seafood section of the grocers. Scrunched in between several cod fillets and a heaping mound of sea scallops was a single cut of beautifully marbled blue marlin. Up until then the majority of the day I had been obsessing over the thought of doing some sort [...]

August: The blazin’ hot Chicago and set in so its time for some crisp refreshing whites and robust BBQ reds!

by Julianna Will The 2009 Vintage Tasting of Bordeaux Wines at the Palmer House in coming up on Tuesday. Many stand-out producers will be in attendance and, as always, it’s a rare and welcome opportunity in my world to get to taste a large number of wines – in a row – from the same [...]

by Maggie Bernat Smith We love wine because it tells us a story. A tale of where it was grown, different varietal expressions, what the winemaker did to it when it was picked, and how the weather was that year. Wine is a delicious voice of all these things. It’s what makes us listen to [...]

By Adrienne Davis As a sommelier in training, my nose is constantly being put to use.  One in my position has to smell the fruit in the grocery store, spices from the spice rack, wood in trees and furniture (and maybe even sometimes the wooden floor), flowers, dirt, vegetables, and sometimes even moldy boxes.  That [...]

Grocery store circulars everywhere are touting the release today of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau. Granted, most people don’t expect to find fine wine in the same store stocking Twinkies and Chef Boyardee, but Beaujolais Nouveau has garnered a disrespect in some corners perhaps beyond proportion, considering it doesn’t aspire to much. What is it about [...]

This week’s election races for Illinois governor and President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat were among the closest in recent memory—both were decided by just a few thousand votes. According to the Chicago Tribune, Democrat Pat Quinn won for governor with 46.6% of the vote, while Republican Mark Kirk won the Senate seat with [...]