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!

My translation is a little rough, but someone once said to me that a European man will work for three weeks to spend one week on his row boat, while an American man will work for an entire year in anticipation for one week on his yacht. It is a little silly; we don’t all have row boats or yachts, or even a week of vacation time. But then I gave this saying some thought and realized it holds some truth.

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 [...]

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 [...]

Sparkling wine (and Champagne in particular) is known to many as the “special occasion” beverage—light, effervescent, crisp on the palate, with an option to pop the cork in a dramatic, frenzied spectacle. Just be careful where you point those 90+ pounds of pressure beneath the cork! In a more practical sense though, sparkling wines are [...]

The 4th of July fireworks have already started at Just Grapes! Well… the kind of fireworks that happen when you save money and taste incredible American wines at the same time. The best part is, you don’t need a lawn chair to stake out a prime spot for your palate here. First, we’ve got a [...]

Summer—June, July, and August—is finally here. Who cares if it’s officially or unofficially the season? Here at Just Grapes, there’s no delay in celebrating the most coveted months on a Chicagoan’s calendar. So, on June 2, our First Wednesday Tasting will feature 35 wines that can give you the final “oomph” to put away your [...]

Time to start shopping for that awesome weekend bottle of vino, folks: Betty White is going to be on SNL! Oh, no, wait… It’s Mother’s Day! Eh. Tomato, to-mah-to, right? The effervescent Ms. White is like America’s favorite grandma anyway, so why not toast to her too? Whether you are laughing along to Betty’s cutesy, [...]

We like picnics by the lake, on the beach, in a park; frankly, anywhere besides the Office Space-esque cubicle our lives have become (against our better sense, no less). There’s just something so retro about picnics (gingham blanket, wicker basket, the great outdoors) it begs the question: what’s not to love? Excluding enjoyable company, the [...]