How’s your palate when it comes to GSMs? Don’t know what a GSM is? Here at Just Grapes, we can help!

On June 17, we’re hosting a Wines of Australia class, where you’ll taste the distinctive Australian blend of Grenache, Shriaz, and Mourvèdre (GSM), plus amazing Australian Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, Cabernets, and much more (including the two wines below!)

For only $25, you can join us from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m, and leave with a deeper knowledge of grapes grown “down under.” So the next time someone says, “Australia? Isn’t that where kangaroos, Kylie Minogue, and Crocodile Dundee come from?” You can smile with confidence, and ask them what their favorite GSM is.

2007 D’Arenberg “Custodian” Grenache, McLaren Vale, South Australia [$15.99]

D’Arenberg’s next tier of reds begins with the 2007 The Custodian Grenache. It is dark ruby-colored with a perfumed nose of spice box and cherry. Sweetly fruited and juicy, it closely resembles a high level Cotes du Rhone. On the palate, it is a bit leaner and racier in style than the past few vintages. With excellent grip and balance, it can be enjoyed over the next 2-3 years. 89 Pts – Robert Parker

2004 Penley Estate Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia [$27.99]

Dense ruby. Powerful, deeply scented bouquet of blackberry, cassis, plum compote and dark chocolate; a bit youthfully brooding today. Fat and supple, with concentrated dark berry and cherry flavors and an array of pungent herbs and dusty minerals. There’s terrific sweetness and sappy texture here: this is clearly built for positive evolution over the coming decade. Reminds me of a high-end Bordeaux on the sweet, expansive, impressively long finish. Serious stuff! 92 Pts – Robert Parker

A few days ago, we highlighted some of our favorite reds to pair with heartier grilled meats, fish, and fruit. But if you’re flaming lighter fare, like shrimp, chicken, whitefish, or vegetables, they’ll scream for a chilled white to balance, not bulldoze the flavor. Here at Just Grapes, we think these pairings can help you master your Memorial Day menu:

Grilled Shrimp +2007 Brooks “Ara” Riesling, Willamette Valley, Oregon [$23.99]
Served at the White House state dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India!
The Ara Riesling shows immediate aromas of green apple, minerals, raspberries, and citrus. Later chestnuts, honey, slate, lime and mint also make an appearance. The mid-palate is concentrated with stone and honey. Truly classic in every sense, an incredible value. Vineyard sources: Eola Hills, Hyland, Yamhill, and Territorial.

Grilled Chicken + 2006 Chateau Fuisse Chardonnay, Burgundy, France [$23.99]
Light gold. Spicy tangerine and anise aromas are deepened by sweet butter and fresh hazelnut. Juicy citrus flavors offer impressive cut and energy, picking up a stony character on the finish. Youthfully taut but very well-balanced.

Grilled Mahi Mahi or Halibut + 2008 La Cana Albarino, Rias Baixas, Spain [$14.39]
The 2008 La Cana Albarino is the first release of the collaboration between the Gil family of Jumilla and importer Jorge Ordonez. Their intention was to make a more austere style of Albarino. Light gold-colored, it reveals an attractive perfume of pear, lemon-lime, and pineapple. Vibrant on the palate with excellent natural acidity, this racy Albarino will drink well for another three years. It is an excellent value. 89 Pts – Robert Parker

Vegetable Skewers + 2009 Huber Hugo Gruner Veltliner, Austria [$9.99]
Pale green-yellow. Juicy apple and mango aromas complemented by subtle blossom honey. Vibrant, light and flavorful, in a round, easy-drinking style. Finishes with savory notes of celery and pepper.

This week, lets start with Burgundy. If you can remember back to your childhood, you may have seen your parents drinking red wine out of a jug labeled Burgundy. Before there were laws protecting the names of these wine growing regions in France, producers such as Ernest and Julio Gallo created and marketed a cheap red wine and named it “Burgundy.” This has nothing to do with actual Burgundy region in France, and presented a negative connotation to actual French Burgundy wine. If you are in the Burgundy section of your local wine shop or on your restaurant wine list, the easiest thing to know about this region is that if it’s red Burgundy, it’s Pinot Noir, and if it’s white, then it’s Chardonnay. This is the only thing that is easy about Burgundy. It’s the most studied and difficult region to decipher so we’ll take a generalized look at this region to gain some understanding.

Pinot Noir is one of the most delicate, sexy, silky, mysterious wines in the world. It’s known for it’s subtly and its layers and layers of aromatics. Pinot Noir flavors truly whisper to you, and the varietal keeps you guessing, only revealing itself after you’ve courted it for a long while. It has been revered by wine connoisseurs since the beginning of time and has now come to the masses, thanks in large part to the movie Sideways. Burgundy, France is hands down the benchmark for Pinot Noir world wide. It’s where it shows itself off best and is what Pinot makers all over the world try and emulate.

The Chardonnays of Burgundy can bring out the same sensations (such as our Pouilly-Fuisse). It’s nothing like the oaky, buttery, tropical Chardonnay grown in California. It’s again a much more subtle style of Chardonnay with a core of stony minerality showing off more of a soft, creme fraiche-like texture. The aromas are reminiscent of baked apple pie, with toasted almonds sitting on your neighbor’s windowsill, and you can only catch glimpses of those aromas when the wind blows your way.

The entry-level Burgundy (known as Bourgogne in France) will say just this on the label. The place where the grapes are grown, not the producer, is the most prominent information on the label. When your wine says Bourgogne on the label, this means the wine producer is getting their grapes from the entire region–it’s equivalent to saying “I live in Cook County.” When you start going up in price and quality, the label will state a village (such as Gevrey-Chambertin or Pommard). This is specifying your grapes came from a certain village in Burgundy–now you’re narrowing down that you live in Chicago. Now each village has it’s own special “flavor,” and part of the fun of buying these wines is discovering how greatly grapes can differ from one another, even when grown just down the road from another village.

The next step up from village is Premier Cru or also known as “1er Cru” on the label. This means that it comes from a specific vineyard within the village name on the label–now you’ve narrowed down your place to a neighborhood in Chicago, such as Bucktown. These Premier Cru wines are recognized by the French government as being of superior quality and worthy of superior price. Narrowing down the place where your grapes are grown will give you a more focused, intense and complex wine worth its price.

The next step up is Grand Cru Burgundy, which are known as the best and most expensive Pinot and Chardonnay in the world and only needs to list the name of the Grand Cru vineyard it comes from, the vineyard name says it all! If you can afford to buy Grand Cru, put it away for at least 10-15 years to get the most out of your investment.

Hopefully this is has demystified your Burgundy label and region a bit. If you want to know more about the flavor profiles and structures of each village then let us know and we can break it down even more for you on another article–this is just a starter course!

I love fall more than any other season. I love sweater weather, I love the changing leaves, the sight of pumpkins on door steps and the influx of apples in the produce aisle. I love baking pies and making stews and the ferocity of the windy autumn rainstorms. I’m ready for coats and boots and leggings and Thanksgiving.

I am not, however, ready to give up white wine.

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.

As I’m unwilling to relinquish my Chardonnay, my usual fall food line-up is experiencing some unusual pairings. Late September is when I start making stew twice a week (the leftovers last far longer). I make shredded pork stew (click link for recipe), chicken noodle stew, hearty beef stew, and spicy Spanish-style seafood stew. I even make chicken pot pie from scratch, though it’s certainly not as pretty as the one I regularly order at Charlie’s Ale House.

Because stews (and I’m talking homemade, not Dinty Moore) are loaded with subtle flavors–rosemary, thyme, potato, veggies, cooking wine… whatever floats your boat–I’ve never used gigantic reds for pairing. I’ve always kept it in the Garnacha/Grenache family. In my house, the 2007 Evodia Garnacha (we routinely sell out of this spicy $11 gem  in-store, so if you see that bright blue label, grab it before it’s gone!) and $8 2008 Vina Borgia Garnacha are stew pairing favorites. I like the pepper and baking spice notes in these wines. Cote du Rhone wines, with their elegant blends of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Mouvedre, are also ultimate stew wines.

But this year, I’m experiencing new sensations so-to-speak. The contrast of hot stew and cool Chardonnay on the tongue is absolutely delightful. The apple notes in an unoaked Chard, like the 2007 Vincent Girardin “Vieilles Vignes” Pouilly-Fuisse, Burgundy, pleasantly complement a succulent shredded pork stew. An oaked Chard, like the 2007 Errazuriz Chardonnay Aconcagua Chile, can bring out interesting notes in a chicken stew–the woodsy rosemary and thyme. And creamy Chardonnays–those aged in oak or sur lie (we’ll talk about that more in a moment)–can offset the burn of that too-hot first mouthfull of broth.

One of my girlfriends, a culinary school student, isn’t crazy about super oaky wines, namely oaky Chardonnay. When she made an outstanding Bouillabaisse (a French shellfish and seafood stew) for a mutual friend’s birthday, she asked us to bring wine to share. I scoured the Chardonnay section of Just Grapes looking for something with the texture to hold up to the stew and a bit of creaminess but none of the woodsy oak qualities I knew the chef couldn’t stand.

I went French, with the 2008 Novellum Chardonnay from Rousillion, France. This delightful Chardonnay with its tropical fruit notes and elegant minerality sees no oak, but has a perfect creaminess to its texture. Now some of you may be asking, “I thought Chardonnays got their buttery, creamy texture from oak?” Not so in the case of Novellum and other Chardonnays aged “sur lie” (pronounced “sur lee”). Lees are the remaining yeasty residue at the bottom of a barrel after fermentation. Lees aging, or aging “sur lie” is the process by which the wine continues to age on its remaining lees, and is bottled directly from that barrel as opposed to being racked (filtered). This gives the added creaminess and yeasty quality that you detect in wines aged sur lie.

My friend who often avoids Chardonnay was really pleased with the Novellum, which worked very well with the Bouillabaisse. It was creamy enough to take the heat and acidity in the broth, subtle enough to not overwhelm the white fish and mussels. And it was only $13, which we can all appreciate.

Another fun option for fall whites is a sparkling Chardonnay, like the 2007 Familia Zuccardi Vida Organica Sparkling Chardonnay from Argentina. This is a great precursor to any Thanksgiving meal. Or, stick with Champagne–Chardonnay is one of the three grapes (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are the other two) approved for use to make France’s most famous bubbly.

And of course, there are those nights when I love to curl up in front of the fire (okay, fine radiator. I live in a condo, after all) with a glass of oaky, golden Californian Chard and watch Hollywood’s tribute to Chardonnay: “Bottle Shock,” a movie that I find a thousand times more entertaining and more inspirational than “Sideways.”  And ladies, if you like the hunky Chris Pine (the new Captain Kirk from summer’s “Star Trek” blockbuster), he’s got the starring role. But I digress…

There’s a Chardonnay for any season, and this fall, I hope you find your new favorite.

Just because even white wines are drinking the "Fall's for Red" Kool-Aid doesn't mean you have to! Painting by Kestutis Kasparavicius

With the quality and variety we’re offering, it’s hard to believe these are the lowest prices in the country on these amazing wines, but they are. And if you think you can wait until Friday (April 25), the last day of the sale, to make your trip to Just Grapes, I urge you to reconsider! The sale starts Monday, April 20, and plenty of customers have informed us that they plan to get there early to stock up on these values.

Whether you’re in the market for a new buttery Chard (the 2006 Arboleda Chardonnay from Chile is only $6 during the sale!!!) or a highly-rated Pinot Noir (the 2005 Benton Lane First Class Pinot Noir from Oregon is $17.50), we’ve got deals that you don’t want to miss. Plan a trip in early next week, because these wines won’t be around for long!

What do you think of our sale selection?

The menu consisted of beef stew (entrée); cornbread and salad with homemade dressing (side); and a warm apple crisp with brown sugar whipped cream (dessert). Yummy! Kendall College chef Brandy Fernow demonstrated the preparation of the beef stew, which was fun and engaging. The wines poured were all quite good and paired very well with the foods (as expected with Daley at the reins!). We sipped a rosé Crémant d’Alsace (sparkling wine from Alsace); a Chablis from Burgundy (Chardonnay); a red Bordeaux; and a Tempranillo from Spain.

While all the wines had their merits with the comfort foods on the menu, I thought the Spanish Tempranillo paired the best with the main course. Why? The rich, salty, meaty flavor of the stew was enhanced by the full-bodied, juicy red fruit flavors of the wine. As well, the softer tannins of the Tempranillo were in just the right balance for the tenderness of the beef bits in the stew.

An interesting tidbit of information shared by Bill Daley that night, whom I got a chance to meet and is a very personable guy, was the fact that while some people might think the Chablis choice an odd match for the beef stew (most people think red wine with beef, right?), it can certainly hold its own with the stew. Why, you ask? Because the wine itself had enough texture, depth and flavor to stand up to the hearty stew and, as a result, was not overpowered by it.

And, there you have it, folks. Lesson of the day: contrary to popular belief, you can sip Chardonnay with your beef stew. Please let me know some of your favorite cold-weather food and wine pairings. After all, we may as well make the most of our winter weather (mis-)fortune here in Chicago!

For a wine lover who hovers around the $10-$12 price range these days, it’s music to my ears – and my wallet – to be able to bring my own wine to dinner. Given the state of the economy, I and my husband love discovering all our new Ukrainian Village neighborhood spots, where we can eat like kings and queens, but spend like modern day paupers. After all, we must continue to support local small businesses in any way we can, especially now. You with me?

To complement my budget-friendly BYOB outings as of late, there are, thankfully, myriad quality wines out there which can be purchased for less than $12; in this case, for less than $10. A couple of my favorites, available at Just Grapes, are a 2007 De Bortoli Chardonnay from Australia ($6.99) and a 2007 Viña Borgia Grenache from Spain ($9.49).

This fresh and flavorful Chardonnay from Down Under displays lively aromas of peach and melon, and the wee bit of French oak aging adds complexity, a hint of vanilla on the palate and a satisfying finish. The Grenache flaunts a bold bouquet of blackberry and cherry with distinct notes of licorice on the palate. The words “clean” and “bright” sprung to mind when tasting this approachable 100% Grenache.

At these prices, folks, let me tell you, you can’t go wrong. Trust me. I’m Chicago’s new value wine bandit in disguise. Let me know some of your favorite wines that pack a mean punch for around $10 – and your favorite local restaurants to sip ‘em.

Free wine tastings are an excellent opportunity to try something new. You can sample something totally different without pouring money down the drain–literally–if you think it tastes like sweaty gym socks.

I’m one of those notorious ABC wine drinkers: Anything but Chardonnay. I try to be open-minded, though, and I never turn down free wine, so when Chardonnay was the featured lineup at one free wine tasting, I gave it another shot. Most of it still tasted a little like spit to me (with apologies to our Chardonnay fans), but I was shocked and pleased to discover that I liked–truly liked!–one unoaked version with a fresher, fruity taste. Who would have known?

Well, maybe you, if you make a habit of attending free wine tastings. It’s the only way to learn what you like. And the best wines are the ones you like. Just Grapes wine shop has a complimentary tasting from 2 to 4 p.m. every Saturday. Stop in, say hello, and make a few new friends–maybe you’ll meet a nice Chardonnay you want to take home to mother.

Common Flavor Profiles
Chardonnay is not as strongly aromatic as many other white varietals; the aromas that come through on the nose are more highly affected by the region the grapes were grown in, the quality of the fruit, and how it was handled after harvest than by the characteristics of the varietal itself. Chardonnays in general tend to have a rather muted, broad bouquet with notes of apples, pears, tropical fruits such as pineapple, and sometimes earthy aromas such as mushrooms. The flavors exhibited in Chardonnay can vary widely even within a region. In the Cote d’Or of Burdundy, France, for example, wines from neighboring vineyards have distinct flavor profiles: in Montrachet Chardonnay is steely, in Meursault buttery, in Corton-Charlemagne nutty. Even though these regions are separated by only a few hundred kilometers, slight differences in soil conditions, climate and wine making techniques result in dramatic flavor variation.
Chardonnay is one of the few white wines that can also handle malolactic fermentation, achieved by adding beneficial bacteria during fermentation, which creates lactic acid in the wine. Lactic acid, the same compound found in milk, softens acidity and fruitiness and creates a creamy texture. A byproduct of malolactic fermentation is diacetyl, the same flavoring chemical found in microwave popcorn, which can give wine a buttery aroma and flavor. Some wine connoisseurs even suggest sneaking a bottle of buttery Chardonnay into the theater with you as it makes a surprisingly nice pairing with a tub of movie popcorn.

History
Burgundy, France is generally agreed upon as the birthplace of Chardonnay, which is one of the most ancient grape varietals. It is a descendent of the white Muscat which is indigenous to France. The wines of Chablis, a sub region of Burgundy, set the standard. In Chablis, Chardonnay is expressed in its purest form, usually unoaked and simply vinified using the natural yeasts of the land. Chablis usually has high acidity and subtle, refined flavors of tree fruit and minerals. Many other Burgundy Chardonnays are produced specifically to be aged. These opulent, full bodied wines are often fermented and oaked in used barrels which impart a subtle oak flavor and a rich golden color as the wine ages.

Other Growing Regions
The main reason Chardonnay is so prolific is that it is very easy to grow and produces consistently high quality fruit in a wide range of climates. The grapes also have a high sugar content which translates into higher alcohol, aging potential and enough body and structure to stand up to oak. Chardonnay’s superior structure also allows it to withstand the methode champenois in which Chardonnay is blended with Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier to create Champagne, or sparkling wine outside of France. A limited quantity of Blanc de blancs Champagne is also produced using exclusively Chardonnay. Australian Chardonnays tend to be very rich and fruity, often compared to a tropical fruit cocktail. California was once known for its big, over oaked and very alcoholic Chardonnays. Wines like these fell out of style as the American palate became more refined and greater variety became available through European imports. Wine makers throughout the state began focusing on producing higher quality wines, and today Chardonnays that rival top quality white Burgundies can be found in California, especially in Napa Valley and Sonoma County. It is also grown widely throughout Italy though for many years it was viewed primarily as a blending grape.

Winemaking
The highest quality Chardonnays still come from Burgundy (and some would argue from California), and are built to develop a rich golden color, and nuance and complexity in flavor as they age. Lesser quality wine producers sometimes try to mimic the subtle oak flavors of higher quality chardonnays by adding oak chips during fermentation and dumping sugar into the juice to increase the alcohol content and create a fuller bodied wine. However, the subtlety and elegance of a Chardonnay crafted in the traditional Burgundy style is inimitable.

Food Pairing
The richness of many Chardonnays makes a nice pairing with buttery sea food such as lobster, shellfish cooked or dunked in butter, fish with creamy sauces, and stews. Chicken and turkey with herbs, especially dill, are other common pairings. More complex, aged Chardonnays go well with earthy foods like mushrooms and aged cheeses. A well balanced Chardonnay is always a crowd pleaser and therefore a no-brainer for dinner parties and the like.