By Brett Ashley McKenzie With summer well underway, more and more Just Grapes customers are spending their time in the store perusing our whites and rosés. But there is one category that some shoppers don’t seem to know how to approach: Pinot Gris. “What is this?” people will ask, bringing up a bottle of the [...]

Would you believe that some biodynamic winemakers look to the skies–more specifically, the moon–for guidance in vineyard practices? At a luncheon hosted by Josmeyer Vin D’Alsace at La Sardine on Wednesday, Vine Grower and Managing Director Christophe Ehrhart showed me his pocket guide to the Earth’s distance from the moon at any given time, which helps govern planting, pruning, and harvesting at Josmeyer. Additionally, in lieu of pesticides and chemicals, the Josmeyer vineyards follow typical biodynamic practices of using other plants–such as willow, horestail, and nettles–to control mildew and disease.

Throw around a phrase like “grand cru” (always said in an attempted foreign accent, right?), and you might impress your friends. Far more impressive, however, is knowing what it means, if anything, before you drop some serious dollars on it. Literally, grand cru is French for “great growth.” In some regions, the use of the [...]