Since my dearly beloved husband apparently doesn’t have time to update the Grocery Wine website, I’ve decided it’s time for yours truly to take over the reins. Unlike my husband, I have all the time in the world. What working mom of four doesn’t?! Then again, maybe I just take wine more seriously than he does (refer to “mom of four” above).
This post is for the “coupon mom” in particular. I’m not that mom… because it’s all I can manage to get myself and any number of children who may be accompanying me to the grocery store at all. Once there, I am all but oblivious to the people shopping around me – unless you are slowing me down in which case, BEWARE! I do not have the luxury of time, which is precisely why I appreciate deals that don’t require extra clipping, computing, or searching on my part.
If you haven’t already heard, Vons is currently offering 30% offall wine, with an extra 10% off if you buy six bottles or more. That’s 40% off for those of you who can’t do math (or just have mommy brain like me). Six bottles… that’s not even a weeks worth, so stock up my friends!
I am personally a lover of champagne, so I have a few bubbly favorites to recommend. After all, bedtime for the kiddos is always cause for celebration in our house 
My personal picks include:
Champagne
Gloria Ferrer
Mumm – Blue Label for a sweeter bubbly
Chandon Brut is perfect for sipping or mimosas
Roederer Estate for something fancy
Pinot
Cambria Julia’s Vineyard will please just about anyone
Cab
Justin Vineyard big, jammy, and oh so smooth (A personal fav!)
Chardonnay
La Crema is an easy go-to, smooth, buttery, perfect for a hot day.
DeLoach If you want to try something a little different but equally fantastic the DeLoach is a great value and equally yummy.
With Christmas just around the corner, we could all use a little more $$$ in our pockets so build yourself a wine six pack and let me know what you think of my suggestions.
Until next time…
Cheers!
With the arrival of cooler fall weather our tastes our definitely shifting towards reds. And with the holidays around the core now is a great time to flesh out the wine collection before all the guests arrive. We’ve reviewed three cabernets over the last few weeks and found two that definitely deserve your attention and one you should avoid. They’re all available at your local grocery store (ours came from Vons aka Safeway) and all are under $15.
Last night I arrived home to find a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola Ivory Label Cabernet Sauvignon breathing on the counter. I’ve been curious to try the Coppola wines, wondering if Coppola’s star power was the main selling point or if there is actually something there. Since they’re not particularly cheap (averaging $15-$20) I’ve always opted for an alternative. But since Amy did the grocery shopping, price is no object (thank goodness the really expensive stuff is locked in a glass case!). So, after tasting the wine independently 
We’d seen the J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet on a few wine lists at local restaurants so getting it on sale at Vons for under $12 seemed like a no brainer. We pulled the cork and 
We’ve got a couple of requirements for wine on a summer afternoon: cold, refreshing, unfussy and in our glass. As the day winds down We’re not interested in seeing how a wine’s “bouquet matures”. We’re more concerned with seeing how it helps a great afternoon mature into a great evening.
Just came across an easy wine tip for serving wine at the right temperature: “Twenty minutes before dinner, you take the white wine out of the fridge, and put the red wine in.” says Ursula Hermacinski, a wine auctioneer formerly of Christie’s. I’ve heard from a number of sources that most people serve their red wine too warm and their whites too cold. According to those in the know reds should be served at “cellar temperature” or approximately 65 degrees. Since most of our wine cellar’s are still in the planning stages (I just can’t decide what color marble coordinates best with the chandeliers!) our reds are usually served at room temperature. Conversely, we serve most white’s straight out of the fridge which is considered to be so cold it blunts some of the flavors. Thanks to 
In our house the 4th of July means burgers will be hitting the grill. With that decided we can devote all of our energy to determining what wines to have with dinner. Usually, I’d stay up late for months trying to come up with the perfect pairing for our burgers (not really), tasting thousands of wines (I wish), eating hundreds of burgers (no comment). This year though my fine friends over at Wine Spectator agreed to my request to write a couple of articles on the subject (I actually never spoke with them but I was thinking about it and then the articles were there so I still say it was my idea). Included on their list of wines for the 4th are a few grocery store staples which you should have no trouble finding at the local Safeway, Kroger, Vons, Ralphs, etc. Best of all there are a number of relatively cheap wines on the list with reds ranging in price from $11-$16 and whites from $9-$12. Listed below are our picks from the Wine Spectator articles. Enjoy and happy 4th!
I’ll just start this off by saying, I’m known for my child like innocence, and I wouldn’t dare use the name of this wine to attempt to lure Amy into a conversation which might throw her off balance. With that disclaimer here’s how a recent phone call went (totally innocent! I swear!):