Grocery Wine » General

John’s Blend Cabernet Sauvignon

Phil — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:54:13 +0000

Two words on this one: wow! Alright, disclosure time: 1. “wow” is not two words. 2. This isn’t really a grocery wine (unless your local grocery store is in an extremely well heeled area of Australia). We managed to obtain a babysitter awhile back and while sniffing around for a new restaurant to try out I came across a reference to a members only club in downtown San Diego. On a whim, I picked up the phone and asked if I could come in for dinner. After bouncing around to a few people on the phone the director of member services agreed to leave some guest passes for us with the hostess. Sweet! When we arrived, I was surprised to discover a jacket was required. Huh? Listen, you might think this makes sense what with the members only thing but this is San Diego. Dressing up here means wearing shoes instead of flip flops. Luckily, they had a very nice jacket available for me, which although it was three sizes too big, definitely lent an air of respectability to Amy and I, which was needed since all of the other patrons were old enough to be our parents.

Now that we were dressed up we realized we would have to take our dining selections and most importantly our wine selection up a notch. “Waiter! Please send over the sommelier!” The sommelier turned out to be a very cool guy who had recently returned from a tasting trip to Australia. “Australian cabs are where it’s at! And by the way, I know a tailor who can help you out with that jacket…”

The John’s Blend Cabernet Sauvignon was selected so we rolled up our sleeves (literally in my case) and got to work. Again, two words: wow! Some hints of chocolate and mint were unexpected but awesome. Overall, extremely smooth and drinkable and a great pairing with our steaks. The restaurant’s price was $80, which definitely puts it outside our standard price range, but since I’d already got a free jacket out of the meal we felt like we could splurge.

I have no idea where this might be available here in the states (other than at select members only restaurants) but if you spot it somewhere please let us know. Even at $80 I would buy it again in a heartbeat!

Coppola Wines – The Reader’s Poll and Results

Phil — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:30:37 +0000

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 (that is, while trying to get the kids ready for bed and not actually having time to make eye contact), Amy and I convened a meeting of the San Diego Grocery Wine Society. Our verdict: undecided (although we had no trouble finishing the bottle). The Coppola cab’s flavors were a bit unexpected. Have you tried it? What’re your thoughts on Coppola’s wine’s overall? Vote in the poll, check the results and sound off in the comments!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

You must chill! Serving Wine At The Right Temperature

Phil — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:31:14 +0000

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 Borracha’s Wine Blog for this handy tip!

(And thanks to “Say AnythingSay Anything” for being an awesome movie and providing the perfect title for this post!)

Most Expensive Broken Bottle of Wine or One More Reason To Drink Your Wine As Soon As You Get Home

Phil — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:21:54 +0000

Alright, it’s not exactly related to the “grocery” part of this site but we came across a one sentence reference to this incident, became intrigued and did a little research. Here’s the story:
In 1989, a New York wine merchant was asked to sell an extremely rare and sought after wine on consignment. The asking price? $519,750! The wine, a 1787 Chateau Margaux, a bottling which would be in demand by collectors in any circumstance, had additional value due to a set of initials engraved in the glass. The letters “Th. J.” were believed to represent the first and last name of Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and an avid wine collector (while serving as the first Secretary of State, Jefferson placed orders for French wines for both himself and George Washington). In 1985 another Thomas Jefferson wine had gone for $155,453 dollars at auction.

Th. J.'s initials on a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem

The wine merchant, William Sokolin, known for his showmanship and promotional abilities, had originally set the price of the 1787 Chateau Margaux at $250,000. After attending an auction where, in Sokolin’s words, “a footstool that looked like it would fall apart” sold for $290,000 the price was raised over the $500,000 mark (gaining large amounts of publicity in the process). When Sokolin was invited to attend a black tie dinner celebrating the latest release of Bordeaux wines he knew the attendees would be a who’s who of New York’s wine elite and a prime marketing opportunity.

At the dinner, with the 200 year old bottle in hand, Mr. Sokolin made his rounds displaying the prized wine to a number of admirers. Spotting a friend on the far side of the room, Sokolin strode across the floor. While en route Sokolin accidentally struck the bottle against a metal topped serving table. To his horror, two holes appeared in the ancient glass and the dark red wine drained on to the floor, leading People magazine to note that Sokolin had created “the world’s most expensive puddle”. The only good news was the bottle was insured and the policy later paid out $200,000.

With this cautionary tale in mind we encourage you to minimize the chances of breaking a wine bottle by pouring its contents into glasses as soon as possible!

The following links provide some additional details on the world’s most expensive broken bottle of wine:

“The World’s Most Expensive Wines” by Nick Passmore on Forbes.com

“The Money Is All Bottled Up” by Jonathan Karl on The Wall Street Journal Online

“A New York Wine Merchant Turns a 1787 Chateau Margaux into the World’s Most Expensive Puddle” by Alan Richman on People.com

“Wine Is Spilt; Some Tears Ensue” by Howard G. Goldberg on The New York Times

Help us help you!

Phil — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:29:15 +0000

Working hard to promote the blog! Make sure to let your friends know about grocerywine.net! The more readers we have the greater chance it can become a full time job and the more likely we are to be able to drink wine all day (oh, and write reviews about it!).

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Poll: Does Popular = Good?

Phil — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:12:55 +0000

Are the most popular wines at a store likely to be ”good”? While doing some research for the blog I ended up spending 40 minutes talking with the guy who runs the wine department at the supermarket (Vons). He walked me through the shelves and pointed out all the wines which he had to restock frequently. So here’s the question are popular wines likely to be good?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The Research Agrees: Grocery Wine Wins!

Phil — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:30:56 +0000

Just came across an interesting article in the New York Times regarding some research on wine tasting. Links to the article are below but the basic gist is of the 6,000 blind tastings performed people tended to enjoy less expensive wine more! The following is quoted directly from the American Association of Wine Economists journal article:

Our results indicate that both the prices of wines and wine
recommendations by experts may be poor guides for non-expert wine consumers.

The good news for all of you is that we here at Grocery Wine aren’t experts! And so based on the quote above I think it logically follows that if experts are “poor guides” then non-experts must be outstanding guides!

The journal article can be read at the American Association of Wine Economists site here. The NY times article can be found here.

There is good wine at the supermarket!

Phil — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:07:04 +0000

We love wine. The problem is we work all day, have kids to shuttle around and can barely keep food in the cupboard let alone schedule a visit to the local “wine merchant”. That means we’re just like you and nine times out of ten we buy our wine at the grocery store where we’re faced with a billion colorful labels, strategically placed displays and not a single knowledgeable salesperson in sight (beside the fact there’s a toddler in the cart desperately trying to knock bottles from the shelves, which by the way is probably the easiest way to find the most expensive wine in the supermarket).

Here’s the theory: among all those bottles there is some great wine, possibly outstanding wine at a great price. The bad news is there is also a lot of bad wine mixed amongst it. The trick is finding the needle in the haystack. Our reviews help you find the hidden gems and avoid the “blech“!