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. Read the rest of this entry »

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 Read the rest of this entry »

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 Anything” for being an awesome movie and providing the perfect title for this post!)

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! Read the rest of this entry »

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!): Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Firefly Ridge wines have become fairly popular over the course of the last six months and so when it went on sale at Vons I was eager to try it and write up a review.  As it turns out the most interesting aspect of this California Cabernet Sauvignon is that it is named “Firefly Ridge” and as far as I know there are no fireflies in California (although virtually every kid growing up here wishes there were).  The Firefly Cabernet is just “okay”.  It’s drinkable – don’t throw it out if you already have a bottle – but seeing how it isn’t particularly cheap there are quite a few other cabs out there that warrant more attention than this one.

Interested in a better option?  Take a look at some of the other wines we’ve reviewed from Safeway/Vons by clicking here.

It’s Friday and what better way to celebrate than by swinging by the grocery store on your way home and picking up a bottle or five of wine.  Listed below are our picks for the week.

1. Champagne – Gloria Ferrer (on sale $15.98 at Safeway / Vons until 6/10)
2. Chardonnay – Bogle (on sale $8.98 at Safeway / Vons until 6/24)
3. Sauvignon Blanc – Dry Creek Vineyard (available at Safeway / Vons)
4. Cabernet Sauvignon – BV (on sale $7.76 at Safeway / Vons until 6/10)
5. Zinfandel – Edmeades (Costco)

Like an old friend you can count on in a pinch, we turned to the Edmeades Zinfandel after the Rijckaert Chardonnay debacle.  This California wine has become our favorite zin of late, the one which all other zins are being judged by.  Very tasty and goes with any meal we’ve throw at it (confession: Read the rest of this entry »