“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.”  -James Dent

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. 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 »

Do you usually drink Cristal Champagne but darn it the grocery store doesn’t carry it?  Never fear!  Both Costco and Vons currently have the excellent Roederer Estate Brut Champagne (technically, a sparkling wine) which is made by the same family that makes Cristal.  And although the price Read the rest of this entry »

The La Crema Chardonnay is part of the problem.  Here’s the funny thing, if you asked us if we prefer reds or whites we’d say “reds” without hesitation.  But as I look at which wines we’re reviewing the white’s section is definitely filling out much more quickly than the reds.  Awesome California Chardonnay like La Crema take a good chunk of the blame.  With a price just under Read the rest of this entry »

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)

Warning this wine could cause relationship issues!  Read on for details, but first a quick tangent:  A couple of years ago we were out to dinner with some friends and our waitress recommended a wine to us.  Very excited about the wine, the waitress came back seconds after pouring it asking how we liked it.  Someone mumbled something about it and the waitress said Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is here (even if the calendar still shows it being a month away).  And with summer comes warm weather, and with warm weather comes a desire to put off running the air conditioner for as long as possible, and with no a/c comes a house which is broiling by evening, and with broiling comes a need for a cool refreshing drink.  Some might say water is a logical choice but those people have clearly never had a tall cool glass of Kim Crawford. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ll keep this short and not so sweet.  Amy’s review “This wine stinks, literally!”  Hopefully, there was something wrong with the bottle.  There was definitely an unpleasant “cooked cabbage” odor happening.  At $15 from Costco it was definitely a disappointment.  As ever though, Costco rules.  We returned the half empty bottle for a full refund (which we promptly invested in the always delicious Edmeades zinfandel.  If you’ve tried the Rijckaert chardonnay and had a better result than us definitely drop a note in the comments and *maybe* we’ll give it another try.

You’ve probably spotted this one on the bottom shelf at your local grocery store with a price somewhere under $4.  Four dollar wine?  I figured there was a decent chance I might go blind from drinking the cheap stuff but in the name of science (and cheapskatedness) I thought I’d give it a try.  Because of the inherent danger involved in drinking this stuff Read the rest of this entry »