Want to be part of this community-centered cause?

On January 26th, Hinsdale Wine Shop will be participating in a Cash Mob from 4:00-7:00 PM! We will be offering 8 wines normally priced at $30-$40 for just $25! All wines part of this deal will be available for tasting throughout the event. Just bring $25 cash and take advantage of this incredible deal!

Hinsdale Wine Shop

12 E Hinsdale Avenue

Hinsdale, IL 60521

However, wine connoisseurs today know that for Italy’s finest wines, one needs to trek further north to the foothills of the Italian Alps known as Piemonte, where the terroir is so unique that few elsewhere in the world would ever attempt to grow its unique and luxurious grapes.

Piemonte’s most revered Nebbiolo grape has been around for centuries, but its most significant road to fame and deliciousness has actually happened in the past 30 years. The Nebbiolo grape is as ubiquitous to Piemonte as Pinot Noir is to Burgundy, but it hasn’t been easy to tame this thick-skinned, high tannin, late-harvesting grape. Until the advent of temperature-controlled barrels, winemakers had trouble softening those thick skins and strong tannins, especially when the aging process was started at the coldest time of the year that would stall fermentation. Often they wound up with wine that even after decades of aging still wouldn’t mellow. Today, Piemonte’s Nebbiolo, Barolo and Barbaresco wines are highly cherished. Interestingly, they come from different villages, but all from that same high-maintenance grape known as Nebbiolo. These are not wines for the weak-hearted. They are robust and with distinctive qualities, invoking some odd descriptors such as tar, licorice, leather and dried stone fruit. Complexity is undoubtedly Nebbiolo’s calling card, and these wines are considered to be among the very best in the world.

And while Burgundy, to which Piemonte is often compared, may be satisfied with having just two famous grape varietals, this region has several well-known wines to its name. Asti Spumante, a light, semisweet sparkling wine gained popularity in the ‘70s because of its clear and easy quaffability.

Gavi is a dry white varietal that many a wine lover has discovered upon tiring of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Italian wine doesn’t necessarily connote white wine beyond that of Pinot Grigio, so it is often a pleasant surprise to taste the crisp, dry Gavi that thrives in the cooler temps of northern Italy.

Other reds of note from this region include Barbera, which is considered the area’s day-to-day, table wine. In fact, this rustic wine is the most widely planted grape in the region.

A lesser-known red but that provides an instantly quaffable wine option is the Dolcetto, which is sometimes compared to Beaujolais because of its highly drinkable fruitiness. It makes an interesting contrast to Nebbiolo because it has little tannin, is much lighter and with very little acid.

While just a highlight of some of Piemonte’s greatest wine assets, wine lovers can enjoy a tasting at Hinsdale Wine Cellars Friday, 6-8 p.m., for some excellent representatives of this region from Sottimano winery.

– Ivy F. Kupec

Since 1904, the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society has been a pivotal organization to nearly 4 million Sailors, Marines and their families. When disaster strikes, this is the organization they know they can turn to. It has a history of helping out when times get tough and has become an extended family of sorts to those in the Navy and Marine Corps.

Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society

For more than a century, the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society has provided financial, educational and other assistance to its constituents when they need it most. In partnership with the Navy and Marine Corps and with hundreds of volunteers, it has provided important educational scholarships, special health care programs and interest-free loans and other financial assistance, often in emergency situations.

During this past year of nationwide financial upheaval, it should come as no surprise that Sailors and Marines were not immune to the crisis. Last year, the organization provided $50 million in financial assistance. One in every five active duty Sailors and Marines turned to the Society for financial assistance, translating to nearly 100,000 financial cases. And another of the organization’s important resources, a visiting nurses program, continued to follow more than 1,000 wounded warriors, making more than 17,000 contacts in 2010.

After the earthquake in Japan, the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society provided service members with financial assistance associated with required evacuations. This is the group that has provided support to Sailors and Marines in countless other disasters too, including the attack on the USS Cole, 9/11, and hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and fires literally around the world.

How you can help…

Hinsdale Wine Cellars has made it easy for you to help. For every bottle of wine you buy this week, we will donate $1 to the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. Of course, if you want to add to our collection and provide an additional contribution, that multiplies the impact we can all make together.

It’s easy for Memorial Day to be overshadowed by picnics, the opening of swimming pools and the Indy 500. However, Memorial Day is a day to remember our fallen heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. It is also a time to look at how we can help those who are still with us who have chosen a career that too often puts their lives on the line. I hope you will join us at Hinsdale Cellars this week in supporting the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. To learn more, visit http://www.nmcrs.org.

– Sean Chaudhry

And while the fast race cars and “hot chicks” may draw the majority of America to drink mainstream beer, a growing number of beer guzzlers have found their way to American craft beers, often brewed locally and always with great passion and impeccable character. This week marks American Craft Beer Week, so what better time to reflect on the benefits of these smaller brewers who continually find new ways to titillate and surprise our malt-and-barley-loving tastebuds.

History in the hop-ping

After prohibition, American beer manufacturing came back as primarily a mass-produced product. Like many things, it was far more lucrative to focus on quantity rather than quality. Obviously, this eventually opened the door for beer makers who explored the unexplored territories of beer making, varying hoppiness and the other primary beer components while also adding flavorings like chocolate, chilies and fruits.

“The craft brew industry is really the idea of having a vision, taking a risk, building something from the ground up and doing it a lot of times with your friends,” said Bryan Simpson from New Belgium Brewing Co. “It’s a great reflection of the grit and integrity it took to build this country from the ground up.”

Yup, talk to craft brewers, and one is awash with patriotism and all-American love for craftsmanship. Mark Edelson of Iron Hill Brewery has said, “craft brewing is a grassroots [movement], and like so many grassroots movements, it is driven by passion.”

And while there is a whole lot of science to craft brewing, it is clearly also an art: “America’s craft brewers are artisans that rather than working in paint or photography or some of those medium, they are working in beer,” said Tim Myers of Strange Brewing.

Craft brew’s growing popularity

Currently, the United States has 1,753 small, independent craft brewers, according to the Brewers Association. This is the highest number of craft brewers the U.S. has ever had, too. These are folks who produce less than 6 million barrels of beer each, compared to 100 million barrels that Anheuser-Busch produced in 1997 to earn it the title of world’s largest brewer THEN. (Note: 1 barrel = 31 U.S. gallons).

But today, the majority of brewers in the United States, believe it or not, are craft brewers. Probably the reason for this is because it is easier to set up a small business than a big business, of course, and that the market can only sustain so many big beer companies. However, the taste for craft beer grows, according to the Brewers Association. Craft brewers sold an estimated 9,951,956 barrels of beer in 2010, up from 8,934,446 in 2009. That is still a fraction of the beer love that is going around, but, if you are or know a craft beer drinker or brewer, you know this is a demographic that loves to talk about “passion.”

What’s to love…

With more than 1,700 U.S. craft beers to choose from, it can be overwhelming to move beyond the cool labels and funky names. But the good news is that these beer makers have gone to such great lengths of innovation that, much like finding your soul mate, undoubtedly a beer awaits that is your ideal beverage. For the past two years, Russian River Brew Company’s Pliny the Elder has been the Zymurgy Poll’s top American beer. An Imperial India Pale Ale, it might be just your stein of beer. Second best last year was Bell’s Brewery Two-Hearted Ale, an American Pale Ale. Other top brews included: Stone Arrogant Bastard, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Stone IPA. Beer Advocate has also given A+ ratings to beers like Rare Bourbon County Stout that comes from Illinois-based Goose Island Beer Co. They also praise Duck Duck Gooze from California’s Lost Abbey and characterize it as an American Wild Ale. Likewise, Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.’s Bourbon Barrel Fourth Dementia receives merit as an old ale from Michigan.

Have no fear; your next favorite beer is out there—maybe Craft Beer Week holds your destiny and the time has come for you to find it.

It’s tough being an “A” student.

At least that’s what we always told our parents who pushed us for high marks. And for a winemaker, it’s even tougher to score high marks on her wines when she is, after all, trying to temper Mother Nature and harness the sun, rain and soil to produce breathtaking “nectar of the Gods.”

But that is exactly what Susana Balbo has done, producing wines that reviewers consistently score in the 90’s. Whether it is her signature Malbec, Brioso and Cabernet Sauvignon or her “offspring” Crios wines, like the Torrontes and Rosé, they rate 90+ points, and critics seem to gush about one of the most well-known and well-respected Argentine winemakers to date.

“Susana Balbo is to Argentine wine what Martha Stewart is to homemaking and Oprah Winfrey is to media in the United States,” wrote Vivianne Rodrigues on Reuters Life earlier this year.

In fact, Susana has come a long way from her enology degree that she earned in 1981. Much of her career was spent traveling around the world to help others create great wines in places like Chile, Australia, Spain, France, South Africa and California before she and her husband, Pedro Marchevsky decided in 1999 to create their own winery, Dominio del Plata, in Argentina. Today, Susana is president of the trade group Wines of Argentina, which represents more than 170 wineries.

Listening to nature

As a biodynamic winemaker, one of Susana’s guiding principles is sustainable agriculture. That means not only organic farming of a current harvest, but also taking a long-range approach to the land and local community to protect natural resources such that viticulture continues to thrive in this region. Additionally, Susana is known for her detail-oriented approach to winemaking. From planting to water management to blending decisions, she refuses to overlook any detail that can make a wine transcend from just good to really great. And it is likely her obvious passion for this profession that has taken her there.

Balbo-ific wine

It is no accident that Balbo and her husband chose Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, as their winery home. An area noted for its warm summer days and cool nights, Mendoza provides well-draining, sandy soil that is as close to perfect as it gets for making wine, despite some pretty fierce hail storms. Through a high-trellising system for grape vine stability and biodynamic farming, the grapes here benefit from a long growing season that leads to wines with Balbo’s characteristic great color, flavor and nose.

In addition to Balbo’s super premium or signature labels of Susana Balbo, Ben Marco, and Nosotros, she has become popularly known for her more moderately priced “Crios” line. Crios means offspring in Spanish, and she has said that she chose this name because these wines weren’t quite as grown up as her others – more brashly fruit forward and to be enjoyed younger than her signature wines. Regardless of the label, one thing is clear when experiencing Susana Balbo’s wines: hard work, knowledge, passion and an instinct for producing fabulous wine are undoubtedly a winning combination.

Interested in tasting some of Susana’s fine wines, then you are in luck; Susana Balbo is in Hinsdale! A reservation-only tasting is scheduled for Friday, August 27^th, 6-8:30 p.m. at the Hinsdale Wine Shop. The $20 entrance fee will be applied toward your purchases. To make reservations, call 630-654-9862.

Everyone likes being part of a secret. And maybe that’s why the dinner that we held about a week ago at Topaz featuring an assortment of Jim and Mary Dierberg’s wines was such a hit. Sure, our event was publicized, and the restaurant is known to be one of the best in our area, but the wines—these were well-reviewed wines that have surprisingly not gotten a lot of press. So, it was a real treat to not only taste the wines, but to do so with the winery owners and their winemaker, Nick de Luca.

It is not easy to stand out in a crowd of 102 wineries/brands when all are being represented inside the space of a hotel ballroom. Such was the scene this week at Gala 2007, hosted by Chicago-area distributor Heritage Wine Cellars Ltd. This is one of the year’s major portfolio tasting events for retailers and sommeliers in the Midwest.

Among those who did rise above the din of swirling, sipping and selling was Jay Soloff, a co-proprietor of the ultra-premium Washington state winery DeLille Cellars.

We were delighted to offer the 2003 proprietary reds by the Yakima Valley producer — Chaleur Estate and Harrison Hill. This vintage, and 2002, were 95-point Bordelais-inspired masterpieces according to Robert Parker Jr. The 2004 Chaleur Estate, which we tasted at the Heritage gala inside the immense Ritz-Carlton Chicago, rivals its older siblings but is awaiting the critics’ final pronouncements. These Chaleur Estate blends are deep in color, abundant in the nose and long on refinement.

Friday was an historic day in the premium wine auction industry because the Steven Verlin Collection — or some fraction of it that as of Saturday night  generated more than $7 million in two bidding sessions — was on the block. At mid-afternoon my head (photographed below earlier in the morning) was buried in a Hart Davis Hart catalog, surveying enticing possibilities. When I looked up from my reading materials, to my surprise, weenies had filled the room.

 You might rush to judgment here: what does one expect at a mega-premium wine auction? Weenies tend to show up at these events, thrusting their paddles skyward to one-up fellow wine collectors.

But this was different. This was Chicago’s Tru, a fine dining mecca, and the weenies were hot dogs nestled in white-bread buns. Suddenly, Tru and the famous landmark Wrigley Field were all but soul mates.

Friday was a day to celebrate the life of acclaimed late collector Steven Verlin, to bid on the vast components of his epic collection, and to nibble on the comfort foods he adored, Orville Redenbacher popcorn and authentic hot dogs, with dainty serving vessels of country dijon mustard and sauerkraut close by. Verlin’s spouse, Grae, flew in to observe this most important auction and to thank the attendees by having Tru’s staff uncork a Methuselah (6L) of 1990 Cristal — at 9:45 a.m. All in attendance were presented a flut of the prized Champagne to savor.

The hot dogs — good, but no match for Tru’s buffet lunch featuring three varities of pate, enormous prawns, smoked salmon, squid salad and bow-tie pesto pasta, to name a few – were served with Verlin’s wine of choice when he was being “frank”, a smokey Spanish Unico red. Bidders were served a healthy pour of a 1970 Bodegas Vega Sicilia Ribera del Duero. Moments earlier, a lot of 6 magnums of same in original wood cases scored a winning bid of $8,500.

As expected, Day 1 of the two-day auction stirred aggressive bidding on location, online and by telephone. An imperial of 1947 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Bordeaux fetched $45,000.  Five lots of 1982 Chateau Lafleur (three 12-bottle offerings, a lot of two magnums and a jeroboam) attracted total winning bids of $126,000. A nine-bottle lot (all noted as showing signs of seepage) of 1982 Chateau Le Pin Pomerol was snatched for $40,000. A bidder in the room secured two double-magnums of 1989 Chateau Petrus for $38,000. A remote bidder stayed the course to claim an imperial of 1990 Petrus for the day’s highest single-lot bid, $50,000.

At my table a fellow bidder and I thoroughly enjoyed a Tru wine list choice, the 2005 K Vintners Cougar Hills Wall Walla Valley Syrah, with lunch. But this was not just another day in Chicago. Across the room inside Tru, we glimpsed Grae Verlin giving a nod to wine director Scott Tyree to decant a double magnum of 1990 Chateau Latour. A short time later, her old friends were understandably distracted from the auction as the Latour was served.

I passed through the casually chic Naha restaurant Wednesday night to meet an old colleague for dinner. Not surprisingly, we encountered winemakers in the lounge. They were taking a break before going back to work. Naha hosted Pinot After Hours, an “exceptional lineup of Oregon’s leading Pinot producers.” A tasting scheduled from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.? Why not? The Oregonians, at least, had the edge of being biologically on Pacific time.

The crown jewel on the calendar is Friday and Saturday when Chicago’s Tru restaurant is the venue for a Hart Davis Hart auction for the ages, the epic Steven Verlin Collection. It will attract the nation’s top collectors. Sales are expected to exceed $6 million, a record. This is to be the largest “named” private collection auction in U.S. history. A total of 1,876 lots will go on the block, including the most coveted vintages of Bordeaux and Burgundy on the planet. The kickoff was actually Thursday night when Tru hosted a $2,000-per-seat Chateau LaFleur vertical tasting. 

At Naha, my friend and I debated about opening a bottle of 2004 Bonaccorsi Melville Pinot I brought along at his request. But we found an enticing alternative on Naha’s constantly updated list, a 2004 Paul Hobbs El Felino Malbec, one of the releases from Hobbs’ Mendoza consultation endeavor in Argentina. It opened up after 20 minutes. It was spicey and balanced enough to pair up nicely with two diverse entrees, a flavorful squab breast and beef short ribs.

Look for Vintelligence reports from the Verlin auction this weekend.

The setting was dramatic: Inside Jay Pritzker Pavilion, with the city’s Millennium Park and a gorgeous April day as the backdrop through a towering glass partition. In all, 13 importers and 50 U.S. wineries were represented (43 from California).

Much of what was poured Monday is destined for critical acclaim, collectors’ wine cellars and epic wine lists, if they are not there already. Among those with whom we conversed and sipped:

Dierberg’s director of sales David Blantly (2004 Dierberg Pinot Noir; 2005 Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc; and a 2005 barrel sample of Cabernet Sauvignon).

Celia Deneen Brown (right) of Brown Estate Vineyards (2005 Napa Zinfandel; 2003 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon).

The charming Greg (below) and Petra Martin of Martin Estate, with a few pieces from Greg’s armor and antique weaponry collection on display (as well as their unparalleled 2003 Estate and Reserve Estate Cabernets, the latter born of a single clone). When you admire the distinct Martin Estate label, comprised of antique firearms, armor and other militaristic implements, every piece depicts an actual collectible item.

Sea Smoke general manager Victor Gallegos, pouring the ’05 Botella, ’05 Ten, ’04 Southing, and the latest release from his Priorat project, the 2004 Melis.

Robert Craig, founder of the premium Napa Cabernet winery that bears his name.

Jeff Fink, the Tantara Winery winemaker, standing before a vast array of lush 2005 Pinot Noirs.  

Among importers were Ben Hammerschlag of Epicurean (2005 Amon-Ra and Godolphin), and Alberto Lataliste of Gaucho Imports with a selection of Malbecs from Argentina’s Mendoza region (Vistalba releases designated A, B and C). Lataliste (right) also is a partner in a hit Argentine steakhouse, El Raigon, in San Francisco’s North Beach. 

– Steve Woodward