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Mary Ross

Mary Ross
Mary Ross is an internationally-recognized wine and food professional, educator and journalist. Read more about Mary at http://www.thechoppingblock.com/meet-our-sommelier.

Recent Posts

Holiday Wine Gifts at The Chopping Block

Wine is fun and easy for holiday gift-giving. There’s a price for every pocketbook, it’s appropriate for friends, family and business colleagues and – despite disruptions in many supply chains – ...

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Mary's Aha! Moment in Wine

Sometimes in life, one moment changes everything. For me, it was the moment I "got" wine. It was 40 years ago, but I remember it like yesterday. I was lucky enough to be included in a wine tasting ...

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Wine for BBQ

For international entertainment without needing a passport, try a world cuisine barbeque with wine.

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Explore the World of Wine in our New Tasting Series

Back when I shifted my career from sommelier to educator and marketer, my first project was to create a database of every wine product sold in Chicagoland. When I reached 10,000 entries, the client ...

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Not Too Sweet, Not Too Dry Wines for Summer

As a working sommelier, people say to me all the time “I like a sweet wine,” then add, “but not too sweet.” So, my first question is what’s too sweet? Your morning OJ? That’s about 75 grams of sugar ...

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Toast to Summer with our New Wines

Together with The Chopping Block's staff, I’ve recently sniffed, slurped and spit wares from Chicagoland’s finest wine purveyors to bring you our new wine list! As always, we focus on small ...

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What Makes Italian Wine So Good?

Italy is still our favorite wine import, outpacing second place France in both dollars and volume, according to Wine Business Monthly, April 2021. So, what makes Italian wine so good?

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Wine Words

It’s not that easy to describe wine anymore. In the previous century, when I was a newbie sommelier, all you needed was one word: typique.

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Explore Your Primal Culinary Urge with Wine and Cheese

In all the years I’ve taught wine and food seminars, a guest may have told me “I don’t like halibut,” or maybe “I’m not fond of Thai food.” But I’ve never heard anyone say “I don’t like cheese.”

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Sparkling Cocktails with a Shining History

Maybe you need a new way to enjoy all your bubbly leftover from the holidays. Maybe you have just one bottle to lubricate 10 guests. Or maybe your favorite sparkler has just a few ounces left in the ...

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