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  • The Chopping Blog

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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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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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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Learn Your Wine Likes at a Retail Wine Tasting

Are you a wine drinker who says, “I don’t know much about wine, but I know what I like.”? If so, you can increase your likes by attending retail wine tastings that bring wine power to the people.

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It's Time to Appreciate You - Twice

The two days we look forward to most all year are just around the corner: Customer Appreciation Days! These parties are so much fun we have to do it twice, once at the Merchandise Mart and once at ...

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5 Wines and What We’re Eating with Them this Summer

The days of showing up with a six pack of Bud Light and a half-eaten box of pizza are over. As we age, there’s a new obligation to bring something exciting. Something sophisticated. Something that ...

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What I Know About Wine

A sommelier's musings about wine as it relates to health and life in general.

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