God Bless America and those who have given so much to ensure our freedoms

We are delighted to have a new website designed and built for us by someone many of you know, Craig Goldwyn. Craig was a competitor of ours 35 years ago as the wine manager of Foremost Liquors in Skokie, and since then he has been the wine columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post, an instructor at Cornell University's Hotel School and at Le Cordon Bleu, a wine judge from Italy to New York to California, a barbecue judge from South Carolina to Memphis to Kansas City, and his hugely popular website, AmazingRibs.com is a great resource for outdoor cooking info.

 

What you may not know is that he is also a computer geek. He built the first ecommerce site for wine in LA in 1989, founded AOL's Food & Drink Network in 1990, created Tastings.com, and has built many websites since then. Craig will be guiding us into the ecommerce age in the next few weeks. Watch SayVino for the announcement. You can contact Craig here. He'd love to hear from his old customers whom we assume became Schaefer's customers when he left Foremost.

In the movie "Sideways," Miles sung the praises of Pinot Noir. While his story was based mainly in the Santa Barbara grape-growing region, there is another area in California where Pinot Noir shines. The Russian River Valley in Sonoma has exceptional microclimates and soils which benefit the Pinot grape because of its cool-climate influenced by its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. For three generations, the Rochioli family has been making outstanding wines taking advantage of the 160 acres they own in this unique grape growing region. The 2005 Rochioli Estate Grown Pinot Noir blends together several of the family's individual vineyards. They have produced yet again a wonderful full-bodied wine with a firm and balanced structure. And Parker agrees scoring this wine 91 points. Here is what he has to say: "The 2005 Pinot Noir Estate offers delicious raspberry and black cherry fruit along with a hint of flowers, and crisp underlying acidity to buttress the beautiful texture and rich, heady mouthfeel. There are 4,000 cases of this cuvee, which was aged in one-third new Francois Freres barrels. Tom Rochioli told me considerable crop-thinning had to be done in 2005 to keep the Pinot Noir yields manageable. A blend of Dijon Clones 115 and 777 in addition to some of the old Pommard Clone, this stunning effort is the finest regular Pinot Noir Rochioli has yet produced. Drink it over the next 7-10 years. Kudos to Tom Rochioli, one of the wine world's great guys who, without any fanfare, continues to turn out world-class wines of extraordinary aromatic and flavor dimensions." Unfortunately, this item will never make it to our shelves, we have just a couple of cases available this vintage for our SayVino customers for $54.97. Regular Price: $64.95. Allocation may be necessary.

We have two wines in our Buyer's Market that will sell out quickly. If you were at our Summer Warehouse Sale and were lucky enough to pick up a bottle of the Samuel's Gorge Shiraz, you will be happy to know we now have a small amount of Grenache and Tempranillo available for only $29.97 each, normally priced at $49.95. These are small batch hand-made wines are the brainchild of Justin McNamee.

 

Last year I had a chance to meet Justin in the McLaren Vale region in Australia and taste through these wines with him and I am hooked. All of his wines are very limited. Robert Parker scored the Grenache at 89pts and the Tempranillo at 87pts, I am not alone in my love and excitement. Stop by and pick one up today!

 

Samuel's Gorge Tempranillo 2005 Normally $49.95, Sale $29.97

Samuel's Gorge Grenache 2004 Normally $49.95, Sale $29.97

If your knowledge of Italian wines only goes as far as Pinot Grigio and Chianti, you're missing out on some of the world's greatest wines. Join us on Thursday, September 13 at 6:30 p.m. for a special in-store class, The Wines of Italy. This introductory class will focus on the unique wines of Italy, most of which are produced from indigenous varietals, often found nowhere else in the world. The class will be taught by local wine writer and educator (and former Schaefer's employee) Tom Hyland, a leading authority on Italian wines (he has visited Italy over 30 times).

 

The cost for this class will be a reasonable $35 per person. Class size will be limited and will be filled on a first-come, first served basis. To enroll, please contact Tom Hyland at (773) 293-6790 or by email at: thwinewriter@comcast.net (sign ups are not being taken by Schaefer's). Your seat in the class will be reserved by payment by check before the class. We hope to see you on September 13 for a great class on the distinctive wines of Italy!

Join us for this month's Third Thursday class when we explore American Red Blends: Meritage and More. Barbara Rooks will lead the class through a range of American red blends, including a very special treat: Opus One 1997. This is California's famous and delicious collaboration between France's Rothschild and the US's Mondavi! But there's more to American blends than just Bordeaux-style or wines from the Rhone Rangers. Reservations are required so call 847-673-5711 to sign up today. Cost for the class is $25 ($20 CAP members) and space is limited.

Last month the United States Congress designated September National Bourbon Heritage Month. In keeping with the celebration of "America's Native Spirit" Schaefer's will be offering a Bourbon Tasting and Class on September 27, 2007.

 

Mui Baltrunas, Schaefer's Spirits Consultant, will present a class on Bourbon and its unique history. He will talk about a few of the myths surrounding the beverage. Several Bourbons will be opened for tasting. Come taste the flavor of America with us and join the celebration of a uniquely American invention. Reservations are required; just call 847-673-5711 to enroll. The cost for this class is $25 per person.

That's all for this week. If we may be of any further service, please stop by our store at 9965 Gross Point Road in Skokie (for directions, click here), visit our website at http://www.schaefers.com, give us a call at 847-677-WINE (9463), 800-833-WINE (9463), or click here to contact us.