Brokewino.com - A Chicago Wine Resource - Sacrilegious wine talk

Value Bordeaux is Not an Oxymoron

The French, and Bordeaux wine in particular, have long cultivated an image of wanton elitism. The words Champagne, Luis Vuitton, and Douchebag, all carry an understanding of affluence before any mental cognizance of a product is even formed. The 2008 Bordeaux vintage, for instance, has set new standards in the...

Drink Bravely, or, A Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Crunk

This is a book review of Mark Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine (that’s what we’ll call it.) Chapter 14, page 100 had me at Vermentino. Actually, it had me at “Sprite-ing,” which is Mark’s method of smuggling white wine into theaters using a 20 oz. Sprite bottle. Here I...

An Ode to Pabst Blue Ribbon

I don’t read food blogs, but I doubt anyone has ever written an ode to toothpaste, despite the fact that this mundane product is an essential aspect of the long-term continuity of their craft. Frankly, nation, I find this a travesty of Holocaustic proportions. It’s the simple things in life...

What are the Best Android Wine Apps?

The era of the modern mobile application began with the opening of the iTunes app store on July 10th, 2008, just over two years ago. That’s an entire geological era in interweb years, but to normal people it’s just two Christmases ago. If you happen to be one of those...

Last Night’s #WineChat

Last night was fun. I had fun, at least. I was also a complete asshole, and I hope none of you assholes were fact checking my bullshit. Like when I called Valdobbiadene a D.O.C. when it is in fact, a D.O.C.G. Or when I corrected Jess’ perfectly acceptable pronunciation of Auslese. Or how about when I lauded...

Sam on #WineChat with Jess of Wine Channel TV

What are you doing tonight? Watching #WineChat, duh! I’ll be gossiping with Jess from Wine Channel TV tonight at 8 CST on WinchannelTV.com/WineChat. We’ll be drinking bubbly to celebrate the new year and talking complete B.S. Okay, maybe not complete. There will be some serious wine discussion going on. So login, get your bubbly out, and join in...

Badass Wine Resources: Espavino.com

I’m alway on the lookout for a cool interactive way to explore the vast un-explorable wine universe. The interwebz helps out a lot. What did people do without it? Knit shit, I guess. Espavino.com is here to throw a spanner in the works of all our knitting plans. Cara from Decant Chicago first turned me...

Wine is Like Vodka Infused Watermelon

Last week over on the Brokewino Facebook page I asked the question: What was your most memorable wine in the last year? Some great wines were named to contend for the title: ’59 Mouton-Rothschild, Chronic Cellars, Amulet Cabernet, and even a barley wine from Tibet. People been drinking some wyne this year! Rick from Hello...

What Wine Mags Do You Read?

Last week I added my set of eyeballs to the 2,831,00 affluent readers who scan the pages of Wine Spectator on a monthly basis. I’ve flipped through the mag on occasion, usually when killing time at Barnes and Noble and all the copies of Bearded Magazine have already been claimed by some other jaded hipsters. In...

Brokewino.com Named Best New Food/Wine Blog 2010

20 December 2010 was a pretty good day in Chicago because these things happened: It snowed a lot, I drank a lot of beer, I consummated my passion for pickled ginger, and the Chicago Bears clinched the NFC North Division Championship. Oh yeah, Brokewino.com was named one of the Best New Food and Drink Blogs in 2010 by...