Vineyards and Winemakers

Farmhaus Hosting Shane Wine Cellars Dinner on May 8

Seats remain for the first wine dinner at Kevin Willmann's acclaimed Farmhaus (3257 Ivanhoe Avenue; 314-647-3800) next Wednesday, May 8. The dinner will pair four courses with wines from Shane Wine Cellars. Shane owner and winemaker Shane Finley will attend the event. In an e-mail to Gut Check, Far ... More >>

Schnucks Offers 15 Percent Off 6 Bottles of Wine on Wednesdays

Last week Gut Check shared a list of a half-dozen wine values you could find at your neighborhood Schnucks. Why six? Because Schnucks will knock 10 percent off the price if you buy six bottles -- any six bottles -- of wine. See also: - Six Solid Wine Values from the Shelves at Schnucks Well, the g ... More >>

Six Solid Wine Values from the Shelves at Schnucks

A lot of people feel intimidated about shopping for wine at a wine store. Gut Check understands this -- for the uninitiated, darkening the doorway of a retailer that specializes in wine can be as daunting as walking onto a used-car lot: What are they going to try to sell me? How will I know if they' ... More >>

Wine and Dine and Wind Around

Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais Nouveau Party

Heat Wave has Missouri Winemakers Sweating

St. Louis Public Radio reported this week that heat-ocalypse 2012 is "good news for Missouri winemakers." Not so, says Jon Held, vice president of Stone Hill Winery (1110 Stone Hill Highway, Hermann; 800-909-9463). Those precious booze-making grapes aren't exempt from the sweltering heat that has sh ... More >>

Ten Best Food Events This Weekend: December 9-11

​Saturday (December 10): Holiday Open House @ Downtown Dutchtown Dutchtown merchants offer special deals on food, clothing, antiques, candy and more. Stop by Maude's Market for cookies and hot apple cider, shop for art and crafts and Urban Eats Café, and enter a contest for a chance to win a ... More >>

Murphy Lee, Kyjuan and The Bachelorette's Masked Man Celebrate the One Year Anniversary of Freaky Muscato

Two vegan rappers, a masked man and a wine company might seem like an odd combination (or a very poor TV sitcom pitch), but in the case of St. Louis-based Freaky Muscato, that recipe's been making beautiful music for nearly a year. Local entrepreneur Jeff Medolla (otherwise known as The Bacheloret ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Alias California Cabernet Sauvignon at Kaya's Import Wine & Spirits

Gut Check loves us some wine. We want a bottle with bang and a bang for our buck, so every week we will visit a local wine shop, where an expert will recommend a good-value wine priced under $15. We'll drink some and tell you wether we want to continue -- because the only time Gut Check has our nose ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Coastal Vines 2009 California Pinot Noir at Garland Wines

Gut Check loves us some wine. We want a bottle with bang and a bang for our buck, so every week we will visit a local wine shop, where the experts will recommend a good-value wine priced under $15. We'll drink some and tell you wether we want to continue -- because the only time Gut Check has our no ... More >>

Repackaged Industrial Ground Beef Recalled

The USDA has ordered a ground beef recall. Ozarks First reports that 226,000 pounds of hamburgers have been recalled by One Great Burger in New Jersey. The company, which mainly sells to institutional customers, allegedly repackaged meat that had been returned to them, changing the date on the packa ... More >>

Cheap Pinot Noir -- Not an Oxymoron?

Dave Nelson​Finding good pinot noir for under $30 is a tough task, but there's hope, in the form of a positive trend arising from our nation's recent, ahem, financial difficulties: Top wineries have been releasing value-priced bottlings. When we spot a pinot noir that fits this profile, Gut Ch ... More >>

Summer Jam

The World Goblet Round 2: Chile vs. United States

​While scanning the World Cup groups in order to plan our daytime drinking over the next month, Gut Check noticed that most of the great wine-producing nations are represented in the tournament field, including all of those with a reputation for crafting good, value-priced wines. Because Gut C ... More >>

Saturday Funday

Wine Buy the Bottle - Great Values in St. Louis: Veritas Gateway to Food and Wine

Given Gut Check's never-ending quest for obsession with great wine values, we figured it'd be a good idea to check in from time to time with local merchants. They pick three wines they consider to be excellent values, and Gut Check buys and tries one of them. Price is important, but value is really ... More >>

Thrill or Swill? Georgian on My Mind!

Less well-known than the other ancient cradles of wine-drinking, Georgia is home to the earliest archaeological evidence of intentional cultivation of grapes to produce wine. Whether the region truly is "the" birthplace of viticulture, the inhabitants of this small mountainous nation (about the size ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 2.22

​ What to expect from the new Cooking Channel, and why number-crunchers think we need it. (New York Times)A dozen French wine traders convicted for misrepresenting grapes sold to California's E&J Gallo Winery. (Los Angeles Times)Cargill accepts liability in high-profile E. coli case. (KA ... More >>

Wine Daycation

The Noble Writ's New Year's Resolutions

Unlike several of my fellow Gut Check contributors, I'm not much for reminiscing about, dissecting or ranking the past year. Instead, I enjoy the challenge of looking forward and setting goals. So here are my plans for both my personal wine consumption and The Noble Writ in 2010.Aaron Logan, Wikime ... More >>

The Noble Writ Wishes You a Merde Christmas

User "doomych," Wikimedia Commons​I track my wine inventory online with CellarTracker, which lets me update my Twitter account with what I'm drinking. Here's a recent example: "Not for the poop-averse, but sleek Cab. Franc underneath."A good friend replied that he most certainly was poop-averse. ... More >>

The Noble Writ: A Natural Whine

​No concept is generating more discussion, misuse, vitriol or hype in the wine world right now than "natural" wine. If you've been spared the hubbub to this point, this should offer a gentle and balanced introduction.What is a natural wine? Well, the very term is a primary cause of the friction t ... More >>

The Noble Writ in the Lion's Den of California Cabs

​Following up on my post a couple of weeks ago about wine being fun, I decided to have some fun myself. I saw a post on the Wine and Cheese Place's blog about an upcoming tasting featuring the wines of Chateau St. Jean and Beringer. Regular readers of the Noble Writ will likely realize that these ... More >>

Need a Christmas Gift? Consider Doobie Brothers Wine

www.brcohn.com​Musicians and wine go together like, well, a nice chardonnay paired with brie. Maynard James Keenan of Tool is perhaps the most famous musician vintner, although Chuck Berry released blackberry wine a few years ago via Missouri's Crown Valley WInery. Now you can add classic roc ... More >>

FoodWire: More on New Balaban's

As I reported on Monday, Steve McIntyre, who owned Balaban's in the Central West End for a good portion of its 36-year run, is opening Balaban's Wine Cellar & Tapas Bar this November at 1772 Clarkson Road in Chesterfield.Today I received the official press release announcing the opening, and it ... More >>

The Noble Writ: Are Sulfites Friend or Foe?

One of the larger areas of misconception surrounding wine is the use of sulfur compounds, most commonly sulfur dioxide (SO2), during the wine-making process. Many consumers seem to misunderstand why most winemakers add SO2 and what ill effects it might cause. Given that all wines containing more tha ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Thursday, 7.16

Controversy about the sustainability of seafood sold at Trader Joe's. (LA Weekly)Love meat but worried about its carbon footprint? Grass-fed might be the way to go. (UTNE Reader)Italian winemakers cut production to improve quality. (Reuters)

The Noble Writ: A Trying Time for Wine

Like many sectors of the economy, the wine industry isn't doing well. You might suppose that alcohol sales would be more resilient than most things, and to some extent that's true -- sales of inexpensive wines remain relatively robust. However, high-end wines are being hit hard.My first clue that so ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Tuesday, 6.9

The public fascination with what the Obamas are eating, including a certain St. Louis pizza joint. (AP)Russia expands its ban on pork imports from the U.S. (Washington Post)European winemakers stop a proposal to allow rosé wine to be made from blending red and white wines. (Guardian)

The Noble Writ: Thinking Clearly about Alternative Closures

Dave Nelson is the author of the blog Beer, Wine and Whisky. He writes about wine for Gut Check every Tuesday.As I've researched the many issues surrounding cork and its alternatives, a central theme has emerged: Little solid research has been done into both the chemistry of wine aging and the impac ... More >>

The King Is Dead

Long drin the King

Square Deal

Varietal Show

The Grape Escape

Your Cup Runneth Over

Festival for Winemakers

MO Wine, Please

Take Notes

Bounty by the County

The state’s winemakers and food producers aren’t exactly key playersin the global economy. A Mizzou professor aims to change all that.

Sniff, Swirl and Snip

The Grapes of Mirth

Jonathan Nossiter's wine documentary is subversive, funny and humane

$12 Wine Flight

The Crossing, 7823 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton, 314-721-7375

Best Sommelier

I Fratellini Caffe and Rosticceria

Best Missouri Winery

Stone Hill Winery

Best of the Wurst

Hermann welcomes sausage connoisseurs for its totally tubular festival

Eclectic

Big Sky Café

Side Dish

The latest offering from wine purveyors: the white merlot

Best Winery

Mount Pleasant Winery

Cafe

Paint Your Wagon