Get ready, wine lovers – you’re about to experience some of the best-priced and finest French wines uncorked in more than 30 years. We’re excited to let you know that we’ve secured limited-time-only steals from the sought-after 2009 Bordeaux vintage.

We have a limited supply of these highly regarded wines so pick them up now and enjoy some of the best Bordeaux wines made in the last three decades. You’ll love these bargains that drink like they cost a fortune.

What’s so special about Bordeaux? We’re glad you asked! Located on the bank of the Gironde in close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Bordeaux is more than just a region – it’s a prestigious family of wines that has just released its outstanding 2009 vintage. Abundant rainfall, warm summers and mild winters set the stage for plentiful and high-quality grape growth, yielding wines that are subtle and reserved.

The ‘grandmère’ of the wine world, Bordeaux wines are some of the finest and most desirable wines in the world. They are rich in heritage and steeped in flavors that provide a real sense of place exuding tastes of where they come from. Priced under $20, these wines are hand-selected from small, family-owned properties – or “petits châteaux” – in lesser-known appellations of the Bordeaux region, the world’s best-known and largest wine region. We’ve bought the entire production of all but one of these wines.

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‘Tis the season for bubbly! For many of us, though, this is one of the most daunting areas of the wine section. To help make your choice easier, we’ve assembled some basic information and ideas. Additionally, our store team members will gladly help you make a selection perfectly suited to your tastes.

Champagne or Sparkling Wine?

Just as some wines and cheeses are only produced in a specific geographic area, only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France can be officially labeled “Champagne.” Other European countries use other names for the sparkling wine they produce: Cava in Spain, Prosecco, Asti or Spumante in Italy and Sekt in Germany. Bubblies from California, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the several wine-producing countries of South America are generally referred to as sparkling wine or sparklers.

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With all the choices available, it’s not always easy to determine which wine might be just right for your holiday festivities. Whether you’re pairing wine to a selection of amazing holiday cheeses or to a table laden with a variety of flavors for the big meal, we’re here to help!

First off, know that the best rule to follow is to buy and drink wines that you like. Despite what you may have heard, wine is all about your own personal taste. Our second bit of advice: You don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy really delicious wines. We’ve searched the world to find affordable, easy-going wines and we’ve selected our favorites for our Top Ten holiday wines – all under $15.

In our previous blog, we highlighted some sensational white wine pairings. Now, we’re turning our palates to a delicious selection of red wines that are sure to bring you lots of holiday cheer. And to really make it easy for you to enjoy these top-notch wines at easy-to-swallow prices, we’re sharing our favorite cheeses and recipes to match.

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One of the most frequent questions we get year-round but especially during the holidays is how to pair wines with everything from party edibles to cheese boards to the big holiday feast. Although there are general pairing principles, the main thing to know is to buy a wine you enjoy and try it out with flavors that you like. Wine pairing is first and foremost about your preferences!

That said, we do enjoy giving a few tips along the way and are especially excited to share some of our favorite pairings with our affordable, easy-going Top Ten holiday wines. We’ve searched the world to find these top-notch wines at easy-to-swallow prices – all under $15 – for your enjoyment this holiday season and we’d love nothing more than to play matchmaker for you!

To get started, we’ll share our favorite pairings for these scrumptious white wines – all tasty choices for your holiday festivities! And stay tuned, we’ll share the love with our bold and beautiful Top Ten reds in the coming days.

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Wondering what to give the boss for the holidays? Looking for an easy hostess gift that doesn’t require finding a parking space at the mall? Don’t know what to give that family member who has everything?

In all cases, we wholeheartedly recommend the Top Ten holiday wines! Maybe that’s not surprising since we are the Wine Guys but honestly, shopping and gift-giving can be greatly simplified with a fabulous bottle of wine, a colorful ribbon and a cheerful holiday spirit!

We’ve been getting raves about this year’s Top Ten wine selection and you may have noticed our Tweet & Taste event generated close to 700 tweets about our top-notch wines at easy-to-swallow prices. So maybe it’s time to share the love with your friends, family and colleagues who might just prefer an amazing wine over, say….a new striped tie or another cinnamon-scented candle. Read the rest of this entry »

The Top Ten Holiday wines were flowing and the tweets were flying at our first-ever Twitter Tasting last week where we joined a few hundred of our closest friends all across the country (and Canada!) to taste and tweet about these top-notch wines at easy-to-swallow prices.

As the corks popped, the tweet parties began with bloggers and wine-loving tweeters joining in the fun from Austin, TX to Atlanta, GA and from Boca Raton, FL to Kennewick, WA. Many gathered at their nearest Whole Foods Market stores while others hosted their own Twitter Tastings in their homes. In one short hour, we tasted six of these holiday-friendly wines and the twitter-verse was buzzing with nearly 700 tweets sharing comments, photos and kudos for the Top Ten wines – all under $15 a bottle!

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The first party guest has arrived! Light and fruity and always on time, this guest brings good cheer, gets along with everyone at the table as well as everything on the table.

For decades, the third Thursday of November is the first day where the new vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau kicks off the holiday season with an all-out celebration. This fresh and festive, once-a-year party wine is made for anyone and everyone. With its cherry-berry fruitiness, this nimble wine goes down easy and is revered as the perfect sidekick to the myriad of flavors on the holiday table.

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This holiday season, we’re so excited to introduce you to our Top Ten Holiday Wines that we’re throwing a tasting party for our wine-loving friends all over the country! You don’t have to worry about what to wear or even what to bring. In fact, all you need to do is uncork, pour and ….. tweet.

You and six of our Top Ten wines are invited to Whole Foods Market’s first-ever Twitter Tasting on Wednesday, November 17. Join us from 7 to 8pm ET (6pm Central, 5 pm Mountain or 4pm Pacific) to taste and tweet! We’ll be there to share our stories of these holiday-perfect wines and see what you think. Read the rest of this entry »

Holidays have a way of inspiring great story-telling and it’s inevitable that along with the cranberry sauce, stories are passed around the table. Remember when your Aunt Fritzi forgot to thaw out the turkey or how everyone likened your sister’s homemade rolls to hockey pucks?

Read on for details about a California Wine Country sweepstakes from Snooth.com and find out how you can take part in our first-ever Twitter tasting.   

This holiday season, you’ll be able to uncork a whole array of stories while pouring top wines that are affordable, easy-going and have a few tales of their own to share….like the Römerhof Riesling, an award-winning German White made by a family with 400 years of wine history. With a crisp apple and pear finish, this holiday guest makes friends easily with spicy flavors or Fourme D’Ambert blue cheese. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you like your beer with football or some other fall activity, October is the perfect time to try out something new. Here are three of our featured brews this month.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (FES)
Once upon a time, Guinness made a delicious brew called Foreign Extra Stout. It was discontinued during Prohibition, but now after several decades it’s back and in our stores now. Come try the beer that Beer Advocate gave an A! More than two centuries ago, the legendary Arthur Guinness created the world’s most famous Stout. Based on the original Guinness recipe, FES was first brewed in 1801 to allow export overseas. Extra hops were added to act as a natural preservative, and also gave the beer a more intense flavor and higher alcohol content. Since then, more than a million barrels of FES have been brewed worldwide. Now in 2010, FES is re-introduced in the United States for the first time since Prohibition!

Abita SOS Weizen Pilsner
For Abita, SOS means “Save our Shore” and they are donating 75 cents per bottle sold to the restoration of the people and places of the Gulf oil spill. Buy a pack today and help support the relief efforts in our Gulf Coast region! Using pristine water drawn from Abita Springs, Louisiana’s deep wells — Abita Brewery crafts cold-filtered, full-flavored lagers and ales with no preservatives, additives or stabilizers. This special edition SOS Weizen Pilsner is hoppy, malty and pleasantly bitter, and was created as a “message in a bottle” to support aid efforts in the troubled waters of the Gulf Coast.

Bass Pale Ale
The adventure began in 1777, nearly 100 years before the Bass brewery’s red triangle logo became England’s first registered trademark. The respected ale went on to inspire such notable historical figures as Napoleon Bonaparte and Edgar Allan Poe, and 500 cases were loaded aboard The Titanic. Still brewed with the original William Bass recipe, Bass Pale Ale uses two strains of yeast for a full and complex, nutty, malty taste with subtle hop undertones.