It's so easy to let wines fall out of our interest as we discover new ones. We tasted this out during the Pairing 101 class (Pairing 201 coming next week!) and nearly was distracted by how much much I liked the wine and how long it had been since I last tasted it.
BAR PASTORAL is scheduled to open in fall 2012 at 2947 North Broadway, adjacent and connected to Pastoral’s East Lakeview shop located at 2945 North Broadway. Hours and phone number TBD.
Pastoral and Edible Chicago take a fond look back on the 2nd Annual Pastoral's Artisan Producer Festival .
Remember your holiday party ? Well, at ours we drank quite a bit of this lovely Loire White that night and much merriment was had by all. Don't let the timing fool you, though, this wine being a hit at our holiday party doesn't mean it'll be out of place at your spring time table.
Spring is the season of all things fresh and in that spirit Pastoral is proud to present this week's pairing of Fresh Chevre from Prairie Fruits Farm from right here in Illinois (Urbana-Champaign to be exact) and Chenin Blanc from Graziano Family Wines in California. It's a bright, crisp pairing perfect for a sunny May afternoon on the patio with friends or out in the park.
A project from North Coast wherein money is donated to the Thelonius Monk Jazz Institute for every purchase. For those not in the know, Thelonius Monk was a one-of-a-kind piano player, whose powerful and unconventional style is recognizeable upon hearing. "Brilliant Corners" is an outstanding album.
This week's pairing may seem more harvest-inspired at first glance but once you get a taste of it, you'll realize how amazingly light and seasonally appropriate it is. Enjoy!
It's May which means the Kentucky Derby is back and, as if on cue, summer appears to have shown up for the weekend as well! If you're anything like us here at Pastoral, the Derby weekend is a choice opportunity to have a party with your friends and neighbors and consume copious amounts of bourbon, burgoo, and derby pie.
Right now is the perfect moment to embrace the seasonality of cheese. The explosion of spring brings delicious fresh cheeses back to center stage. It’s easy to overlook the fact that our animals produce milk essentially to feed their young, so it follows that fresh sheep or goat milk cheeses are seasonal.
This week's pairing continues the Spanish theme as we head in to the 2nd Annual Pastoral's Artisan Producer Festival with an olive oil-marinated chevre and a sparkling cava. These two are perfect for spring and perfect for each other!
Champagne may be typically connoted with celebrations, but we say it's about finding the little celebrations in your week to focus on. And there's no better way to celebrate being done with that big project at work than a bottle of bubbly and friends. So with our own big project coming to fruition this weekend at the 2nd Annual Pastoral's Artisan Producer Festival, we'll be drinking Leclerc Briant's Cuvee Brut.
This week's pairing has some Spanish flair to it to compliment the Andalucian flavor of the last few in-store tastings we've done. We think this hearty pairing speaks to the spring's rainy nights.
Pastoral is excited to announce two upcoming tastings that are specific to products of the Spanish autonomous region of Andalucía. Courtesy of the good folks at JDY Gourmet and Extenda, The Andalucían Foreign Trade Promotion Agency ...
Spring keeps popping up and has us daydreaming about days spent in the park, on the rooftop, and at the beach. Picnics and parties are always a great occasion for some crisp, fruity whites and that's why we're excited about this Chardonnay from...
If you ever wondered how Pastoral employees have come to learn so much about cheese, charcuterie, wine, beer, and more the answer may be surprisingly simple: we try a lot of stuff!
So with that in mind, we as a staff try to focus on trying some of the same stuff at the same time so that we can all compare notes in a similar state of mind. Eating and drinking are sensory experiences and just like music, what you're in the mood for can be very dependent on things as fickle as the weather or even what happened to you just moments before.
This week, the wine we're super in love with is a malbec from McKinley Springs in Horse Heaven Hills, Washington. Even the non-Malbec drinkers among us were surprised by the complexity and deep plum and berry fruit flavors. Regular wine wall visitors may notice a new label/vintage making an appearance in the near future Malbec. This gives us a great opportunity to taste the same wine, same winemaker, same technique but different vintage. Come pick up the current bottle and then come back and pick up the alternate vintage, take home and have a tasting party with your friends! This gives you a great opportunity to really see for yourself how the climate in a given year affects the wine. If you actually do this, we'd love to hear from you. We might even treat you to something.
Back to the Malbec, though, which is stellar stuff. Last year's vintage showed deep purple in color, gentle tannins, rolling texture and robust dried dark berry and plum. There's an element of cedar and a tingly uplifting composed finish as well. Do you remember how last year's vintage tasted? How will the new bottle compare? What would you like to see? Have you already tasted both? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
