Mary Ross is an internationally-recognized wine and food professional, educator and journalist. Read more about Mary at http://www.thechoppingblock.com/meet-our-sommelier.
Recent Posts
Wine for BBQ
For international entertainment without needing a passport, try a world cuisine barbeque with wine.
Explore the World of Wine in our New Tasting Series
Back when I shifted my career from sommelier to educator and marketer, my first project was to create a database of every wine product sold in Chicagoland. When I reached 10,000 entries, the client ...
As a working sommelier, people say to me all the time “I like a sweet wine,” then add, “but not too sweet.” So, my first question is what’s too sweet? Your morning OJ? That’s about 75 grams of sugar ...
Together with The Chopping Block's staff, I’ve recently sniffed, slurped and spit wares from Chicagoland’s finest wine purveyors to bring you our new wine list! As always, we focus on small ...
Italy is still our favorite wine import, outpacing second place France in both dollars and volume, according to Wine Business Monthly, April 2021. So, what makes Italian wine so good?
Explore Your Primal Culinary Urge with Wine and Cheese
In all the years I’ve taught wine and food seminars, a guest may have told me “I don’t like halibut,” or maybe “I’m not fond of Thai food.” But I’ve never heard anyone say “I don’t like cheese.”
Maybe you need a new way to enjoy all your bubbly leftover from the holidays. Maybe you have just one bottle to lubricate 10 guests. Or maybe your favorite sparkler has just a few ounces left in the ...
Wine with bubbles, what’s not to love? It plays well with other beverages as the base for famous (and infamous cocktails), can turn any event (Tuesday laundry, for instance) into a special occasion ...
