Great Wine - Great Buys - Your Store

24 Mar

Posted at 10:10h in About Wine, Featured
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 For Portlandia-types such as us, Disneyland is a very popular spring break destination. So that’s where we’re going for our spring break. Our version of Disneyland. The Disneyland for wine drinkers, located just a little north of Anaheim. We’re going to California wine country. In years past, we paid our Disneyland dues. Waited in line to park. Waited in line to ride the rides. Waited in line to buy Mickey ears.   Waited in line to catch the shuttle back to the parking lot where we waited in line to leave. As appealing as...

17 Mar

Posted at 15:55h in About Wine, Featured
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A week after launching Pat The Wine Guy, we’ve gotten great feedback. And a number of questions. Here are some answers and, more importantly, here’s how you can get the most out of our site.   We’re offering free advice, highlighting good wine buys and where to find them in the Portland area. That’s it. No hidden agenda. Many people have asked, “how are you making money on your site?” We aren’t. But that’s not the goal. We are trying to build a base of followers and a local wine community. So if you like what you see...

10 Mar

Posted at 15:30h in About Wine
2 Likes

One of the great minds of our time, Terry Bradshaw, said it best. “I may be dumb but I’m not stupid.” As I struggled to figure out Safeway’s current Washington wine sale, I felt a little bit of both: dumb AND stupid. First, let’s be clear: we like Safeway. Most Safeways have good wine sections with many selections in our $15-$30 sweet spot. And Safeways are conveniently located for many of our wine-drinking followers. Pat The Wine Guy will continue to keep you current on Safeway recommendations and availability. But their pricing structure can be a...

08 Mar

Posted at 12:54h in All of Pat's Picks, Featured
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Less than 24 hours after launching Pat The Wine Guy, the complaints are already rolling in. “Are you ever going to recommend anything other than red wine?” Geez. How bout a little slack? As the great Rodney Dangerfield would say, “Tough crowd! Tough crowd!” Just kidding. Valid comment. So let’s move gradually down the color scale i.e., from red to…pink. Yes way, rose! There are sooooo many great roses in our price range. This one’s on the very low end. But don’t let the nice price fool you. Domaine Sorin is terrific. It certainly has a great...

03 Mar

Posted at 11:19h in About Wine
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We live in a time of mindless, inappropriate tweets. Our goofball-in-chief contributes to the mess on a daily basis. But every once in a while, we come across a tweet that actually makes a good point. “Wine is proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy” Who’s going to argue with that less-than-140 character pearl of wisdom? Truth is, it’s not a tweet at all. It’s a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Well over 200 years ago, our founding fathers recognized wine’s contribution to society and civility. Keep in mind they...

02 Mar

Posted at 10:18h in About Wine
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Deserved or not, wine has a reputation. Snooty. Pretentious. Elitist. Gary Grilli, the long-time wine steward at Walker Road Fred Meyer in Beaverton has a reputation also. It’s none of the above. Now in his 22nd year at the same store, Gary is one of the most down-to-earth people  you’ll ever meet. He’s the antithesis of a pushy salesman. “The last thing I want to be is ‘customer repellant’, Gary says. “I’ll help people if they want help. If not, I’ll leave them alone.” Most of Gary’s customers do tap into his expertise...