"More than 90% of wines purchased in the U.S. are under $15." This statistic is the foundation for wine writer and critic Carolyn Evans Hammond's Good, Better, Best Wines: A No-Nonsense Guide to Popular Wines. Hammond uses her expertise to offer guidance and recommendations in navigating an array of widely distributed inexpensive wines. From the start, the book offers great tools for gauging how to find, store and open inexpensive bottles, including paying attention to the region, the producer and the type of grape. However, the recommendations offered under her scale of good, better and best wines can be very hit or miss. We just can’t fathom recommending a jug of Carlo Rossi to anyone who is legal drinking age; we turned to the Rossi in college too many times to know better. more ›

The term "gaucho" for some brings to mind naive, romanticized notions of South American cowboys. For us it means sinking our teeth into a tender, juicy steak, sipping on some malbec and popping on some Steely Dan. Lush Wine & Spirits University Village location (1257 S. Halsted, 312-738-1900) won't have the Dan tomorrow, but they will have everything else as part of a humpday "gaucho party" they're throwing in their fenced-in garden seating. The steaks are going to be wood-grilled, loads of malbec will be available and, if we know the Lushies, they'll also have some tunage ready to drown out the annoying Rat Pack staples their neighbors at Franconello's will undoubtedly be spinning. more ›