Anyone who lives in, or around, Chicago might want to take a peek at this great map put together by Dr. Vino. According to him, the city has over 400 restaurants that allow customers to bring their own drinks to dinner, but even with so many places, it is hard to figure out quickly what restaurants permit this. The Chicago BYOB map is a start at cataloging all of these places so that diners know where they can - and can't - BYO. As of now, the map only lists about 45 or so places, but you can always write in and submit your favorite spots if they're not already listed.

And diners who are interested in BYO dining might want to check out the companion map of Chicago wine shops to pick up a bottle or two o the way to dinner.

Plenty happening across the blogosphere in regards to wine news and comments -

1. FrenchDuck details the role Negrette plays in the little appreciated French region of Fronton.
2. BasicJuice is in Austria, blogging his travels (while modeling some nifty shirts), with the latest post detailing Rust.
3. Lenndevours is splashing around with Long Island dessert wines
4. Down in Australia Cam reports on a superb Sydney Wine Dinner at Borelli's
5. And in Tennessee Benito runs us through his impressions of A Toast to Tennessee Wine Festival.
6. With this being a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and holiday in the US Good Grapes look at bbq wines is timely.
7. The Caveman is throwing wine around lobster
8. While WineCast links up with BasicJuice for more Austrian Wine Adventurers.

A hearty welcome to the New York Times for joining in the mainstream wine blogging scene.

Highly regarded journalist Eric Asimov has launched the Pour http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/ As Vinography points out it is not the first wine journalist to launch a blog (that honour goes to  Mark Fisher of the Dayton Daily News) and there are sure to be more over the coming months.

Asimov maintains he is to avoid wine tasting notes like 'avian flu' but still kicks off his writings with a piece on a ten year old Rioja rosé described as "a sort of pale coppery orange, is bone dry and unusually complex, with a captivating texture that compels you to take another sip".  

After yesterdays delightful skip through a selection of food blogs I thought a similar trip around the wine blogs was in order; after all I had a hour or so to kill this afternoon!

A couple of great recommendations to kick off from WineWaves (screenshot pictured) who provides notes on the Duck Pond Pinot Noir, 2004, Oregon which is described as  pairing well with Wood-fired, Herb-Roasted Chicken, and the second bottle went well "with Pan-Seared Salmon and Blackberry Glaze". Lenndevours is looking forward to a Lenz Winery Comparative Tasting in Long Island while Tempranillo takes a recapping trawl through his recycling bin; some good stuff in there.

Cam down at Appellation Australia has written up a mass of tasting notes from a recent trade tasting with the Curlewis Winery of Geelong scoring highly. Not seen these wines in the UK so I must keep an eye out for them; knowing my luck they are only sold in Australia. In Utah Beau on Basic Juice reports on the missing wine he sent me - it seems to have survived a trip over the pond and back again and paired nicely "with a grilled gruyere sammy accented with two shakes of herbes de Provence". Shame I never got to try it...

I have this plan to actually get to New York sometime in the next 12 months; by which time I hope that the WineChicks bring-your-own guide to NYC will offer a host of restaurants to sample; that's the plan anyway. they have also peaked my interest to hunt down some more obscure grape varieties; they recently sampled a Biodynamic Grolleau. I think I have one of those in the cellar somewhere; time to uncork it me feels.

Taking sips from both the sincere and the silly, the LA Times took a tour of several wine blogs this week. The coverage was far more interesting than their coverage of food blogs because instead of simply judging the medium of the Internet, the article considers that it could be a legitimate source of information. The columnist, Patrick Comiskey, even weighs in on how to determine what type of site might appeal to you. The sites looked at range from search engines and forums, like wine-searcher.com and winezap.com, to personal sites, like JoeDresner.com. Professional wine critics, such as Jancis Robinson, maintain some of the sites while others are merely from those who love the stuff, like Red Wine Haiku and Vinography. Whether you’re looking for recommendations, tasting notes, trivia, history or a pricing guide, you’re guaranteed to find at least one source that will fit your needs.

For a great resource to the many wine blogs, check out Wine Blog Watch.