Whittaker Wine Merchants

10/17/2026

The SAMPLE BAR is open this weekend and we’re pouring some definite beauties for the fall. Stop in and try Te Mana Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025 New Zealand and Tassajara Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2024 Monterey, CA. It’s a chilly Saturday here in Harbor Country and we have some of the best reds to warm you up. Come see us and enjoy some great w**e today. And remember…Good Friends Bring Great W**e.

10/10/2026

We’re sampling some beautiful bottles this weekend at Whittaker W**e Merchants! Stop in and try Setzer Grüner Veltliner 2025 from Austria and Badia Al Colle Chianti DOCG 2024. You won’t regret it! We’re open…come see us.

10/02/2026

This Week at the Sample Bar 🍷

Straight from our sold-out Old World vs. New World tasting at The Hummingbird Lounge — the two most-requested pours are back, and this time there's no ticket required.

🌊 Cellar Door Pescador Rosé NV (Catalonia, Spain) — A pale, playful rosé from Spain's Costa Brava with a natural touch of spritz from a light second fermentation. Fresh red fruit, a hint of citrus, and low alcohol make this one dangerously easy to sip all afternoon. "Pescador" means "fisherman" — a fitting name for a w**e built for lazy, seaside-style sipping.

🍇 Les Volets Malbec 2024 (Languedoc, France) — Proof that Malbec's roots are actually French, not Argentine. Grown high in the Pyrenees foothills, this one's cooler and more floral than the Malbec you're used to — crushed blueberries, cassis, and a whisper of violet, with a bright, juicy finish instead of heavy fruit. Malbec was the pride of Cahors, France for centuries (where it was called "Cot") until a brutal 1956 frost wiped out much of the region's vines — opening the door for Argentina to make the grape its own.

Now's your chance to see what the buzz was about. Not sure what to ask for? Tell us what you usually like, or what you're pairing it with — our team will help you find something you'll love. We taste everything we sell, so when you ask 'what's good,' you're getting a real answer.

Try a sip and find your new favorite weekend pour.

Weekend Hours:�🗓️ Friday: 12–6pm�🗓️ Saturday: 11am–6pm�🗓️ Sunday: 12–5pm

Good Friends Bring Great W**e!

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09/29/2026

We have a few seats left for our Old World vs New World comparative tasting tomorrow at The Hummingbird Lounge. Tickets are just $25 and include light bites plus a 10% discount on all w**es featured at the tasting (order for pickup after the event at Whittaker W**e Merchants). Buy your tickets on the Reservations tab at Hbirdlounge.com. Questions? Call us at 269-231-5092. See you tomorrow night!
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09/25/2026

TWO WINES. TWO COUNTRIES. ONE VERY GOOD REASON TO STOP BY

This week we’re taking your taste buds on an international field trip. Two new w**es are taking over the Sample Bar, and they’re bringing plenty of personality to the party. Come taste your way from Chile to Spain, then grab a bottle for whatever the weekend has in store. At just $14 a bottle, these are easy yeses.

🇨🇱 Siegel 1234 Reserva Red Blend 2019 | Chile
Dark, juicy and wonderfully savory, this Colchagua Valley red brings black fruit, plum, cherry, pepper, clove and a touch of chocolatey oak to the party. It’s a four-grape blend of Syrah, Carménère, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, with plenty of juicy tannin and enough structure to make it a seriously good partner for burgers, steak, grilled meats and anything coming off the backyard grill. W**e Spectator gave the 2019 88 points. The name 1234 isn't a secret code. It refers to the four grapes in the blend. Simple math. Delicious results.

🇪🇸 Milenrama Blanco 2024 | Rioja, Spain
Bright, fresh and decidedly food-friendly, this white is made from Tempranillo Blanco and Viura. Look for pear, lemony citrus, white flowers and a little fennel, with lively acidity and a clean, refreshing finish. It's the kind of bottle that disappears remarkably quickly once the snacks hit the table. Fun fact: Milenrama is Spanish for yarrow, a flowering plant. And Tempranillo Blanco? It's a naturally occurring white mutation of the famous red Tempranillo grape. Same family, very different wardrobe.

The best part? You can try both before you buy
Stop in this weekend, grab a sample, browse the shelves and find something that deserves a place at your table. Whether you're planning dinner, gathering friends, or simply looking for a bottle that makes Friday feel a little more like Friday, we've got you covered.

Good Friends Bring Great W**e! 🍷

🕐 Shop Hours�Friday: 12–6�Saturday: 11–6�Sunday: 12–5

Come taste. Come shop. Come find your next favorite bottle

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09/24/2026

What's in a grape? Depends which side of the world it's on. Same grape. Same varietal. Worlds apart. That's the whole point of our Old World vs. New World tasting — and it's why we can't wait to pour these two side by side.

No grape wears its surroundings quite like Chardonnay. Change the soil, the climate, or the w**emaking, and you get an entirely different w**e. Join us next Wednesday and taste for yourself:

🇺🇸 Duxinaro Chardonnay — Russian River Valley, California�New World and proud of it. Aged in French oak for a full year, this one's rich and generous: roasted pineapple, toast, lime, and peach, with a long, layered finish. Bold, sunny, built for butter and cream.

🇫🇷 La Belle Citadelle Petit Chablis — Chablis, Burgundy, France�Old World through and through. No oak, no shortcuts — just Chardonnay grown on ancient limestone soil. Expect green apple, citrus, white flowers, and that signature chalky, flinty minerality. Lean, tense, and bone-dry.

Ready to join us?
🍷 Curated W**e Tasting — Wednesday, September 30 at The Hummingbird Lounge
🎟️ Seating is limited — don't wait to grab your spot.�👉 Tickets: $25/person. Available on the Reservations tab at Hummingbird's website�📞 Or call us: 269-231-5092

Which side are you on — oak or no oak?
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09/18/2026

🍷 WHAT’S YOUR WEEKEND POUR?

The weekend forecast calls for fall weather: football, tailgates, backyard hangs, and plenty of reasons to get outside. We’ve got the w**e part covered. 😉

This week’s pours take us from South Africa to Greece, with two w**es that are very different but equally easy to enjoy.

🇿🇦 De Wetshof Estate Limestone Hill Chardonnay 2024
Crisp, bright and decidedly not your big, buttery Chardonnay. Think grapefruit, lemon peel, green apple, a touch of peach and a lovely chalky minerality. It’s unoaked, so the fruit and the limestone-rich Robertson Valley terroir get to take center stage. The 2024 earned 90 points from James Suckling and 90 from W**e Advocate. The Limestone Hill name has a seriously cool geological backstory. Millions of years ago, termite colonies built enormous mounds in the Robertson Valley. Over time, those mounds calcified, contributing to the limestone-rich soils that help give this Chardonnay its distinctive mineral character.

🇬🇷 ZOE Red 2024
A juicy, medium-bodied Greek red made from 90% Agiorgitiko and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Expect ripe cherry and blackberry, plum, dried herbs, a little violet and spice, with soft tannins and lively acidity. It's the kind of red that works just as well with burgers and grilled sausages as it does with a plate of Greek-inspired food. Agiorgitiko is one of Greece’s signature native grapes, and this w**e comes from the Peloponnese, one of the country’s historic w**e regions.

So whether you're headed to the game, a backyard barbecue, beach hang, or sunset session, stop by and taste before you buy. And remember, we’ve got w**e, craft b**r AND canned cocktails for pretty much every occasion your weekend can throw at you.

Sample. Shop. Stock up. Get outside.

Shop Hours:�Friday 12–6�Saturday 11–6�Sunday 12–5

Come find your weekend pour.

Good Friends Bring Great W**e!

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09/16/2026

🍷 September's selections just landed — grab your passport. From a gravity-flow w**ery in coastal Chile to a 600-year-old Croatian grape, this month's W**e Society picks take you three very different places. 🍷

🥂 Matetic EQ Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2023 (Chile)�Crisp, saline, and mineral-driven with notes of citrus, lime, and tropical fruit. It's made at a fully gravity-flow w**ery in Chile — the w**e never touches a pump on its way from grape to bottle.

🍇 Margins Neutral Oak Hotel Red NV (California)�A juicy, chillable red blend of seven different grapes, built for easy sipping. W**emaker Megan Bell closed Margins for good this spring after a decade in Santa Cruz — so this bottle is part of the label's final chapter.

🍒 Kadum Teran 2024 (Istria, Croatia)�Bright cherry, red currant, and a peppery kick from a grape you've probably never heard of. Teran was first written about in 1390 — this indigenous variety has been grown in Croatia for over 600 years.

Curious what else is in the box? This is just a preview of what our W**e Society members get every month.
👉 Join W**e Society today and get:
• 10% of all W**e Society w**es
• 5% year-round storewide discount
• Invitations to special tastings and discounts on shop events
• Choose between the 2-bottle Hidden Gem option or go full nerd with the 3-bottle Curiosity Seeker package
• Free to Join - pause or cancel anytime

There’s still room to join. Call us at 269-231-5092 or sign up at www.whittakerw**emerchants.com — your w**e rack is waiting. 🍷

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09/13/2026

09/11/2026

Old World vs. New World: A Guided W**e Tasting

Same grape. Same species, same DNA, same starting point. So why does a w**e from California taste nothing like its cousin from France? Grab a glass and find out.

This new guided tasting format — replacing our former Twenty for $25 walkaround tasting — puts Old World and New World w**es side by side so you can taste, firsthand, how climate, soil, and w**emaking styles can turn identical grapes into w**es with entirely different personalities. You'll work through matched pairings across whites and reds, explore how two rosés can take completely different approaches to a "pink w**e," and finish with a surprise sparkling pour to cleanse the palate.

Guiding you through it all is M. Kirby of Imperial Beverage, bringing more than 38 years of experience in restaurant and beverage w**e buying and education to the table.

What's included:
• A guided tasting through 11 w**es, Old World vs. New World
• Light bites throughout the evening
• Detailed tasting notes for every w**e, with space to jot your own impressions
• 10% off any featured w**es you'd like to take home, available for pickup at Whittaker W**e Merchants after the event

Tickets available on the Reservations page at HBirdLounge.com — walk-ins welcome, but advance registration is encouraged. Questions? Call (269) 231-5092 or visit WhittakerW**eMerchants.com.

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