About Rave Wines

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Rave Wines. Well-rated wines, expert recommendations, great value – that's Rave.

With so many excellent wines in the marketplace today, it is difficult for even the most studied connoisseur to make a buying decision. Faced with a dizzying array, buyers often choose wines based purely on price, or on marketing – or just plain guesswork. The result? Mediocre wine drinking!

Rave eliminates the guesswork by selling only the best.

The first cut Rave applies to all its wine is a base measure by the expert ratings of the three leading wine publications; Wine Advocate (WA), Wine Enthusiast (WE) and Wine Spectator (WS). Across the three publications the ratings scales vary a little but in general you can rely on:

To make it onto Rave shelves a wine must be rated 88 points or better. Why 88? At 88 you can always be confident that the wine is considered very, very good – you'd be surprised how may wines being sold out there come no where near this level. Rave Wines could have gone higher on the scale – but then we'd be missing a lot of ‘sleeper' wines – just because they didn't score a 90 - something doesn't mean they aren't incredibly quaffable. And, at the "lower" end of 88-95, they're usually a better value than wines that consistently come in rated at 95 or higher. At 88 and above you'll have a wide variety of wines to choose from and you'll never have to settle for anything less than very, very good!

After having been recognized by at least one of the expert publications the next cut is to be considered worthy by Rave's proprietor – with 20 years in the industry that can be an even tougher rating to achieve.

From time to time you will find a special RR rating, this designates a Rave's Rave. Rave's Raves have not yet been rated yet in print – but they merit consideration based on stand-out style, exceptional taste, previous vintage performance or great value for their category. Rave makes it easy to see, understand and be comfortable with the various rating systems. Every wine is clearly marked with its rating and expert advice is always available.

Rave Wines carefully selects each wine on its shelves, researching and tasting each one so when you take it home – it's with confidence you'll enjoy it with family and friends.

The result: No guesswork, only great wines for consistently happy wine drinking.

Doug Springer

Doug has 20 years professional experience buying, selling and drinking fine wines. Starting on the distribution side of the wine business, Doug quickly learned the power of marketing combined with pricing to get wines out there – and just as quickly learned about what real value means against those factors. Later, Doug moved on to directly represent a variety of wineries, such as Charles Krug, Mondavi, Sebastiani and Wild Horse. This experience helped Doug take his wine business knowledge to the next level, becoming expert in the How, What and Who aspects of what makes a great wine.

Applying his knowledge, experience and passion to opening Rave Wines, Doug brings his background full circle – and let's the wine drinker reap the benefit.

Doug Springer, an avid cyclist, lives in Oak Park, Illinois with his wife and three young daughters.

lynda jo shlaes

Prior to coming to work for Rave Wines in November of 2007,  Lynda Jo has been in the wine trade since the late 1980s, as awholesale representative, retailer, speaker, and founding member of Les Doyennes du Vin. Though she is a recognized authority on Italian wines, she has a balanced body of experience in the major wine-making
countries, grapes and styles.

Her tastes range from Kansas City's finest vintage port to world-class Barbaresco from friends in Piemonte. The latest concoctions of her homebrewer husband do not escape her attention and comment.

An Oak Park local, she brings her infectious joy in wine to a growing
cadre of Rave patrons. Come in, tell her what you're cooking and
what you like, and be amazed.