My throat is finally healing and I was able to sneak in some wine-drinking in Chicago. Went to one of my favorite places to eat there: avec (http://www.avecrestaurant.com/). Lots of small plates and a quirky, inexpensive wine list.

Drank a couple of very food-friendly wines: an Italian cab franc (2003) and a Spanish grenache/syrah (2004). They were both at about $30 bucks on the restuarant list, which is great, and were easy quaffing wines that just begged for food. This is the second cab franc I have had from Italy and I am very impressed. They are doing a great job with French varietals in Italy.