Still drinking, just swirling wine that is a little cheaper

People may have cut their Starbucks lattes, their pricey haircuts and highlights and their weekly massages, but they haven’t cut drinking. Wine, that is. (Although one suspects that the financial crisis is probably driving some to imbibe more of the hard stuff).

According to this article by the LA Times, people are just looking for better deals. Out go the $80 bottles of wine, in go the $15-$25 range. And thanks to newer producers like Australia, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa and Argentina, there are plenty of fabulous deals to go around. Here in San Diego, our local wine shop (Dick’s Liquor) is having a 10-50% off sale on most of the wines. I found some excellent zinfandels, pinot noirs, cabernet sauvignons and syrahs on sale.

So don’t despair. Just be creative and you’re bound to find a wonderful bottle or two.

Check out the full article:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-wine4-2009feb04,0,7436559.story

From the Los Angeles Times

WINE

It’s a buyer’s market in wine

Although people may not be buying as many expensive bottles as before, they’re still seeking out quality wine. And retailers are responding with specials.

By Patrick Comiskey

February 4, 2009

As we limp into 2009, watching our mad money dwindle from a mountain to a mound to a modest lump, you’d probably rather not think too much about restocking the dent you put in your wine collection over the holidays.

But there are many signs that this economic downturn could result in a mini-boom for wine lovers. Perhaps more than at any other time in the last five years, this is an opportunity for consumers to not only drink really good wines, but also to drink better for less. This is true in nearly every price category, and in nearly every region; for the truly savvy, this could be one of the more exciting periods in recent years for America’s rekindled love affair with the grape.

All of the area retailers I spoke with said that, despite bouts of dark humor along the lines of “things are so bad I can’t stop drinking now,” all is not gloom and doom on the floors of your average wine shop. “People are pretty happy when they’re here,” says wine buyer Kyle Meyer of the Wine Exchange in Orange. “I mean, this isn’t a doctor’s office.”

Indeed, there’s a prevailing sense that, even in tough economic times, Americans have not lost their thirst for good wine, and its enjoyment has become a regular part of their lives. We all may be watching our pennies, but so far, at any rate, we haven’t been willing to part with this everyday pleasure. The genie is out of the bottle, and the only place it’s going to go is into a glass.

But the mood has turned less exuberant than it was in the rip-roaring days before the crash. “People are definitely trading down,” says Mike Greene, general manager of Woodland Hills Wine Co. “They don’t seem to be cutting back on the amount of wine they’re buying, but they’re much more fixated on what they’re spending.”

And retailers have responded. There’s consensus that 2009 will be the Year of the Shrinkage. In the coming months, distributors will be looking for every opportunity to trim their inventory.

The result is a buyer’s market for retailers and consumers alike. Wine shops are scouring distributor catalogs for bargains and actively recalibrating their stock for the new economic reality. In many parts of the market, deals are there for the taking.

“Oh yeah, we’re vultures, no question about it,” says Meyer of the Wine Exchange, “but we know good wine, and we’re giving our customers more for what they spend.”

New comfort zone

Most retailers agree that, in terms of a retail “sweet spot” — the price that regular customers feel most comfortable spending — $25 has become the new $40. Whether it’s a village Burgundy or a fancy new Syrah from Walla Walla, Wash., people are comfortable spending $25 but get balky if the price rises much above that. As for the more expensive wines? “If you’re a $40 wine on the shelf,” Woodland Hills’ Greene says, “you’re probably a pretty lonely bottle about now.”

That’s not to say that customers have abandoned expensive wine. “My customers still want their special bottles,” says Jim Knight from the Wine House in West L.A., who points out that his allocation of the pedigreed Santa Ynez Rhône blend from Jonata (as in the folks who bring you Screaming Eagle) was snatched up in days. “They still want their Friday-night dinner wine to be a step up from Wednesday’s.”

But even among highflying, Parker-point-chasing, mega-cult reds, there are deals. “If you don’t have a track record,” Greene says, “you may just have to suck it up and price it right.”

At least some of the deals are coming from distributors, whose warehouses are full of inventory accumulated in better days and who are striking deals to move it out. A store like Wine Exchange is large enough, and has sufficient clout among distributors, that Meyer can leverage even better margins above already discounted offers. “They’ll come to me with a 30% discount. I tell them, ‘You give me 50% and I’ll take it all.’ ” That’s the sort of bargain Meyer likes to pass on to his monthly wine clubs and other dedicated customers. Not every shop has this sort of leverage, but most stores have taken advantage of closeouts, end-of-vintage or end-of-year specials.

Some of the wines being offered by distributors are rarities, boutique and hard-to-find wines that in the past would have been allocated to just a tiny group of mostly restaurant accounts but now are going to a broader range of outlets. “We’ve really benefited from some allocation shifts,” says Chris Meeske of Mission Wines in South Pasadena, who can now get wines like the current vintage of Ridge’s great Cabernet blend, Monte Bello. “I’ve got all of these wines I couldn’t get before, and they’re flying out the door.” Some wineries are even cutting out the middleman; one retailer spoke of a winery owner who tried to sell him his wine direct at a price that undercut the winery’s distributor by 20%.

Good value

Going straight to the source can certainly pay off, even if you’re not allowed to say who that source might be. Late last year, Gary Fishman, domestic wine buyer for Wally’s Wine Merchant, purchased and bottled a 2006 Cabernet blend from a well-regarded, Parker-anointed Napa winery (which must remain nameless) as a store brand for the L.A. wine shop. Called Cyclone, it retails for about $70, less than half the price of similar wines from that winery.

Meanwhile, the new $25 sweet spot is crowded with value. After a string of good vintages in the Beaujolais, Loire and Rhône valleys, even the most modest bottlings from those regions are drinking beautifully. The 2007 vintage in the Piedmont will one day yield some exquisite Barolos and Barbarescos; but the inexpensive Nebbiolos from Alba and the Langhe — not to mention a bumper crop of charming Dolcettos and Barberas — are marvelous right now. In Spain, 2007 wasn’t quite the same quality vintage as in France and Italy, but the values from places like Montsant, Rueda and Bierzo are as strong as ever.

Every retailer I spoke with mentioned the exceptional Malbecs of Argentina, which continue to outperform for their price. Not only do they get better with each vintage, but they also stay inexpensive — almost all of them are under $20.

And most retailers predicted that Australia’s crowded tier of premium Shirazes and other reds — wines that came into the market at $40 or more — is almost certainly going to be discounted for tremendous bargains.

You might expect smaller retail shops, such as Mission Wines in South Pasadena and the Colorado Wine Co. in Eagle Rock, to be more vulnerable to economic woes, but so far that hasn’t proven to be the case. They may not have the buying power of some of the bigger stores, but with a smaller inventory they can be more nimble with their stock.

And all are doing more with less. “Instead of having three Amarone, I’ve got one, and a much cheaper ripasso-style Valpolicella that drinks like one,” says John Nugent, owner of the Colorado Wine Co. The shelves are far from empty; they’re just filled with less-expensive, more carefully selected wine.

The care that goes into selection is certainly not lost on its clientele, which has a bond with the store that Nugent says has not diminished.

“I get people almost every day asking me how the shop is doing,” Nugent says. “They want to know we’re OK; they don’t want to lose the relationship. They don’t want to have to go to Vons for their dinner wine. They’re way past that.”

 

When Ignorance is Bliss

Can your taste buds really detect the difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $100 or a $1,000 bottle of wine? I’ve had this conversation endless times with family and friends. Most people agree that there’s some difference between the cheapest bottle of wine on a menu and something a little better, but when you start getting into the stratospheric levels, it’s really not worth it, they say.

My take is that you can tell the difference. Good wine is silkier, less rough on the tongue, has more body, more complexity.

Turns out we’re both right. According to the publication “Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?” from the American Association of Wine Economists published in the Journal of Wine Economics, Vol. 3, No. 1, it depends on who is doing the tasting. Regular folks can’t tell the difference between expensive and cheap wines. It’s really not worth it for them to blow $400 on a bottle of wine when a $40 or a $15 bottle would have done.

But the wine snobs, oh, they can tell. It’s both a blessing and a curse. Obviously it’s nice to be able to know that your tongue distinguishes between the best of the best and the cheap Two Buck Chuck.

Then again, you make for an expensive date.

I love this little essay in the Freakonomics blog on the New York Times about how Steven Levitt was always miffed that he was offered expensive wines when at Harvard’s Society of Fellows when just the cash would have sufficed. His advice:

No matter what, do not let yourself become a wine expert who can tell the difference between cheap and expensive wines. When it comes to your pocketbook and wine, ignorance is bliss.

The one thing Levitt missed is that neuroeconomics studies have found that people drinking expensive wine actually physiologically enjoy the pricey wine better (when they know the price, of course). In other words, your brain is actually tricked into thinking the expensive stuff is tastier and you can see it in the reward centers. So it’s not of much use if you’re doing a blind tasting, but if you’re treating yourself to a nice bottle of wine, you’ll at least enjoy it more, even if your pocketbook doesn’t.

 

Learn and laugh as you watch this wine guy

Wine tasting, buying and collecting is considered by many to be stuffy, elitist and boring.

I wish they would watch Gary Vaynerchuk’s video podcasts (Wine Library TV).

You’ll laugh so hard out loud that people around you may wonder whether you’re insane. You’ll giggle at his facial expressions, chuckle at his descriptions of wine (he compared the smell of one wine to powdered lemonade) and tears will be coming out of your eyes by the time you’re finished with the show.

Oh, yeah, and you’ll learn about wine. He knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to share it with ya.

I just watched an episode where he compares Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio (which are made from the same grape — just in different styles) and found myself learning a thing or two. Plus, he rates the wines he tastes and talks you through the ratings, which helps you understand why a wine got a certain score (for example, an expensive wine with an “eh” taste rates lower than a cheaper wine that tastes the same).

If you’re on the path to wine snobdom, forget the stuffy wine mags, you’ve got to watch this guy.

 

Chew on this: The World in Food Numbers

We all have stereotypes of different countries. The French drink a lot of wine, the Russians a lot of vodka and the Mexicans a lot of Corona. Boy, are we wrong (well, at least in terms of who do it the most).

Read these random facts and figures (food-related, of course) from the The Economist Pocket World in Figures (2008 Edition):

World’s Greatest Beer Guzzlers (Off-trade sales, liters per head of pop.)

1. Czech Republic (You were thinking Germany, eh?) – 82.4
2. Venezuela – 71.6
3. Australia – (68.7)

Top Global Smokers (Average Annual Consumption of cigarettes per head per day)

1. Greece (!) – 8.4 (Who knew that these Mediterranean denizens were such smokers?)
2. Macedonia – 7.1
3. Russia – 6.8

World Winos (Off-trade sales, liters of head of pop.)

1. Portugal – 32.1
2. Switzerland – 29.5 (They may be neutral, but they’re not sober!)
3. Italy – 29.4

Spirited, they are: Greatest Consumers of Alcoholic Drinks (Off-trade sales, liters per head of pop.)

1. Australia – 99.2 (those Aussies really put it away!)
2. Czech Republic – 98.2
3. Germany – 96.2

(The U.S., by the way, is #12, with 73.8)

Pass the Lipitor (Cardiovascular Deaths per 100,000 population, age standardized, 2002)

(Basically, living incountries that end in “stan” is not good for your heart!)

1. Turkmenistan (and you thought the U.S. with its diabesity crisis was #1!) – 844
2. Tajikistan – 753
3. Kazakhstan – 713
4. Afghanistan – 706

Where’s the Sugar? (Diabetes rates, % of population aged 20-79, 2007)

(Looks like living in an oil-rich country is hazardous to your health!)

1. United Arab Emirates – 19.5
2. Saudi Arabia – 16.7
3. Kuwait – 14.4
4. Oman – 13.1

 

Screw, Cork or Rubber: Corks Demystified

There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting down to a warm, copious repast and hearing the familiar “pop” as you open a bottle of wine.

But if more wineries have their way, you may soon be hearing the sound of a screw top being unfastened. Or, that familiar corky top may be replaced with a rubber one.

Why the change? For one, cork is a natural material and thus subject to nature’s inconsistencies. Some cork can taint the wine — up to 5 or 8 percent of wine is thought to have cork taint — so by eliminating this factor, you can keep the wine from spoiling. (Learn about how to detect cork-tainted wine in this post).

Plus, screw tops can prevent air– and thus oxygen — from seeping into wine. Exposure to air oxidizes the wine; that’s why wine that has been opened for days doesn’t taste quite as good. But a little, teeny bit of air is good, argue some wine experts, and that can help the wine age. So for wines that you’re going to store for years, maybe decades, a cork top is the way to go.

Finally, there’s the cost factor. Really nice corks (yes, there is a huge quality difference between cheap corks and expensive corks, which can run almost $1 each) are made from the best quality cork wood and have small holes that let as little air in as possible. Using cheaper corks can be OK, but for cheaper wines, a screw cap works much better and is much cheaper. That being said, there are pricey screw caps out there, too, and you’re starting to see them in nicer wines.

In the hottest new wine regions, screw caps are becoming de rigueur. According to this article at BeverageDaily.com, nearly 90 percent of New Zealand wine comes in a screw cap. Australia’s is reaching 50 percent.
Even so, many wineries, particularly those in France, are not going to give up that cork. Their customers expect to see it and to deny them the pleasure of popping open that bottle would be absolument terrible.

Check out this great article on Appellation America about the screw cap debacle. I think the use of these tops is best summed up by Jason Haas of the Tablas Creek Winery:

“It depends on what we want the evolution of the wine to be. For an aromatic white, or for our Rosé, we like the brightness and freshness that the screw cap closure provides, and believe that the screw cap will have the additional benefit of keeping these wines (which are typically meant to be enjoyed young) tasting youthful longer.”

(photo credit: New Zealand Herald)

 

Culver City = Foodie Haven

With my trusty Cole Haan heels in my bag and a copy of Elle magazine in hand (hey, I was heading to the La La Land — aka the land of the superficial), I hopped onto Amtrak and headed down to Los Angeles this last weekend. The boy and I stayed in a hotel in Culver City, so I decided to make our evening plans in the environs and made plans with Christa and her boy to meet up.

Culver City has brilliantly rebranded itself. Once a decaying exurb bordering Santa Monica, it is now a vibrant, trendy hub filled with beautiful people clinking glasses and eating gastropub fare. Ford’s Filling Station, owned by Harrison Ford’s son, lies within the city limits and Fraiche, which has the second most requested reservations on OpenTable.com in LA (according to Christa), is only a few yards away.

We started off at BottleRock, as per Christa’s suggestion, which is a fabulous little wine bar with a huge wine menu and a pretty thick beer book as well. The metal high chairs and bar tables paired nicely with the bar’s sleek interior and the wine racks on the side added a bit o’ humor with funny signs such as “effin’ merlot” and “pinot envy.”

The boys choose beer while Christa and I selected some wines. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m very into wine these days, so I ordered a 2003 Cordon Syrah — dusty, earthy, dark plum jam flavors — and shared fruit-and-nut bread crostini with the boyfriend (who got the PranQster Belgian Style Golden Ale — my new favorite beer — fruity and crisp), which were topped with crispy prosciutto. Christa and her boy shared a truffle grilled cheese sandwich which looked quite tasty as well. Glasses by the wine range from about $6 to $65 for the most expensive wines.

We skedaddled over to Tender Greens — a casual spot that serves a variety of fresh tossed salads — and watched as our meals were prepared in front of our eyes. Compared to most of the restaurant spots in the area, Tender Greens is pretty inexpensive. I opted for the steak salad, which featured several slices of rare, juicy steak topped on mesclun, while the boy picked the vegan salad. His dish had several grain salads and a big scoop of delicious green hummus all topped with fresh mixed greens.

We ended the night with some gelato from Ugo — a conetto and chocolate concoction that was creamy and rich (and pricey! $4.60 for gelato! what is this? Starbucks?) and thus ended our Culver City jaunt.

I most definitely recommend a visit or two (or three!) if you haven’t made it to this little gem. Street parking is available (and for the most part free after 6 p.m.) and the hip, unpretentious ambiance is most welcoming here in La La Land.

 

Drink Up: “The History of the World in Six Glasses”

Beer, yes, beer — has made history. And no, we’re not talking about the hazy stories told the morning after beer-soaked frat parties — we’re talking thousands of years of real history. Who knew that the bubbly, fermented beverage was once a form of currency in ancient Mesopotamia? Or that Egyptian mothers were urged to give beer to their children?

I feel like much was edited out of my history textbooks, likely the result of overzealous parents hoping to shield their innocent children from any book containing the word alcohol. But to censor alcohol is to censor history — the oldest forms of writing in several cultures include the intoxicating elixir. Fortunately, Tom Sandage’s book, “The History of the World in Six Glasses”, has filled in those critical gaps.

Sandage — the technology editor for the Economist — regales us with tales of how beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola have shaped history. And unlike your dry history books of yore, Sandage has full of cocktail party-worthy tidbits (and has any topic ever been more interesting for a cocktail party?) that keep you intrigued. Who knew, for instance, that tea began as a medicinal gruel in China, mixed in with garlic, shallots and ginger? Or that Coca-Cola was exempted from sugar rationing during World War II so that it could be sent abroad to the troops to keep up morale?

What’s funny is that while reading the book, you recognize that, well, some things haven’t changed. Greek and Roman wine buffs distinguished between wines of different regions and prided themselves on their knowledge. In ancient Rome, wine became a symbol of social differentiation, of status and class. “For wealthy Romans, the ability to recognize and name the finest wines was an important form of conspicuous consumption; it showed that they were rich enough to afford the finest wines and had spent time learning which was which.”

Hmmm… sounds to me quite a lot like modern readers of Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast!

My only complaint is that the book is too short. Sandage picks only several periods in history to highlight as he talks about the influences of these drinks when we well know that some of their influence stretches across different cultures and eras. For instance, how can you tell the story of coffee while mentioning modern coffee empires like Starbucks in only one line? Or how to talk about the history of wine without mentioning new regions like California, Chile and Argentina? Clearly, each of these drinks deserves a volume and it’s difficult to include everything, but all in all, the book is quite fun to read.

Some of my favorite facts (take these to your next wine-and-cheese — you’re sure to impress):

• Coca-Cola still includes extracts from the koca plant, from which it was initially derived
• In 1671, French doctors decried that coffee caused impotence and burned the blood (they did so at the behest of wine merchants who feared for their livelihood)
• “Coca-Cola” is said to be the second most understood phrase in the world after “OK”
• The word “alcohol” is derived from the Arabic “al-koh’l”; the Arabs became master distillers around 1000 A.D.
• The first stockmarkets started in European coffehouses
• The British began adding sugar and tea to their milk in order to mask the bitter and often adulterated beverage (merchants added loose leaves, ash, sawdust — even sheep’s dung to stretch the tea)
• Sailors in the 1600 and 1700s were able to prevent scurvy by drinking “grog:” rum, lemon juice, water and spices on board
• Greeks and Romans almost always drank their wine with water

 

Becoming a wine snob: step three

For those just joining the blog, check out steps one and two before reading on!

You’re the envy of your friends at the restaurant table when you knowingly pick the perfect Viogner, others look to you with awe as you describe the nose of a Malbec. Now it’s time to learn some vineyard, winery and tasting lingo. Throw these words around next time you go wine tasting with your friends in Napa and you’ll be the star of the tour:

Clone – No, not a science-fiction term, although grape clones do result from weird mutations. Wine grapes are known to spontaneously mutate in the vineyard. The result is a very, very close relative of the grape type (or varietal) called a clone. Some clones are given numbers (for instance, “777” is a clone of Pinot Noir) while others are given names based on their history (the “Swan” clone was taken from Joseph Swan’s vineyard) Many wines are a blend of a bunch of different clones. Many wineries are now offering “clonal tastings” where you can taste the clones before they are blended.

Finish – The lingering effect of wine in your mouth. The longer the length, the better. If the wine is acidic, you might describe the finish as “edgy,” while a creamy finish would be better described as “smooth,” or “silky.”

Malolactic Fermentation – This jargony term refers to a bacterial process that takes place in the wine. Yep, bacteria! These little guys turn the acetic acid in wine (which has an apple-y flavor) into lactic acid (the same acid found in milk). The result is that you get a creamy, rich wine when it has gone through malolactic or “ML” fermentation.

Punchdown – A technique during fermentation that mixes up the juice and skins. I spent a good chunk of the summer of 2007 doing punchdowns. Pinot Noir and Syrah have to be punched down three times a day. The winery where I worked had 20 tanks and each took anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes. You do the math to determine the amount of manual labor this took!

Check out this cool video from WineSpectator.com that shows you how the punchdowns are done:

Brix – A measure for determining sugar levels in wine (specifically, the ratio of dissolved sugar to water).

Residual Sugars – Also known as “RS” (you’ll hear this term thrown around by really stuffy wine snobs), RS refers to unfermented grape sugar that remains in wine after the fermentation process.

Vertical Tasting – You’ll see these offered at some wineries. A vertical tasting refers to tasting several vintages of the same wine: you’ll taste the 2003, 2004 and 2005 vintages and compare.

For more wine lingo, check out this great glossary over at Fine Cooking that demystifies other wine terms. Learn them all and impress your friends.

 

Donkeys, Elephants and Drinks: What you drink says something about how you vote

Like Dr. Pepper? What about Fiji water?

If you answered yes to both of those questions, according to this article in the New York Times by Kim Severson, you’re probably a Republican.

Democrats are more likely to drink Pepsi-Cola, Sprite, Evian, gin, vodka and white wine.

Is this a case of taking data a little too far or do affinities for these drinks really determine how you vote?

The article goes on to explain the concept of microtargeting. By matching the brands that you are likely to like, they can figure out your demographic fingerprint and therefore how likely you are to vote (and thus whether or not they should send you a mailer). Democrats tend to skew toward more Whole Food-y type drinks and food, while Republicans are more likely to like heartier places. There are even differences among Democrats: Obama’s fans are more likely to love lattes and arugula (they are more likely to be part of the professional middle class) while Hillaristas are more likely to shop at Wal-Mart and eat frozen meals (her voters tend to be more lower class whites).

But, as we all know, microtargeting can most definitely miss the target. I love Starbucks, arugula, Whole Foods — by all political food data reasoning, I should love Obama. But I must admit, I’m not an Obama girl.

My take? The food microtargeting has gone a bit far. People and pollsters should really be focusing on the real issues rather than on how Republicans and Democrats prefer different types of drinks.

As an aside, I thought this was very cute: When the owners of Ben & Jerry’s endorsed Obama, he proposed a ice cream new flavor:

“Yes, Pecan!”

Love it.

 

Becoming a Wine Snob: Step Two

So you’ve mastered the sniffing and swirling and can now wax on eloquently about the “nose” or “bouquet” of a particular wine. Your friends are starting to think you know something about wine, so the next time you’re at a restaurant, they hand you the wine list.

You gulp. Flipping through the pages and pages of wines, some which are as cheap as $20 a bottle and others that range into the hundreds, you begin to panic. What if you order the wrong wine? What if no one likes it? What price range should I go for if I’m looking for something pretty good but not exorbitant?

Before you get to the restaurant, as you taste wines at home, rather than remembering specific labels or vintages, familiarize yourself with regions and varietals. Let’s say you have an amazing Pinot Noir at dinner one night. I had bottle of 1998 Littorai Pinot Noir “Hirsch Vineyard” the other night. Chances are, I’m not going to find the same exact wine at a restaurant, but there will likely find other Pinot Noirs from Sonoma or Mendocino where Ted Lemon of Littorai sources his grapes.

You can even get specific and look for wines from the same growers. Hirsch Vineyard, owned by David Hirsch, sells grapes to many winemakers. If you find another wine with the same grapes, you’ll get even closer to what you’re looking for.

Also, pay attention to varietals. You might love one type of grape from a region, but aren’t a fan of other varietals. Let’s say you try a really great Sauvignon Blanc from Russian River Valley — Merry Edwards, for instance, makes an amazing Sav Blanc. If you’re at a restaurant, you might find a Merry Edwards Chardonnay, but if you aren’t a fan of big, oaky wines, perhaps looking for another Sauvignon Blanc from this region (Russian River Valley is in the county of Sonoma) would be a better idea.

Remember, when you order the same varietal or a wine from the same region, you won’t get exactly the same thing: winemaker styles, grape quality and the particular year’s weather conditions are all factors that influence the wine, but you’ll get an approximation and now you’re at least able to narrow down some ideas.

Plus, now that you’ve gained some knowledge about the region, you can spout some more wine snob talk as you order the wine:

“Oh, yes, we’ll have the Hanna Sauvignon Blanc please,” you’ll tell the waiter before turning to your friends. “I had the most delightful Sauvignon Blanc from this region a while back. A Merry Edwards Sav Blanc, I recall.”

You’ll be on your way to becoming a true wine snob.

Oh, and as for the price thing: it’s really important to be conscious about how much your group is willing to pay for a bottle of wine. Not everyone is a wine snob yet, so be sensitive to your eating companions’ budgets.