Hire Your Wine Shop

I was twenty-two and had lived in New York City a year when I was asked to bring a bottle of wine to a summer picnic in Astoria. I considered gin and tonic the perfect summer drink. I knew nothing about wine. So I marched into my local wine-and-liquor store on the Upper West and asked the proprietor for "a good white wine for a picnic." Without a second thought, he reached to a shelf somewhere around his knees and handed me "the perfect thing," a bottle of Blue Nun. And without a second thought, I bought it.

That weekend, I plunked my contribution onto the booze table and turned to greet my hostess. A moment later, over my right shoulder, I heard a voice steeped in irony: "Oh, look--someone brought Blue Nun. It wouldn't be a party without Blue Nun!"

What had I done? Nothing so terrible, it turns out. The wine guy had given me a harmless, slightly sweet white wine from Germany with a rather pedestrian image. But I never trusted him again.

Now I know that he fell into the "stong, silent camp" of wine sellers--the ones who know what's good for you, regardless of what you're planning to do with it. The other extreme, of course, is the wine seller who considers it his or her duty to bombard you with lingo and unnecessary knowledge in order to prove his superior wine savvy. It's the middle ground--the enlightened, new species of wine seller--you're looking for.

The key, as always, is to shop around--for the right wine shop, or for the right wine salesperson in the wine shop you go to. Look for someone who listens to how or when you plan to serve the wine, how much you want to pay, and what features you generally like. Did you get snooty service at one shop? Move on to a different shop. Or politely request to speak with a different salesperson who is perhaps more tuned to the beginner. Think of it as interviewing prospective employees. Because if you're going to spend your money in a wine shop, you'll want someone working for you whom you like, who is knowledgeable, down-to-earth, listens, and actually loves helping people enjoy wine. This is the new wine salesperson--and there are plenty of them out there.

Once you've hired your wine shop, you can have some fun there. Drop in for tastings. These are free and are run by the shop or by wine distributors whose reps come in to pour and talk about their wines. Some customers even enjoy bringing their own wine glasses to larger tastings so they don't have to drink from paper cups. Many large wine shops also run educational programs or wine dinners--ask for a schedule of events. Other ideas: Design a world wine tour for yourself. Pick a country or region and ask your salesperson to give you a bottle made from one of the typical grapes of that place each time you come in. Or reverse that equation: Pick a grape variety and ask for that variety from every country or region that makes it, a bottle or two per visit. Or ask him or her to recommend a wine made from a grape you've never heard of, like mavrodaphne (Greece) or lagrein (northern Italy). Or from a country whose wine you've never tried: Bulgaria, Switzerland, Croatia. Ask your salesperson what his or her presonal favorite is in your price range. Describe your dinner menu and ask for a good wine match. If you are comfortable with your wine salesperson, you can enjoy playing, and you'll learn something every time you go to your wine shop.

Comments

[Kara]

I like the ideas of "hiring" a wine shop, and of "touring" regions or grape varieties.