Wine cheat sheet

Ok...maybe you're the type that refuses to be helped by a salesperson or waiter when finding that perfect bottle the same way us men refuse to stop for directions when driving.  Maybe t's something in our genes passed down from generations of hunters and gatherers or maybe it's because some people do not want to be ridiculed.  I shop around a lot of stores.  I like to be sold to sometimes.  It makes me feel like I'm off duty.  There's nothing better than going into another wine shop and having someone help me pick something out.  The negative is when some Poindexter wine geek sticks his nose up to every inquire or suggestion I make.  If you don't have the wine, just say so. There's no need to ridicule what I like.  Once in a while you get a shop owner that likes to converse about your selections and offers up some suggestions of his own.  That's the fun part!

BUT what if you don't like taking advice or suggestions from someone else?  What to do what to do?  There is a cheat sheet to make it easy to spot a great bottle and it's FREE!

On the back of every bottle is a label and on that label should be who imports the wine into the U.S.  There are many different groups out there just like there are jars of tomato sauce on the grocery shelf...so how do you tell one from the other?

From France look for the following guys:

• Kermit Lynch
• Fredrick Wildman
• LaTour

From Spain:

• Jorge Ordonez is one of the top!
• Eric Solomon or European cellars
• Ole Imports
• Boedgas Olarra/Classic Wines of Spain
• Gil Family Estates

Italy

• Winebow
• Neil Empson
• Opici...not just the jug wine guy, but an entire empire of great wine selections.

Again with anything it's your taste buds.  This is 9 times outta 10, fool proof.  I've shown people and now when I see them in the shop, they are turning over bottles to see who is on the back.  Understand this though...find the importer, if you like the wine understand why you like it.  Then look at the region it came from and the blend of the wine.  Next start looking for similar wines from that region and you'll be progressing on your own without the "cliff notes".

Cheers!