The one where she proves it doesn't matter When Erin got here Saturday, I asked her if she liked wine. (Noooo, it wasn't the first thing I asked her.) She said yes, so I told her we'd have to crack open a bottle later. I don't often open a bottle just for myself because I rarely -- if ever -- finish it. Even though a glass of red wine each day is really good for you. But that's a totally different story. "YOU drink WINE?!" she asked, incredulous. "Yes, I drink wine!" "But you didn't drink at all!" Well... I do now. I mean, it's WINE. It's not like... liquor, most of which I could just leave. Except rum and vanilla Stoli. You can just put those down right here. Thanks. That night we opened a bottle of merlot I'd just gotten from our Madonna Estate wine club and I told her a couple things I'd learned about wine. Like it used to be thought that the "legs" were an indication of the wine's quality, but they're not. It's just a chemical reaction. She asked how I know this stuff and I told her I just read about it and pick up a little here and there. While we were out the next day, I took her to my favorite (locally owned) wine shop. We browsed together for a while, then she headed toward the merlot (we'd watched Sideways the night before and while we were in the shop she said, "But I don't understand what's wrong with merlot! Why didn't he like it?!") and I headed for the shiraz. I looked for a while and then headed over to the merlot/pinot noir section. I looked up to see her hand three bottles to one of the shopkeepers to put up front. Whoa! I rarely walk in and just pick out stuff by myself. But that's because I'm usually picking up something for someone else and ask for some help. (I think I know just enough that it makes it hard to pick. I like to figure out what I'm going to buy before I go.) So I asked the guy if what she picked was good. "Yeah, that's one of our best pinot noirs. And this is really good and this one is really good too." Well! I went back over to her and told her how impressed I was and picked up the Castle Rock pinot noir she had gotten. (I also found this about it.) "How'd you do that!?" "I just pick bottles that are more than $11 and less than $15." So there you have it, people. That's the secret of wine buying. Apparently. Total purchases: Erin: 6 bottles and a wine rack (she's building a collection. YAY!!) Me: Just the one bottle. (I was a little sad.)