"wine shops" news and stories

The world of wine can be intimidating, so you have to go into it with a few rules, and David LeClaire, the sommelier at The Tasting Room in Seattle, has some advice, including:

1. There's no such thing as peanut greg-io. Learn how to pronounce the big names, or you're going to sound like a big geek. You don't need to know everything - and it's OK to stumble on the obscure French boutiques - but do yourself a favor and take "Gewurztraminer" out for a spin before your big date.

7. Move over, Scrooge McDuck. More expensive wine is not always better, especially in the store (bottom-shelf shoppers, rejoice!). But, since a bottle of wine in a restaurant is marked up, by up to three times its retail price (four times for wines by the glass), the cheapest bottle you'll want to buy in a restaurant is $30, says LeClaire. If you're watching pennies, go for wines from Spain, Chile, Argentina or Australia - they're good and half the price.

Los Angeles is a huge, sprawling city where finding things can be difficult, despite the fact that just about anything you could want is available. Fine Living helps to narrow the search for excellent wines with their list of the best wine shops in LA.

• Wine Savor in Santa Clarita - "Great wines don't have to be a great expense" is their motto
• Du Vin in West Hollywood - Unpretentious, but specializes in French wines
• Silverlake Wine in Silverlake - Focused on quality, not quantity, but that doesn't stop them from having a large selection of sakes and microbrews.

The Fine Living list above isn't comprehensive, of course. There are many, many wine shops in Southern California. For a few more good wine shops, I would also recommend that you try Wine Expo in Santa Monica, Larchmont Village Wine & Cheese Store in Hancock Park or the Woodland Hills Wine Company in Woodland Hills.

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