wine for dummies
A friend of mine, who lives up in Boston, recently saw the movie Mondovino (which, as far as I know, has not played in Atlanta yet, and is not scheduled to) and it sparked a discussion in his LiveJournal about globalization, narrow tastes and the wine-ignorant.
Which, in turn, led to my wondering: where does a person go to get good wine advice around here? I’m supposed to be at a wine-and-cheese tasting tomorrow night, and am absolutely clueless as to what makes a good wine, let alone a good pairing. In the past I’ve relied on the nice people at Ansley Wine Merchants at Monroe and Piedmont, but any oenophiles (Lord, I love that word) out there are welcome to offer other places. Just so long as you don’t send me to Whole Paycheck: as often as I shop there, a woman’s got to diversify every once in a while.
Pearsons in Buckhead is the best. They are very knowledgable and friendly.
I’ve read a book by The Wine Brats and a couple by Andrea Immer that have been immensely informative. The Publix in Vinings has a huge wine selection at grocery store prices and I have been approached more than once by a knowledgeable wine person offering reccomendations.
Just don’t mention Sideways, or you’ll be instantly outed as a novice.
The guys at Mac’s on 10th and W. Peachtree are really helpful – I’d suggest that.
You already know Ansley — good fun. The Green’s on Ponce has a decent selection reasonably priced and can give you good no-nonsense advice without pretense in any price range. The Tower on Piedmont has a better selection on the high end than does Green’s, and a friendly and knowledgeable staff. For wine adventures, try the Tower on Moreland. They’ll have decent wine at sometimes bargain prices. I wonder if they sell stuff that doesn’t move at the Piedmont store… One more place that is fun, with a funky selection, but has hit or miss advice is the Dekalb Farmers Market. One of the bonuses of YDFM is you can pick up some funky treats to go along with your viticultural goodies.
Cheers
Tony – I love watching Andrea Immer on the Fine Living Network… I have such the crush on her. Especially because she knows so much about wine.
I wholeheartedly recommend Whole Foods, and not just because I work there. I can’t vouch for the staff at the other metro Atlanta Whole Foods, but the folks here at the Briarcliff location are right spiffy. Stacy is the wine buyer, Todd is the cheese buyer, and Jeni runs the whole specialty department shebang. They’re very friendly and knowledgeable, as a normally beer-swilling oh-crap-I-need-something-nice-for-insert-event-here gal like me can attest. Plus, we have a great little selection of organic wines, which may be something of interest to your cheese and wine buddies.
Wine recommendations from merchants and friends are helpful, of course, but it still comes down to your own individual taste.
That’s why I suggest wine tastings, wine dinners, wine festivals, wine classes, or similar events that let you sample the many wines in the marketplace.
To find such events (here comes the blatant plug), please visit LocalWineEvents.com, the world’s largest calendar of food and wine events — spirits and beer events, too.
Every city or region has its own page. The Atlanta page, for example, lists dozens of upcoming events: http://www.localwineevents.com/Atlanta-Wine/
You can be notified automatically via e-mail when new events are posted in your area.
Anyone who knows of an upcoming event — anywhere in the world — that is not on our site, can post it themselves, subject to verification.
Questions? There is an FAQ page on the site, or contact me (I’m in Atlanta) at Jim@LocalWineEvents.com
Tons of wine shops and other wine links, mostly Atlanta wine-related, can be found on The Wine Report magazine’s site (Atlanta based publication) at http://www.winesimple.com