I spend my St Louis weekend nights as a spirit sommelier. Essentially, I'm a glorified bartender that runs an intimate speakeasy specializing in fancy whiskies and high end wines. One problem that I have always had with wine culture is that the learning curve is very steep. New entrants are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices as it isn't uncommon for the smallest of wine shops to carry 500+ different labels.

There are only two ways to learn about wine: 1.) Read, and 2.) Drink. Wine Spectator magazine is one that I subscribe to. Their industry scuttle and feature articles are required if you're in the alcohol business.

As a friendly heads up I wanted to mention that the magazine has been running a 10th anniversary website promotion offering free access to all their web content until Halloween. My friends and I consult their bottle ratings and vintage charts frequently to check the stats of mystery wines that we know by name only. While true that expert recommendations won't always agree with your palette they can be very helpful for avoiding the true stinkers, or finding some wonderfully reasonable diamonds in the rough.