Shop talk

Rule one for the wine buyer: fear no retailers

Uncorked by David Marglin

You can read all the wine columns you like, and you can chat with friends to your heart's delight, but if you're like me, most of the "professional" conversations you'll have about wine will take place in a wine store.

Greater Boston may not be blessed with the best wine selection in the world in terms of variety or price, but we do have good wine stores. The trend in wine retailing these days is a more relaxed approach -- after all, it's in the retailers' interest to help us find good wines in our price range and to educate customers about wine. Yes, some wine sellers are still snobs, but most of them are at least recovering snobs. And the better (read: friendlier) wine stores are becoming fairly cool places to hang out, to taste wine, and maybe to learn a little something while you're at it.

The reason for the high prices and limited selection, by the way, has to do with the complexities of the state's liquor-distribution system, but that's a story for another day. A word of advice: when you go into a wine store, don't prowl the shelves silently. Find someone to speak to; tell the person your price range and what you like, and do not be afraid. Here are some of my favorite shops.

Bauer Wines

330 Newbury Street, Boston. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Bauer has been around a long time. Indeed, you might even say, quite literally, that it has been around the block once or twice. The store first opened in 1960 on Mass Ave, around the corner from its current location on Newbury between Mass and Hereford. That's across the street from where it was a couple years ago, which happens to be across the street from where it was before that. The current owner, Susan Fortuna, seems to have settled down in her new location, and her staff -- led by Howie Rubin, a gregarious guy who often does a spot on our sister station, WFNX -- is fun, friendly, and well-informed about wine. Bauer is a small store and there are gaps in its selection, but it's good at paying attention to customers' needs -- and plenty of good palates are on staff. Bauer sponsors infrequent tastings at the Vault (co-owned by Fortuna) and offers fairly low-key tastings in the store every Saturday afternoon from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Brookline Liquor Mart

1354 Comm Ave, Brighton. Open Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Brookline Liquor Mart -- "BLM" to wine nuts -- is a classy store. That's a pun: it has the same ownership as Classic Wine Imports. This means that it essentially doubles as Classic's showroom, which is both a strength and a limitation: what they've got, they've got a lot of, but there's an awful lot they could have that you won't find here at all. BLM has possibly the best and broadest local selections of Bordeaux and Burgundy, but don't come in here to cherry-pick cult California cabs. On the other hand, it has a good supply of varieties you can't find anywhere else -- including Rhone-style wines from Edmunds St. John, one of California's finest producers of such wines. Ditto for Sean Thackrey, Nelson Estates, and others. You can buy incredibly expensive wines here, but the racks also include many solid imports at everyday-drinking prices. Tastings are held Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. throughout the year, organized by theme.

Merchants Wine & Spirits

6 Water Street, Boston. Open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Merchants is a small wine shop in a basement downtown. Its large, knowledgeable staff (which often outnumbers customers two to one) is led by one of the owners, Marc Sachs, who is among the friendliest people in the business. Tastings, held Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m., focus more on informal socializing than on interesting wines. An expansive free newsletter lists new finds and seasonal and holiday suggestions (like the right gewürztraminer or zinfandel to have with Thanksgiving turkey). The store is, admittedly, very market-driven: Marc and his all-star staff (including Megan O'Connell, who doubles as sommelier at La Bettola in the South End, and Joe McGuirk, who put together the wine list and tends bar at Cambridge's Chez Henri) try not to be arbiters of taste if they can avoid it. "Don't worry about being right about a given wine," Marc says. "Worry about being happy." Columnists like me do enough nitpicking over wines; Merchants takes the sensible position that in the end, you have to find the wines you like to drink.

Here, we just tell you what we like. That gets some corks popping. When you do decide what you like, tell us. We're open 24 hours at wine[a]phx.com -- and we don't card. Here are this week's recommendations, which may get your feet in the door of these stores and, we hope, chatting about something equally tasty.

*** Chateau Rozier 1995 St. Emilion Grand Cru Jean-Bernard Saby ($19.95, Merchants Wine & Spirits)

Big, voluptuous, and fruity, almost like an Australian cab, this wine packs a berry wallop. It also draws some sharper, peppery notes that stick in the back of your throat on the long finish.

*** ¹/₂ Chateau Tayac 1989 Côte de Bourg Gironde ($24.99, Bauer Wines)

This elegant wine, an 80 percent cab/20 percent merlot blend, comes from a small region upstream a little from St. Emilion and offers exceptional balance. It can be coy, hiding its fruit and biding its time, but it drinks so smoothly -- and with a modicum of racy spice -- that you can't put your glass down for very long. It will pair well with any lamb or light meat dish.

*** ¹/₂ Chablis Grand Crus 1991 Dauvissat-Camus Les Preuses ($38.99, Brookline Liquor Mart)

Minerals and vanilla meld seamlessly with melon and a nice, (un)healthy fat "content." Just as round and opulent as Chablis can be, it has some flinty (even faintly chalky) notes, but they are refreshing, like a mountain stream. Will pal well with cooked oysters, monkfish, or even a holiday ham. A charmer, well worth the price.

David Marglin can be reached at wine[a]phx.com.

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