Critics

“I’d like to try your Goosetaweiner.” Since barrel-tasting weekend coincided with a few of the major NCAA college basketball conference tournament finals, I had half an eye on the high def TV on the counter. While I was pretty sure I had heard “Goosetaweiner,” I wanted to give the visitor the benefit of the doubt. “I’m sorry? You’d like to try our Gewurtztraminer?” I figured I’d let him off the hook by pronouncing it correctly. That way, he could just repeat it. “Yes, the Goosetaweiner.” There it was again.

If you are anything like most wine-heads I know, you are always traveling to undiscovered territory, varied by both varietal and producer, on the hunt for the next perfect glass of high. Wine-heads don’t seek to conquer our unquenchable thirst but rather to indulge it.

Recently, I joined a friend who was writing an article determining San Francisco’s best wine bar on a field trip and it started me thinking about what I like and don’t in a wine bar. Mind you, I don’t own a wine bar nor have I ever worked in one, but I have been to many. So perhaps it’s best to think of the following as a collection of thoughts from the peanut gallery—notes from Andy Rooney’s trip to a couple of wine bars.