As a send-off to myself, I offered to raid my cellar for a wine-and-cheese reception at the last meeting of my term on the board of a New York City-based foundation. But then I realized, they don’t let you on the plane now with liquids. When the ban went into place, most people worried aloud about their Visine bottles and $40 designer hair products. It didn’t occur to me that I’d have to leave wine at sea level.

I think that’s because, weirdly enough, I don’t think of wine as a liquid. I think of it more as a food and figured, like mother’s milk, the TSA would make an exception for my Domaine Tempier.

For how I flew the wine-friendly skies, click for More

Lots of people ask me, “how do I choose the perfect bottle of wine?” I tell them the trick, actually, is first to pick the perfect wine store.

It’s unfortunate that many people feel anxiety around going to the store to buy a bottle of wine. That the stereotypical wine merchant is grey-haired, obtuse, and male doesn’t help. It’s unfortunate and ironic, because surveys show that women make a majority of wine-buying decisions. Plus, because the new trend among wine-bug bitten baby boomers is to quit their job and open up a wine shop, the connoisseur behind the counter is, today, just as likely to be a connoisseuse. For Wine Girl, buying wine is a delight. I happily anticipate a trip to my favorite wine shop. The feeling of having chosen the perfect bottle can be the second-most satisfying thing that happens to me all day — after drinking it, of course.

Think the big-box discount giant is your answer? Get set for some unconventional wisdom:
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The label and slander department: Somewhere in wine country, a winemaker is lamenting the truth: he or she shed blood, sweat, and tears crafting a delicious merlot from a difficult vintage, but it was passed over by a customer in favor of a bottle with a wallaby on the label.

Wine Girl is dedicated to putting a stop to that winemaker’s pain. Reading a wine label, as opposed to just emoting over the puns and the pictures, is actually very simple.  And because it’s essential to choosing a proper wine at the store or from a wine list, I would like to advise you to do two things:

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