Demystifying: Wine

Some of the brightest minds in wine share their wisdom and show us how to make confident wine decisions that don't break the bank

Anyone who follows me knows that I love wine. And while I’ve been blessed to try some truly extraordinary vintages, I’m also a proponent of the weekday bottle that doesn’t break the bank, whether you’re cooking at home or just find yourself out on the town with friends on a Tuesday. And now that I’m spending a lot of time in France and Italy—cultures where wine is a given at practically every meal outside breakfast, and I see great bottles in very nice restaurants for less than $20, it has me thinking–why is it so expensive in the States ? Why is wine such a high-end commodity here?

In the interest of breaking down the relationship between quality and price (not always a sure thing!) I reached out to a few of the smartest guys I know in the industry: David Bruno, founder of the indie bottle shop Départ Wine, which will soon reopen at Moynihan Train Hall; Rodrigo Soto, a Chilean winemaker specializing in organic and biodynamic farming who today heads Sonoma’s Far Mountain winery with his wife Mai Errazuriz; and Kyle Ridington, who worked as a sommelier at Jean-George, Carbone and The Polo Bar before decamping to Winter Park, Florida, to open the Champagne-focused Modest Wine with his wife Olivia Wong.

Read on to discover how each addresses that sticky quality/price question, as well as their tips for navigating a wine list and the best bang-for-your-buck bottles you should be looking for on a menu or a shop near you…