TCho The Wine Guy

I've been buying a lot of wine lately, like bottles at a time. I took a wine class recently, which is one reason for my wine buying spree. Another reason has been that my British friend and I talk a lot about wines, particularly French wines.

Last weekend, I was at Bacchus, a store which I'm a bit ashamed to say that I really like. The whole idea behind Bacchus is "Wines made simple." And to this day, I'm still traumatized by this wine snob who railed at me for liking this store, telling me that stores like that "dumb" down wine and doesn't respect the art of wine-making and tasting. Well, screw her. I'm not a training to be a Sommelier. I like a store like Bacchus where I feel I could pick any bottle in the store, and really enjoy it.

So last Sunday, I was buying a few bottles. While I was paying, the wine store lady had to take a phone call. It turned out to be a delivery order, and I could tell the lady was annoyed because the store was closing in 15 minutes. I heard her say "68th & Riverside", and my Scooby ears went "huuuuuuuhm!" That's two blocks from my apartment! As I was signing my credit card slip, I joked, "I could drop it off on my way home." To my surprise, the woman replied, "Seriously?!?! You'll get a tip!"

So I embraced my Asian heritage last weekend by making a delivery. I got a $4 tip from it all. Not bad for walking a couple blocks out of my way. I assume the reason the wine store lady was so confident in my ability to handle the job was that I clearly look the part. But there was no tension on my part. If Crash taught me anything it’s that freeing a van full of Asian immigrants into Chinatown at Christmas time instead of selling them on the black market is what helping your fellow man is all about.