We always enjoy and have long advocated for increasing choices in all things wine.

From producers to appellations to varietals and blends, we like seeing more wines in the market than less. A big part of this is as wine consumers as well as wine shop owners, is that we like to try different things all the time. While we have our favorites, we just simply would get bored drinking the same thing all the time.

The flip side of that coin is that when it comes down to choosing a bottle of wine for a meal, occasion, or a gift what really matters is not the thousands of choices, but finding the right one, the bottle that will please our palate, fit our budget, and impress those we share it with.

At times we have that right bottle on hand from a previous tasting or from a full case we may have purchased. But when we don't have the perfect wine hanging around we may be stuck. There we are standing in a grocery store or at a wine shop gazing at a rack full of choices. But which one is the right one?

A trusted advisor and wine professional is the best solution - a person you can go to and feel confident with what ends up in the bag as you venture out to your event. For us, as wine professionals, nothing feels better than when a customer comes in the shop and says, "That wine you helped me pick out last week was perfect!" Those are our "high five" moments. We also get feedback at times that the bottle we helped with last week was "not the one." The emotion is reversed but ultimately filed away so we can better advise that customer or any wine consumer in the future.

Getting to know the palates of our customers is actually both one of the more time consuming parts of the job and one of the more enjoyable. This is why we offer personal consultation with every wine purchase.

For consumers, though, there will still be those times when you may be out of town, or your favorite wine shop might be closed, or the store you are at has none of your regular favorites. And there you are back to gazing at a rack with thousands of choices thinking that what you really only need is the right one. Here are a couple of quick pointers to parse those choices so you can narrow the field and feel confident in your pick.

Whether you are in a big box store, a grocery or a small shop, there will always be a few esoteric bottlings to go along with the more conventional varietals and producers. So question one is: Do we want to have some fun and go for something unpredictable or should we play it safe and stay in the mainstream?

Next, narrow it down to what varietals are possibilities. Whether the decision is based on the food you may be having or the taste of the person you are bringing the bottle to, or if you are choosing the bottle for yourself, varietal selection is the best place to start.

Budget is always a big deal, and again whether you are in a shop or a grocery store, there are always choices across price spectrums. In a shop like the Dinner Party we have bottles starting at $8 and going up to prices much higher. While most stores will have their wine organized to some degree by price, be sure to check the sticker, as even in the most organized establishments for many reasons similarly priced wines are not always grouped together.

Finally, narrow it down to two or three choices based on appellation and producer. If you know a particular growing region well enough to make it one of your favorites, zero in on those bottles as regions will develop similar flavor profiles in their wines and most producers will have some of those same traits save the ones who are complete outliers.

While this simple selection process will help, it will never completely replace advice from your favorite wine professional or your own tasting experience. It will allow you, though, to make a purchase with confidence and reduce the time "gazing" at the rack for just the right one.

Correction: The article last week on bottle shape was intended to have pictures showing the different bottle shapes, the pictures were omitted by mistake. If you would like a copy of the article including the pictures email me at George@thedinnerpartyshop.com and I will forward it to you, or stop in the shop and we will take you on your own bottle "tour." We are very sorry for the omission.

If there is a topic you would like to read about or questions on wine you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George is also the managing judge of The North Idaho Wine Rodeo, and is the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene magazine www.cdamagazine.com you can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles as well as other great wine tips by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.