I’m far too young to have an absolute favorite. There are so many wines left to try. I was at a Moroccan restaurant off of Sunset Boulevard. The owner’s son was a friend of mine, and the father had set aside a couple cases of some famous (extremely expensive) French wines when he was born. They were to be opened for various special occasions throughout his life. Since it was the first day of a five day bachelor party, we opened a couple of the bottles. They were amazing, but I will probably never drink them again. So, if I had to pick a favorite I could identify, my favorite wine of all time was the 1996 Wild Horse “Equus Syrah.” I bought their last few cases, and proceeded to drink them at every occasion. They weren’t a good value, though. That same year (the year I bought them, not the year of the wine), Qupe had a delicious Syrah as well. It was significantly cheaper, making it a much better value. They’ve gone up in price, and their quality is hit or miss. I have yet to make a trip to Beckman Winery to try the 2007 Grenache served at Obama’s first state dinner. It’s a quick trip, so I feel like I really should. Incidentally, I’ve taken a wine tasting course, because that’s the kind of thing you can do at UCSB (U Can Study Buzzed).

My favorite winery of all time was Dark Star cellars. Everything they made was good. Again, not the best value. So many cheap wines are drinkable that I really think value is important. Which varietals you enjoy matters most, though. My mother only drinks cabernet sauvignons. I always find myself buying them as well. I had never knowingly drank a carménère before I started this recent Chilean wine kick. The wine is very similar to a good cab, but cheaper carménères seem to all be drinkable (you can get a bad cheap cab). I’m drinking one right now that was under $10 and have no regrets.

I currently belong to a winery that makes an award winning chardonnay. I can’t stand it myself. At that particular winery, my favorite of theirs is a cabernet franc (traditionally used for blending to make good table wines). It’s $38 with my wine club discount, and it’s mediocre at best. Unfortunately, since I am getting married at the vineyard, I must pretend to love it for another few months.

I live in a region known for their pinot noir. This is unfortunate, because I don’t particularly like them, either.

It’s important to find a wine you like and then find a cheaper wine that can serve as a good second or third bottle (the “chugging wine”). My mother prefers Clos du Bois cabs as her chugging wine, and she buys it by the case when it is on sale. We call it “Cloddy Boy” because we are unsophisticated bumpkins, and we crack ourselves up. My mother only buys white wines for the purpose of cleaning up red wine spills.

There are many good table wines available. I’m not afraid of blends, and the aforementioned Wild Horse winery used to make a great blend called “Red Table Wine.” It was amazing, but I only ever got a single bottle. Cab francs make good blends, as do these carménères.

I definitely drink non-wines. I love a variety of beers. My sister lives in Seattle, and the direct Alaskan Airlines flight from Santa Barbara to Seattle (which used to be operated by Horizon air) serves free beer. See? People don’t know these kinds of things unless they love beer. Also, the flight is 100 bucks more than connecting through LAX. Totally worth it. Anyway, Stone porter is my favorite beer. Firestone double barrel ale is frequently purchased because I have local team spirit. Fat tire is purchased in bulk because my sister used to live near the brewery (in Colorado) and visited enough that they stopped making her wait through the tour before giving her the free tasting tokens. How cool is that? I want to be a regular at a brewery. I’m currently brewing a wheat beer because it’s a lot easier to get right than a porter, and I need to redeem myself.

I drink Hendrick’s gin, Sailor Jerry’s rum, and RND vodka. I have a variety of scotches and tequillas, though I have friends that have true collections.