Building Brix
Your Personal Sommelier

Judging by all the parties over the last few weeks, it's not a stretch to say that there's a lot of wine to work through out there.
 
And since about ten percent of it is actually worth drinking, we think weeding through it all is a chore best left to an expert.
 
Which is why you'll want to bookmark Brix26, a personalized online wine recommendation service helmed by Peter Langenstein, a French-schooled California wine expert who swigs the juice day and night to bring you obscure, limited-production California gems right to your doorstep.
 
Think of Peter as your at-home sommelier. Say you're cooking up some steaks (in other words, a romantic dinner) Friday night and need help pairing a few bottles of wine to set the mood. Give Peter a call (or email him), and he'll hand-select just the right cult cab from his library that'll make your rib-eye pop. He can even get his hands on hard-to-find wines, like the obscure, artist-labeled 2006 Eric Kent Pinot that tastes as good as it looks.
 
Once he has you figured out, you might consider joining the Insider Club, a hybrid wine club that ships you a constantly changing personalized assortment of up-and-coming wines, before they've been discovered by the masses.
 
After all, membership has its privileges.