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Taste-o-matic at Wine House

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There’s nothing better than tasting a $50 wine before you buy it. And it’s getting easier to do. I’ve enjoyed sampling expensive wines at a couple of snazzy wine bars around town that have installed Italian wine dispensers. But I’m more interested in shopping where I expect to find competitively priced wines, which took me to the wine automat opened last week at Wine House in West L.A.

When I arrived late Saturday afternoon, the rectangular tasting room tucked in the middle of the store was overflowing with a raucous party of six who seemed to be trying each of the 32 wines available in the four refrigerated vending machines. Bill Knight, the store’s owner, was the tasting room host on Saturday and suggested I try the Brown Cabernet/Zinfandel blend from Napa Valley ($8.20). Touched with the telltale tobacco of old vine Zin, the wine was weird and wonderful. The 1.25-ounce pour was really just a taste, and with 31 other pours priced $1 to $14 each, I decided to have some fun. A 2005 Schmitt Wagner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett ($2.20) was off-dry with nice acidity; it reminded me to drink more German wines. After tasting the aromatic, bone-dry Boxler Edelzwicker Reserve from Alsace ($1.50), I pulled a bottle out from the shelf under the tasting machine to buy for $14.99. The prepaid plastic cards used to purchase pours are debited each time you punch a button above one of the wine spigots. So I didn’t flinch at $4.90 for a taste of 2003 Parusso Barolo, then picked up a bottle for $48.99.

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-- Corie Brown

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