To the people who are selling us wine, that is.

Pick up any how-to-drink-wine guide and you'll find this tip: "Get to know your wine merchant."

It's sound advice, of course. These folks make their livings tasting wine and filling their shelves with what they think we might like. Who better to help us figure out how to explore what they're selling as we develop our own tastes? All we need to do is talk to them. Just talk.

But is talking really that easy? I mean, these people are strangers. What are we supposed to say? Besides, how many of us want another "Hello" and a "How do you do"? Another name to remember, another round of chit-chat standing between us and a cool glass of white to wash away the cares of the day? Why can't we just run in the wine shop, grab a wine that will make us happy and go?

Sometimes we can.

I dashed into The Wine Merchant in Ridgewood Shopping Center a few weeks ago to grab a bottle for a neighborhood tasting that night. The Txakoli I wanted was not on the shelves. I wandered over to the cooler where the sellers keep a selection of bottles chilled. No Txakoli, but another Spanish white caught my eye. I paid $11.50 for a bottle labeled Sitios De Bodega Conclass Rueda 2007 and presented it at the tasting.

During the show-and-tell portion of the evening, I was asked the reason for my choice. "Umm ... because it was cold," was my thoughtful reply.

Since the wine, a blend of Verdejo, Viura and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, turned out to be the hit of the evening, none of my fellow sippers held my lack of preparation against me. Its aroma was delightful and flowery, and it tasted delicately of fruit with a mineral finish.

As we finished, I mused that a quick look in a shop's cooler might be the easiest way to read a wine seller's mind. It's the nonverbal equivalent of the best question to ask a wine lover: "So what are you drinking these days?"

I set out to test my theory on a trip to Orange County, where I stopped in at Chapel Hill Wine Company on Homestead Road.

While the shop has a wine chiller, it does not hold a cooler full of staff favorites. What it does have are fun descriptions of each wine written in clear, conversational English. I found myself engaged by the labeling, as if I were enjoying a tour of the shop given by someone who had tasted it all. When I read the line "It reminds me of a New Zealand wine -- back when they were a good value," on the description card above No Sauvignon Blanc 2006 from Lake County, Calif., I handed over $10.99 for the bottle. This sounded like someone I could trust.

I met the author, Todd Wielar, at Hillsborough Wine Company later that day. Wielar, the owner of both shops, writes most of the descriptions. Being familiar with his work, I had no problem starting up a conversation. I left town with a $14.99 bottle of Spanish rosé, Valleclaro 100 percent Prieto Picudo. Both turned out to be lovely picks. The Sauvignon Blanc was smooth and minerally with hints of pear and honey. The Spanish rosé was a wonderful surprise, tart and full-bodied with bright berry fruit that opened up as I sipped.

Talking wine seemed to be getting easier.

I returned to The Wine Merchant a few days later in search of another bottle of Conclass. Alas, it was gone. I was scrutinizing the cooler by the shop's office door when wine seller John Lambrakis offered assistance.

He confirmed that the cooler is indeed stocked with staff picks, mostly affordable wines suited to the prevailing weather and mood. The staff also keeps a good selection of sparkling wines cold for people on their way to a dinner or party who want to grab something ready to open upon arrival.

Lambrakis directed me toward a Hughes Beaulieu Picpoul de Pinet 2007, one of the best-selling wines in the store. "It has a little weight to it, but it has a nice crispness," he said.

At $9.99 a bottle, it was every bit as lively as the Conclass. It had a dry flintiness reminiscent of a Sauvignon Blanc without the herbaceousness. The flavor was complex with a hint of citrus sweetness.

I found myself glad that I had asked. And I found myself rethinking what it means to "Get to know your wine merchant." As in any relationship, communication occurs in many ways. It's in what we say. In the little notes we write. And in the treats we pick to put a sparkle in someone's eye.

When it comes to your wine merchant, it could be that you already know each other better than you think.