Act like a Sideways snob for two days during the Third Annual LA Wine Fest with a smattering of other oenophiles. You can taste over 500 wines during the festival (there’s booze, too, for those of you who don’t know the difference between cabernet or chardonnay). By then end of it, you might be giving speeches about how “wine is alive,” and how you root for pinot because it’s “thin-skinned and temperamental.” Merlot fans can rejoice—the varietal has bounced back after the initial smack-down in the movie where Paul Giamatti's character whines, "No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any fucking Merlot!”