Okay, so this is really cool. TastingRoom.com is an online service where you can purchase wine by the glass. Imagine that. How often do you open a bottle, have one or two glasses and then dump the rest of the bottle? I know I’ve done it, and then before you know it you have red wine vinegar. This way, you get a single serving and then can even try a different glass of something else, or open up a second single serving bottle of the same wine.

However, what they sent us to sample was something even cooler–the Wine for Dudes Sampler. It’s a flight of six different wines, all from California vineyards, but in 1.7 oz. bottles that are perfect for tasting. If you’re looking to get hammered, look elsewhere, but if you are expanding your horizons and learning more about wine as you get older (yeah, I’m looking at you….as well as in the mirror), this is a great way to try some new wines. The flight was put together by blogger and wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk, and includes a message on the packaging that it’s “dude season–baseball, boating and good times,” and that the sampler is meant to expand our palates and exposes us to wines that we guys may not normally try.

Oh, and the wine itself? The wines are a Bugay Rose Syrah, a pink wine that most guys wouldn’t be caught dead drinking, but it’s really not bad; a Francis Coppola Winery Chardonnay that was smooth and refreshing yesterday when it was 80 degrees and sticky outside; Twisted Oak red blend, which was a light red like a chianti; Easton ’06 Zinfandel, which had a touch of that oak-y flavor associated with dark reds but was still smooth; a Jake Ryan Cellars ’07 Zinfandel which was bold and tasty; and a Feather ’07 Cabernet, which said, aptly, that it has hints of “blackberries and slight oak.” This sampler accomplished for me what it intended–trying wines I would not normally try. But they were all good and I’d drink them again. Well, maybe not the pink one.

TastingRoom.com has many other samplers and wines by the glass and is worth checking out, especially with Father’s Day around the corner. Cheers!