(FORTUNE Magazine) – Normally we'd give a wine expert $100 and ask him to tell us about what he buys, but since Joshua Wesson owns the store, it seemed beside the point (and it saved us a Benjamin). For the record, Wesson doesn't sell cheap wines. The co-founder of Best Cellars, a chain of shops specializing in bottles under $15, he specializes in "undiscovered values" or "inexpensive outperformers"--no relation to the screwtop jugs of white zin at your nearby supermarket.

His trademark: ready-to-drink wines, from lesser-known vintners, that are guaranteed to fool your friends into thinking you paid more. The best values lately come from Argentina (a sleeping giant), Chile, New Zealand, and Alsace, France. "I don't like wines that make you pucker up and sound like Ross Perot on a bad day," he says. See box for what he's serving.

--David Rynecki