And the winner is.............

[chittychattykathy]

Wow, go away for a few days...
1-Drew, my Cinq is $56.
2-Foodie, I agree with you, that the folks who come into my store with their WS in hand tend to not be my loyal customers, 98 out of a 100 to be sure. This does not mean that a regular customer and I never chat about what's being shown or said in WS (or other mags) but the conversations do not involve "I saw this in WS and must have it" type demands, but more like "Kathy, do you really think that this 'fil-in-a-name' is worth $125?" Types of questions. This is often followed by the- "What else is as good, & costs less, or is more available?" questions. (Love that!)
3-And RAD, cultivating your likes (well, you know, if you were here) is my job!!! I mean they could have a stock person move the wine bottles around (for a whole lot less $$$) and keep things looking okay, I could just come in and meet with my vendors and go home by noon. But I spend a majority of my day (or eve.) standing amongst my wine selections cultivating trust from people that may know twice as much about wine as I do, or maybe don't even know what Merlot is, yet.
My view of WS is the same as my view of Vogue, or Architectural Digest. They are showing an Image, "the beautiful world of wine", including "fantastic" lifestyles that most all of us do not live. This is not a bad thing, if you see it as that and sit back and enjoy, for an hour or two the "fun fantasy" world of- high fashion, muti-million dollar houses, or wines (that you may never even get a chance to look at in person, let alone buy). It can be time spent chilling-out and learning a bit. And there is a definitely place for magazines like WS. I mean, where else would people that live in say, Idaho, ever get to see many of these high-end, or high-demand wines? (I do not see a lot of them and I am in a large city, travel to wine regions and am in the industry.) My thing is that I just don't dig ANY "top" lists, (Other then Dave's) they grind me the wrong way.
Lastly, It's a sad thing when I (you?) see a person who walks around a real "fashion victim" because they do not understand that just because it is trendy, does not mean it is for them, (or not to wear several trends at once). & Really, are not folks who are trying to complete sets of top 10 wines, or do such crazed, sad things as Roberto mentioned above truly "wine victims" and not wine enthusiasts?!