When it is on a North Coast Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant bottle. Before Mac World yesterday I had a meeting near the Ferry Building. $6 (20 min.) parking vs. $3 with a purchase. Instinctively I sought out the excellent wine shop in the building, appropriately named for its landmark location.

It is obvious by the stocklist that the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant is making a concerted effort to expose small, lesser known producers to the wine consumer. With a winebar, food list, and an excellent cross section of wines by taste or flight, you can actually start you weekend City tour with a wine tasting as early as 8:30 am. Perfect for that pre-brunch sparkling wine tasting you were dreaming about.

Aside from the selection, what caught my eye was the rating system they have implemented to help guests get a better sense for the wine they are buying. A clever set of icons denoting type and character are on their 2003 Zin, but also are attached to bins and bottles.

The icons to the right are an example of a classification for a young California Cabernet with 0 being the lowest. While determining these classifications is still subjective it at least gives the consumer an opportunity to learn an established system and benefit from the experience of the wine buyers at FBWM. And if you have yet to build enough wine knowledge to really get what “full bodied” means, ask away.

With a full calendar of events including winemaker tastings, the Ferry Building Wine Merchant is a great addition to the Embarcadero. Soon, they plan to have an online shop for you to take advantage of. And how can you not like a merchant whose motto is “we spit so you don’t have to!”