Wine can be a real adventure.

We recently tried an outstanding French wine while enjoying a meal at the Smoking Goat in San Diego's North Park neighborhood. It was a 2010 Vin du Pays de Vaucluse Le Cadet de Montirius, which is a Rhone style blend of 50% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Cinsault, and 10% Merlot. It is a smooth wine with light fruit and light tannins that pairs well with a lot of food.

It was good enough to merit a purchase so we set out to find some.

Unfortunately, none of our local wine shops carried the wine. A less-enthusiastic wine drinker may have given up the chase at this point but we were undaunted. Out went the All Points Bulletin: "Can you get this wine?"

A week later, success! Our new friend Karin at Bacchus Wine Market tracked down the Le Cadet. Bad news, they had to special order it so there was a one case minimum order. Good news, our price per bottle was $11.43 after our case discount.

Buying a whole case is a lot of wine, even for us, but that's where it pays to know people who love wine too. Our friends Amber and Paul agreed to split the case with us which made the purchase a bit more reasonable.

This little adventure contained many elements of a great wine story. We discovered it together while out on a date. It ended up being more exclusive because we had to track it down. The wine provided an opportunity to share a few bottles with friends. And, the price was very reasonable.