CRANBERRY TWP - Raising a glass is easy; knowing what to fill the goblet with, isn't.

Help is available and free for the asking when you are doing your wine shopping at Pennsylvania Wine and Spirit stores or at local wineries.

The first question either Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) wine consultant Bob Cuccaro or vintner JoAnn Kradel will ask you is, "What's for dinner?"

According to both, pairing the right wine with the food being served is essential.

"I have a cooking background as a chef," Cuccaro said. Depending on the formality of the meal, after hearing the menu he'll make recommendations for one or more wines to be served with the courses from entrée to desert.

"I point out what foods go with it whenever I sell a bottle," Kradel said. "And when it comes to dessert, I have a rule of thumb. The wine should be sweeter than the dessert."

"We have wines we call 'dessert in a bottle'," that replace even the sweet part of an evening repast, Cuccaro said.

Cuccaro holds the title of wine specialist as a result of completing all three levels of training offered by the PLCB. The training includes an "overview of all wines; what makes a Bordeaux a Bordeaux and a burgundy a burgundy, proper tasting techniques, and even how vineyards are structured and the difficulty of harvesting."

Kradel makes what she sells, about 1,200 gallons of wine in 11 varieties last year, and knows about wine making from the ground the grapes grew on, to the bottle, and beyond. The Wine Kradel in Sarver, Butler County's only winery, is one of 70 in Pennsylvania.

After matching eat to drink, the next question you'll hear from a wine-seller has to do with price.

From a couple of bucks to a couple of thousand bucks and everywhere in between, wines to please any pocket are available.

The price of domestic and imported wines of equal quality are about the same in Wine & Spirit stores, said Cuccaro, and sales fall about equally on both sides of the divide.

The same applies for sparkling wines and champagnes. Champagne is a sparkling wine made from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France; all other sparkling wines are forbidden from using the word on their labels, although they are similar in production and presentation.

The third most important question a wine shopper asking guidance will hear is, "What's your preference - sweet or dry?"

"I try to find out what they like," said Kradel who works from her list of single fruit and blends when presenting her wares for tasting. "I explain the driest first then work toward the sweetest. If they like dry, I show them dry to medium and if they like sweet, it goes from medium to sweet."

Kradel makes white, blush and red wines with her dry Blue Rooster and Buffalo Blush the biggest sellers. This year, she also has produced apple, cherry and raspberry wines, all of which have been selling briskly this holiday season, she said.

The product of small local wineries, however, can't be found in state stores because it would have to be made available in every state store in Pennsylvania, more volume than the small companies produce.

As a specialty store, Cranberry Wine & Spirits can offer customers 2,000 items available at any PLCB store and stock another 1,500 items that are special order only.

"I don't work on commission," said Cuccaro, who orders all the wines in the store.

"I feel if I present the right facts (to the inquiring customer) and they are open to it, three-fourths of the time, they'll go with what I suggest," he said. "I also get questions about what's new or different. They'll put those in the cart, too."He spends most of his workday in the store aisles and answers questions from about 25 to 50 people per day. "Sometimes I have two or three trailing behind waiting to talk," he said.The average price of a bottle of wine he recommends is between $15 and $20. The average sale is two or three bottles. Customers also buy by the case.A bottle of wine is always a good gift at Christmas and wine-sellers can help with the choices. If the customer doesn't know the answers to the questions regarding the food with which the wine will be served or personal taste preference, there are still plenty of options in the price range of choice."The best bet would be to chose the prettiest bottle in your price range," said Cuccaro. "They can always exchange it. If it's under $25, we'll take it back without a receipt. If it's more than $25 and no receipt, return will be done on an approval from the management." Gift cards in any amount are also available.Sending a bottle of wine to a far-away Pennsylvania friend is also easy to do now. Either in the store, over the phone at 800-332-6522, or online at www.pawineandspirits.com, a customer can choose a gift and for $1 over the cost of the bottle, the order can be relayed to the nearest LPCB store. The recipient will be notified and they can come in, prove their identity and age and pick up their gift, Cuccaro said.If toasting in the New Year with the pop of a cork is on your list, customers have a choice of 180 different types of sparkling wines in PLCB stores, Cuccaro noted."Our biggest seller is Martini and Rossi Asti Spumonte, but there are a lot of inexpensive ones, some in the $9 to $12 range, and a good deal of them in the $20 to $35 range," he said. "We have lots of different gift sets and gift baskets" for those who want to give a sparkling wine to their party hosts.Although there has been a toughening of driving under the influence laws, Cuccaro hasn't seen a big change in the amount of wine and spirits served at holiday parties. "Most parties are neighborhood things and people walk or it's out-of-town relatives and they stay over."When serving wine to a large group, hosts often choose boxed wines. While many view them as wine of lesser quality, it's not necessarily so, said Cuccaro.Some wineries bottle and box the same wine product. Boxed wines have the advantage of storing well. The inside bag collapses as the wine is drained, keeping the wines drinkable for about six months rather than the six days of a stoppered bottle of wine.

PARTY PLANNING

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How much wine or champagne is needed for a holiday party?

According to "Guidelines for Your Gathering" by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, base the estimate on 5 ounces of wine equaling one serving.

After determining the number of guests expected, multiply that number by the number of hours the party is scheduled to last. The product of those two numbers should equal the number of servings that should be available at "one serving per hour per person."

For example, 50 adults attending a four-hour event equals 200 servings.

Servings per bottle size computes to about five servings from a 750 ml bottle of wine or six servings from a 1 liter bottle of wine. A 4 liter bottle has about 27 servings.