If you're like me, part of being a “wine wonk” means enjoying wine online.

Given the plethora of available information it might be hard for some to know where to begin, since searching for “wine” at www.yahoo.com turns up more than 8.2 million hits.

There are many great books on the topic of wine, but there are more free online resources for easy, fast reference when you want to find a new wine for a holiday party or to learn more about champagnes from France. As the holidays approach, now is a good time to dive into the great pool of information online, and do a little prep work.

Online sites range from the larger, more encyclopedic sites to the fun or obscure sites dedicated to more focused information. While it would be impossible to survey the universe of wine-related sites, here are a few good places to start:

A basic word search on one of the large search engines, such as www.google.com or www.yahoo.com, is always a good place to begin.

However, I almost always end up on one of the larger sites, such as www.winespectator.com, which provides substantial content for free and even greater depth of info with a paid subscription. It's a great site, whether you're a beginner or seasoned wine fan.

For more adventuresome browsers, look for sites that focus on wine regions or varietals. Loads of sites offer visitors helpful, focused information on just about any area or wine type — champagnes of France, wines from Spain, dessert wines — all from a single point of reference. These sites tend to be fairly easy to use and will have you heading to the wine store to try out what you've just learned.

Try www.champagnes.com for wines from the French region of Champagne, www.wineaustralia.com.au for info on wines from Australia or www.oregonwine.org for wines from Oregon and www.napavintners.com, the trade association for Napa Valley's wineries.

Sites that I most enjoy, however, are those that offer something unusual. These sites include http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu, the online home of the University of California Davis Department of Viticulture. UC Davis is the hotbed of winemaking academia in this country and its Web site offers an interesting, yet friendly perspective on the science of winemaking.

Readers who like partnering food and wine would be well served to spend some time at www.foodandwine.com, the Web site for Food & Wine Magazine.

The site provides a data base to help users match food and wine effortlessly, whether the food be hot dogs or filet mignon.

Finally, for the wine enthusiast who loves wine-related merchandise, head to www.wineenthusiast.com. This is a terrific source for books, storage and serving items. It's perfect for holiday shopping. Many of these sites offer free e-newsletters which can be helpful, regular sources of information about the latest wines.

If you have a wine-related Web site that you want to share, drop me an e-mail.

Contact Amy Simmons by e-mail asimmons@deskey.com or send questions and comments c/o the Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202

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