By Amy Simmons
Enquirer contributor

Wine isn't something to be tasted - but is something to be experienced.

Sometimes those terrific wine experiences take you to expected locations like Napa Valley, San Francisco and New York. Other times these experiences are found in the unexpected, like Las Vegas.

The "City of Sin" is home to the Aureole restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Resort. Aureole is one of a number of recent additions to the city that help boost its reputation as a more diverse, upscale destination. The restaurant is an outpost of the original Aureole in New York, where famed restaurateur Charlie Palmer is owner and chef.

Whether or not you ever visit Aureole (and you should on your next trip), it's important to understand the things that a restaurant does well to make a visit there a wonderful wine experience. It's an excellent benchmark for future restaurant wine experiences - in Cincinnati or elsewhere.

Here's how Aureole does it right:

• Gracious, knowledgeable wine staff: The award-winning crew, led by wine director Andrew Bradbury and no fewer than three sommeliers, answers your wine questions effortlessly. While traveling to Las Vegas for business, a client friend and I enjoyed a wonderful tasting of appetizers and sampling of wines after a long day of meetings. Never mind we were just there for a brief visit, the Aureole staff could not have been more welcoming and attentive.

• Attention to detail: Whether you are enjoying a multiple-course dinner or appetizers in the bar, the overall experience is the same. Perfect stemware, crisp linens and other subtle touches set the stage for a terrific wine experience.

• Extensive wine by the glass menu: Aureole offers a wide range of prices, styles and options, meaning you don't have to be a high roller to enjoy great wine.

• Make it easy and fun to pick wine: The restaurant stores 9,865 bottles of wine in its famed wine tower. Your selection is retrieved by one of Aureole's two "wine angels," who move effortlessly around the tower thanks to climbing gear.

Fun wine visuals aside, Aureole's wine director, Bradbury, is proud (and rightfully so) of Aureole's eWineBooks, a stable of PC tablets that provide a wireless, Internet-based wine list that makes it easy and fun to pick a wine.

With just a few taps of the stylus, the eWineBook lets you search by color/style and region. You can also review the restaurant's menu items, with detailed recommendations on the optimum wine pairings.

The eWineBook is available to anyone at the Web site. Even if you don't plan on visiting the restaurant any time soon, take some time while surfing the Web to visit this approachable, informative site.

To combine a new technology (PC tablets and wireless Internet connection) with wine was a dream come true for this wine wonk.

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