Yes, we really are suggesting that if you want the best wine-shopping experience in the St. Louis area, you're likely to find it in Columbia, Illinois, at Bon Vivant Wines. Not just because owner Andrew Traughber is a really nice guy and incredibly knowledgeable (though he is indeed both). Fact is, Bon Vivant offers one of the most interesting, eclectic, yet well-conceived wine selections in the nation, let alone the St. Louis area. Bon Vivant's stock rotates frequently, especially on the value end of the price spectrum, so there are always new treats to sample. Traughber is also unafraid to venture into regions less traveled by other merchants — he's got an excellent selection of wines from the Loire Valley and from Beaujolais, not to mention from up-and-coming producers from the states and elsewhere overseas. If you appreciate the diversity that the world of wine has to offer, Bon Vivant is your premier local outpost. And if you had no idea wine was more diverse than red, white or pink, or didn't know diversity was a good thing, you couldn't find a better guide than Andrew Traughber.