Lei Chic ~Daily finds for life and style in Hawaii

You know you can’t judge a book by its cover. And after that awful bottle of Yellow Daisy (or whatever it was called) Chardonnay, you now know you can’t choose a wine by its label.

Dawn Gomes has found a new way to judge wine: by its number. Her new wine shop, Wine By Numbers, opens today in Waipio. On offer are a whole slew of unusual and hard-to-get wines from small and boutique wineries (you won’t find anything that’s stocked next door at Costco), all of them carrying a numerical rating based on how sweet or dry they are. Gomes tastes every wine she sells and assigns it a number – from one to five for whites, and one to three for reds.

Finding something you’ll like is easy – choose a wine in the same number family as one you’ve had before. Branching out to a new type of wine is even easier – just find another variety with the same number. And if you want to slowly expand your palate, choose a sweeter or dryer wine that’s within one step of the wines you generally prefer.

This weekend, stop by for the shop’s grand opening Saturday from 1 to 5, with wine tastings, plus samplings of all the other goodies the store will carry: gourmet cheeses, meats and spreads, martinis showcasing the store’s specialty liquors, and a sake tasting to highlight the shop’s unique rice wines, including one that sparkles.

Looks your days – and evenings –­ are numbered now.

Wine By Numbers, 94-1235 Ka Uka Blvd., Waipahu, 808.671.1120, www.winebynumbers.com

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