Erik Johnson, L’Espalier, Sel de la Terre

Best of Boston 2006 Sommelier

Every sommelier in town will tell you that wine isn’t about snobbery, it’s about fun. Only Erik Johnson, a self-proclaimed “cork dork,” makes us believe it. Johnson tastes 1,000 wines each year to build the lists at lavish L’Espalier and its more casual sister Sel de la Terre, and he has a flair for explaining, in decidedly un-dorky language, the virtues of every one of the beloved bottles that makes the cut. 255 State St., Boston, 617-720-1300, www.seldelaterre.com; 30 Gloucester St., Boston, 617-262-3023, www.lespalier.com.