With the first cool days of autumn, thoughts turn to wine. Our guide to the grape takes you through the principal elements of buying fine wine on the block—from bidding on Bordeaux to decoding a catalogue—and even offers the wisdom of a well-known artist who’s smart enough to trade his own work for the best bottles around.

"Fall Wine Guide" originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2008 Table of Contents.