Fresno vintners are all aglow over some recent developments, including Trader Joe's move to start stocking wine from Fresno State in its local stores, and our recent props from the San Francisco Chronicle. Now SF has thrown down a new gauntlet. We gotta get ourselves a wine dispenser.

Inside the airy, modern room, visitors start by purchasing a smartcard with $10 to $100 of credit and being handed a hefty wine glass.

At the wine stations, organized by varietal, one then inserts the card into a slot, places the glass under a stainless steel spout, and presses the button above the bottle of choice.

The machine deducts money from the card, drop by drop, as it shoots out a precise 1-inch pour.

I predict this machine will be the key to pushing our Central Valley wine industry to the next level. After all, we don't feel any need to put on airs about our wine. Ahem ...

Michael Lindsay, a game designer for Blippy Games visiting San Francisco for Macworld Expo, found VinoVenue's approach more "democratic" than wine tasting at a vineyard, but said it also reminded him of McDonald's.

"I think people in Europe would find this atrocious," Lindsay said, "but people in the Midwest would love it."

Listen, Blippy Man, if you can't handle the machine, how about you give it to a city that can appreciate it? (Fresno!)