The Savant Project has an unwieldy name for a bistro, and, riding the 39 bus on our way to Brigham Circle, Bostonist kept thinking of idiots. But the name sticks with you, as does the interior of the place, once you've gotten a glimpse. Small, in the way urban restaurants have to be, it had a scattering of tables in the front, under the glow of gold tin walls. The bar lay just past the entrance, fronted by a narrow hallway. And Tuesday night that hallway was packed with patrons.

Bostonist was there for a wine tasting hosted by the magazine The Second Glass, a color newsprint rag that, for the past year, has been the independent voice for wine in Boston. Tyler Balliet, the young publisher/editor of the magazine, presided over the tasting. Friendly, with a shaggy haircut and boyish face; slender with a slouching poise, Balliet in the crowd looked like a man with sea legs surrounded by landlubbers in a storm the size of New Hampshire. A feat, considering he has only hosted a handful of tastings.

Balliet had never planned to be a magazine publisher. He started the Second Glass while working at a wine shop on Newbury Street, a job he still holds part time. He did it to raise awareness of wine, to cultivate young, knowledgeable drinkers.

"I started the magazine because I had friends who were interested in wine and who had all the same questions, but they didn't know where to go. And [the magazine] just grew out of that," Balliet said.

The Second Glass has seen 7 issues, with a new one due to arrive just before the Boston Wine Expo later this month. For all his print success, Balliet plans to shift the focus toward the Second Glass's website, where he hopes to provide timely content more quickly than the bimonthly magazine format allows.

In fact, the Second Glass already has an impressive online network. Using sites like Yelp.com and a home grown email list of young wine drinkers, Balliet can direct large numbers of people to events like Tuesday's wine tasting. It's this audience that Balliet and others at the magazine would most like to influence. This is the wine drinking community they want to build.

"Slurping is key," Stephanie Morrison said with authority. Morrison, a novice wine drinker, had just learned about slurping with her friend, Kathryne Dameron. It's one of Balliet's "five S's" of wine tasting (along with sniffing, swirling, savoring, and spitting), and, for some drinkers, it's the most important.

"I usually hate wine," Dameron attested. She and Morrison are members of Balliet's social network and had a number of friends scattered throughout the bar. Balliet himself had instructed them on the finer points of wine tasting. The lessons took, to an extent. Dameron and Morrison were each sipping -- and slurping -- a glass of Sauvignon Blanc they had bought at the bar. But don't ask them to tell you which one.

"It's French and [the bar is] loud, so we really don't know what it's called," Dameron said.

The patrons formed a blockage in front of the bar, as some of the douchier attendees occupied the space in front of the free wine. The crowd formed a human tidal wave between the kitchen and the dining area that one waiter had to surf periodically with a plate balanced in one hand.

The server, Benny Kraines, was wearing a bright red sweater, which stood out among the dark neutral colors of the patrons. But Kraines did more than sling chow; he owned the joint. He opened the Savant Project with his friend Luis Sanchez mere months after earning his MBA from Babson College. A Boston guy, Kraines takes special pride in his wine list.

"We needed value pricing for the area," he explained. "We had to keep glasses under $10 while still offering a spectrum of quality."

In fact, it was his list that patrons were tasting last night; Balliet likes to draw attention to places with good lists. It's also a short one, so you could get away with ignoring the spit bucket.

"We provided one," Balliet said, "but I'm not sure where it went. It's the difference between this and a professional wine tasting. When I go to a wine event, I have to try like 100 wines, and it's noon. But, here, it's evening and people are unwinding after working a long day. It's different."

The tastings introduce Bostonians to good wine but also to other Bostonians. Amelia Aubourg went because she likes attending arts events and fashion shows, where a wine palate is required kit. But Bostonist suspects that her real motivation was to find people who share her obsession with shoes.

"Boston is a big city," Aubourg said. "But it's really easy to meet people if you make a concerted effort to go out there and find out what's going on."

Photo by Courtney Lockemer