"LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION" are three words that movie directors are purported to say. "Men in Black 3" director Barry Sonnenfeld never does—though he will sometimes say "cut." Mr. Sonnenfeld confessed to a similarly limited vocabulary when it comes to wine. "I use words like 'manly' and 'muscular' over and over again,' " he said during our lunch at Lure Fish Bar in New York last week.

Fortunately they're pretty accurate descriptors of the wines that he loves: big "peppery" reds like Syrahs from the northern Rhône and the Grenache-Syrah blends of Châteauneuf-du-Pape—though Mr. Sonnenfeld will also opt for the occasional "big" Bordeaux or Chilean red because "the prices are so good." Mr. Sonnenfeld is a proud card-carrying member of Costco, where he said he can get "a case of Chilean wine for about $14" in what I assumed what was a (slight?) exaggeration.

"I'd like to find a white wine that you'd actually enjoy," I said to Mr. Sonnenfeld, scanning the large sheet of paper that comprised the wine list. Mr. Sonnenfeld offered that he liked Champagne. In fact, he and his wife, Susan Ringo (aka Sweetie, the name everyone calls her), opened a bottle of Champagne at their home in East Hampton, N.Y., "at least once a week." That sounded appropriately Hollywood to me.

"Once a month we might drink a bottle of Krug—the rest of the time we drink Nicholas Feuillatte nonvintage," he said, naming a good-quality, modestly priced wine made by one of Champagne's oldest cooperatives.