(Bloomberg) - Maybe you’ve been put off by the numbers. When 10 bottles of 1945 Château Mouton Rothschild go for $343,000, it can feel as though a wine auction is a wee bit … inaccessible.

Or maybe you think buying wine at auction is a stuffy process, involving sitting on uncomfortable chairs in bland boardrooms, raising paddles out of sheer boredom. Wine auctions, you figure, are not for you.

Well, you’re wrong. Wine auctions are no longer just one thing. I’ve been to raucous live sales where collectors battled for expensive bottles while sipping Krug champagne and savoring food by Daniel Boulud. But you can also bid online while hanging out at home in your sweats and eating pizza from a box, or even while flying from New York to L.A. (unless Gogo-in-flight conks out, as it did for me when I tried bidding on some wine this year).

The fall auction season starts next week. Here’s what you need to know before you play.

Why and Where

The biggest reason to bid at auction is to get rare bottles and old vintages that aren’t readily available in retail shops. (If you’re not drinking older wines at least some of the time, you’re definitely missing out—but that’s another, more expensive, column.)