That moral doesn't quite compare to bringing pointy and bangy items through the security checkpoint, but I doubt next time, if you have an issue and say "the other officer told me not to declare it next time," you will still be crying as (1) you never see the specially-selected wine again, (2) you pay a penalty, and/or (3) your GE disappears.

I always fill out the paper card, even with GE, in case (1) the machine answers aren't quite good enough, and (2) the machine isn't working.