Food Do we have any oenophiles here?

We're staying at the Silverado Resort and Spa, but prior to that, we're taking a week to travel down California's North Coast, and plan on going through Sonoma and the Russian River area. I'd appreciate any suggestions that you or the wine reps have.

 

Cool. Give me a week or so to hunt up some suggestions beyond the ones I've listed above.

 

Great piece from Wine Spectator on talking about wine: The Six Essential Wine Words | Drinking Out Loud | News & Features | Wine Spectator

Made me dream of opening one of my bottles from this place: Home | WC Winery They have such a unique terroir in their little corner of the Applegate that there is one layer of similar herbaceousness running through all of their wines. It's spectacular! It was fascinating to try their reds side by side and find that link.

I'm sad that I'm running low on one of my favorite pinot noirs: Girardet's '09 Barrel Select. For the price point, it's perfect. I am sitting on a lot of other pinots, though, and I have to drink them sometime. I'll probably stock up again at the Harvest Party (yay wine club discounts).

 

Do you like Côtes du Rhône? If so, I have some recommendations for you. I don't have any bottles on hand at the moment, and can't remember the names of the wineries off the top of my head, but I'll write down the names when I'm at the store next.

 

You might try Bodega Sur de los Andes Bonarda (Argentina), La Quercia Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (Italy), or Murtia Monastrell Jumilla (Spain). They all are fairly robust and right around your budget.

 

Yes, montepulciano is a type of grape, so you'll find various brands, but almost all of them are Italian. Italy is about the only place to grow that type of grape for wine to my knowledge.

You are correct about the $15 and up thing, I almost posted that in my first reply but didn't want to sound like a snob. IMO, there is currently a sweet spot around $15-18 where you can get a lot of good wines from South America and the Pacific Northwest.

 

An oenophile is someone who loves ('phile' = love) wine ('oeno' = wine).

 

Met an oenologist yesterday. Fun to talk to. He just retired from a career in academia. Mostly we discussed how wine has exploded across the United States.

 

Just out of curiosity, don't you Americans go by enology (and therefore enologist and enophile)?

The oe/ae structure is typically a British (and sometimes Canadian) English thing (compare orthopaedic vs. orthopedic, anaesthetic vs. anesthetic, encyclopaedic vs. encyclopedic, paediatrics vs. pediatrics, etc.).

And, by the by, I actually really love ligatures: orthopædic, anæsthetic, encyclopædic, pædiatric, amœba, etc.

/wordnerd

 

Rather!

 

This is why I prefer the British spelling.

 

Well, duh.

 

I see what you did there.