Are You an Eonphile? What?

Crushing the Grapes with your Feet

What, that sounds like a bad word, so close to the word that starts with the "p" and with "d" in the middle. The first time I heard this word was about 20 years ago, when a distant cousin told me he was planning to take enology (oenology)at UC Davis. He just graduated from high school and his parents lived in the Napa Valley. He worked during summer in one of the vineyards in Napa. At that time, I learned that UC Davis is the only university in California that has a Department of Viticulture and Enology and one can obtained a Bachelor's degree in Enology. I believe today, one can get a PhD degree in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis.

For those of you who is not familiar with enology and viticulture, here is the definition. Enology is the science of wine and wine making and Viticulture is the culture and cultivation of grapes. But what is an Oenophile? It is a simply a person who loves wine. Other terms are a wine aficionado or a wine connoisseur. So are you an Oenophile? A lot of people have an obsession for good wine, they spend a fortune on good wines. My daughter has a friend who spends a lot of money on his wine collection. He keeps it in his temperature-controlled wine cellar in his home here in Sacramento. He had spent a lot of money for the construction of this wine cellar. His collection of wine costs him a lot of money. However, he has no children going to school so all his savings goes to his wine collection. He told me he has a wine bottle appraised for $1000. I told him I will choke to death if you let me drink a wine that cost that much. However for addicted wine lovers paying $100 per bottle is not extraordinary in their life style.

The most expensive wine that I have drunk was an Australian wine that cost me $27 per bottle. That was in celebration of our 54th wedding anniversary in the Philippines three years ago. I have drunk from a bottle of champagne that cost $40 about 15 years ago in Maryland, but that was a treat from a friend celebrating his 50th birthday. Although, I am not an avid oenophile, Macrine and I have a glass of red or white wine for dinner about three times during the week. There are some studies that drinking one glass of red wine a day is good for you. My problem is I am suffering from a hyper acid stomach, so drinking red wine exacerbates my problem. So if you are a wine aficionado, an oenophile or a wine connoisseur, please share your experiences with my readers and give us tips on good buys of wine and related products. Here's my toast to all you my readers, Salud, Peseta y Amor ( Health, Money and Love) to all of you and your love ones. Remember, a lot of people still believe wine is the "Drink of the Gods".