__ O E N O P H I L I A Welcome to a chronicle of Chris and Lisa's journey from occasional sippers to hard-core swirl'n-sniff types who can drop the phrase 'nose of wet stones' into a conversation and still manage to keep a straight face. Yes, we have become Winegeeks, members of an aberrant subclass of individuals who spend all their time and money worshipping at the feet of Dionysos, chasing the dragon of the perfect glassful to the four corners of the world and not stopping until it's been captured, killed and dissected. But in a good way. So this is our little celebration of all the hours we've wasted hanging out with winos, arguing endlessly about whether that cabernet had been aged in American or French oak, or if the particular petroleum hint in that old riesling's nose was 'keroseney' or 'gasoliney.' When you come right down to it, we're desperately unbalanced individuals, and, like most obsessed proselytizers, we're determined to yak on and on about our obsession until we're blue in the face or the room is clear or both. So let us be a cautionary tale for the uninitiated but an inspiration to the tiny lunatic geek inside all of us, straining endlessly to be released from her chains and to run free, howling at the moon about malolactic fermentation and the perils of fining and filtration.
How did this madness come upon us, who seemed so normal a few short years ago? A brief (well, okay, maybe not-so-brief) HISTORY of Chris's initial succumbing, the subsequent passing of the bug to Lisa and of our gradual slide into this peculiar affliction...
The heart of our site (because the most frequent question we're asked by our adoring public is "So, mister and missus winegeek -- what's tasty?"): brief, regularly updated notes on thousands of wines, from el-cheapo burger wines to delicate old Burgundies, California to New York to Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Jamaica...
Chronicles of silly winegeeks from all over the world at play, reports from various themed and non-themed tastings...
If you're a no-nonsense cut-to-the-chase type...
to aid in translating that weird lingo into English.
"You must drink an old wine, bearing on its shoulders a head hoary indeed, a wine begat of wave-girdled Lesbos. And Bybline, the wine that hails from holy Phoenicia, I recommend, although I do not place it in the same rank as the other. It does retain its bouquet for a prodigous length of time, but when you come to drink it you will find it inferior by far. Some swagger-chattering gasbags may scoff that Phoenician was ever the sweetest of wines but to them I pay no heed." -- Archestratus of Gela, c. 400 B.C., Cranky Classical Winegeek
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