Azienda Agricola Sant'Elena Winery

• October 2008

  Hi all, I met the ubiquitous Philip at a tech conference in NYC a few weeks ago; we chatted about travel and wine a bit and he gave me his card. It took me a while to dig through the cards I ended up with that week, but I finally did today and wound up here. I appreciated wine off... Read moreHi all, I met the ubiquitous Philip at a tech conference in NYC a few weeks ago; we chatted about travel and wine a bit and he gave me his card. It took me a while to dig through the cards I ended up with that week, but I finally did today and wound up here. I appreciated wine off and on for five-ish years but I've actually been "into" wine for another four years or so after that. I didn't like reds for a long time, but I came around a ways back and am now about dead even between whites, reds, and roses (the latter in lesser quantity but important because they're such a limited summer treat). I'll ashamedly but freely admit that my first love was Sutter Home white zin. After that a girlfriend got me into rieslings and sweeter wines, also a stumble on the path. My now-wife and I, though, came to discover all sorts of wines both here and abroad. I've had brief, torrid affairs with, off the top of my head, the 2003(? maybe '05?) Megawatt zinfandel, Hess Select chardonnay, the 2005 Mezzacorona pinot grigio (was much better than the stuff they were putting out last I saw), a txakolina of which I'm ashamed I cannot recall the winery, and the DiLenardo pinot grigio with sushi. A couple high points I can recall are Will Bucklin's Old Hill zin -- he supplies grapes to Ravenswood, we stayed at his vacation rental and had a great time -- as well a recent gem at the Palm on 49th in NYC, a 1997 Sant'Elena ros di rol cab sauv/cab franc they were selling by the glass for reasons I couldn't fathom. It was a beautiful wine with a ribeye. Lately I've been on sauvignon blanc, merlot, and cab sauv kicks. Burned out on chardonnay this spring. Last winter it was Spanish reds like temperanillos and riojas, and I'm sure they'll make a reappearance this winter. We're always looking for good cab francs, too. We're currently saddled with a lot of Red Diamond chard and merlot, as that's what we bought in bulk for our wedding and ended up with the remainders. They're both not bad, but anything in quantity gets old after a while. As may have been obvious, we're foodies and tend to look for great pairings, though I've known many wines that are just fine on their own. If you're in the Boston/Cambridge area, absolutely check out the waitstaff recommendations at both Blue Room and Rendez-vous in Cambridge. We've never been steered wrong. We live in Andover, MA and our best source is in town, a little shop called wine-sense (http://www.wine-sense.net) run by a wonderful woman named Samanta who literally only stocks wines she herself approves. It's a small place but we manage to walk out with a case and extra any time we stop in. Aside from my interest wine, I'm a web developer for an online travel company. I love to travel, I play video games, play guitar and bass, love to cook, and am a rabid Bruins/Patriots/Red Sox fan. OK, that's way too much babbling at this point. Glad to have found this site, and I look forward to exploring everything here. See you all around...    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Just walked in... by denonymous

  
  

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