Oenophilia (IPA: /ɛ.noʊ.ʼfi.li.a/), originally from Greek, is the love (philia) of wine (oinos). An oenophile is a lover of wine.
In the strictest sense, oenophilia describes a disciplined devotion to wine, accompanying strict traditions of consumption and appreciation. In a general sense however, oenophilia simply refers to the enjoyment of wine, often by laypersons.
OK. I am finally getting the courage to start my first wine blog. I have thought long and hard about what to say in my first attempt at blogging. How about a quick introduction about who I am and what I do?
My name is Sam Chen and I am a wine handicapper. I have been in the food and wine industry for over 14 years. My brother and I started our own restaurant in 1992. I have a BS degree in Construction Engineering from University of California, Berkeley and I also hold an Associate Degree in Culinary Art from the California Culinary Academy. In 1994, my brother and I started getting into collecting wines out of a hobby. At the time, our wines of interest were strictly California and Bordeaux. Coincidently, that was also the time when California was blessed with multiple classic vintages from 1994 to 1997. Collecting Cult California wines was, all of a sudden, a hobby of many wealthy dot-comers. Our hobby quickly turned into a passion, then an obsession. We would gather all the printed articles and read them late at night to try to get a better understanding of the wine collection market. We religiously studied Wine Spectator magazines and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. We analyzed what were the hottest up-and-coming wines coming to the market and try to secure favorable allocations before everyone else. Soon, we found that there are many people just like us who are interested in wines but didn't have a forum to buy, sell, talk or trade wines. Seeing that there was a niche to fill, we started building our contact with other wine enthusiasts around the country. Slowly and through words of mouth, people started coming to us with their wine needs. We started writing a twice-a-week newsletter devoting to offering these people the opportunity to find out about up-and-coming wine stars as well as the opportunity to purchase these wines at a good price. Soon after, our newsletters were circulating from one person to another that we had customers everywhere. Now, our newsletter reaches around 3000 people and it is closed to new clients except for current client's referral.
On November 17, 2005, my brother passed away at the age of 42 because of a sudden heart attack. I was left with the enormous task of continuing with our twice a week newsletters as well as overseeing the restaurant. It was also during this difficult time that I suddenly realized that I have the gift of being a great wine taster. It is as if I have unlocked a part of my sensory organ responsible for connecting what I smell and taste to the part of my brain that process these sensory information into verbal form. I can smell, taste and describe the wine at the same time. Every wine that I tasted was very clear to me. Color, Aroma, texture, mouth feel, finish.......Moreover, I clearly understood what the critics were talking about in their tasting notes. I said to myself,"Hey, I can become a wine evaluator too."
On December 2005, I officially launched Echelonwines.com, a private website devoted to offering wine resources to my private clients. Now, I tasted wines on a daily basis and I evaluate wines and offer my assessment of the wines to my clients before they are reviewed by other influential wine critics. This blog is my voice.
Disclaimer: I am passionate about what I do. I tasted wines daily and evaluate them based on my own experience. I recognize and respect that making wines is a very hard work. It takes passion, huge financial risk, patience, and vision. Unfortunately, not every wine is a star. I tried to evaluate wines as objectively as possible. My score is my snapshot assessment of the wine at the time of my evaluation and it may changed as wines tend to evolve or develop over time. My written evaluation of these wines is solely my expression of my opinion.
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