Vinophile

If no Franco-vinophile is likely to lose his allegiance to French wines after a visit to Piedmont, it should at least widen his horizons in one of the most attractive wine-producing areas in Europe.

Apparently the entire family are keen – if amateur – vinophiles, and the carafe placed on our table was not only, we were assured, home bottled, but also home brewed.

The early dominance of the French in the Mississippi Valley meant that many experiments by small communities and by individuals of that vinophile race—clerical as well as lay—were certainly made with both native and imported grapes.

My own favourites were a 1976 Wintricher Ohligsberg Riesling Auslese and a 1977 Bernkastler Badstube Kabinett, and by the time I had sampled plenty of these and compared them, for scientific purposes only naturally, with a dozen or so other wines, I found myself saying, in all seriousness, that I found another wine – I think it was the ’76 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Auslese – rather ‘leafy’. I do appreciate that ‘leafy’ is not a part of the vinophile’s largely inaccessible vocabulary, but I knew what I meant when I said it.

Morgan didn’t drink, but Morgana owned an extensive wine cellar and knew all the right terms of a vinophile.

Jacoby, however, thoroughly enjoyed the vinophile’s ritual, eagerly volunteering to sample the current offering, sniffing the cork, swirling the precious vintage, inserting his ample nose in the goblet, and finally sipping the nectar, eyes closed in a mock-erotic reverie.

Owner is Joan Murillo, an unashamed vinophile who has decent wines from 2€ a glass to more finessed wines for around 4€.