The Oenophile Network Wine Blog

A Google news search for "champagne election day" returns 137 current news stories. The most frequent reference seems to be "popping the champagne" in reference to, depending on the point of the story, "democrats not popping the champagne yet" or "they're getting ready to pop the champagne".

Regardless of your political affiliation (or the results of the election), I think sparkling wine is definitely the best wine to enjoy election day. On election day (and maybe the 4th of July), it just doesn't seem right to drink the French stuff...though...the best stuff does tend to come from French producers.

Want a great compromise?

Go with a Roederer Estate sparkling wine. Roederer is the California outpost of Louis Roederer, and they make great wine in Anderson Valley.

The Roederer Estate 1999 L'Ermitage Estate is terrific (about $45), as is the the Roederer Estate NV Brut--probably the best deal around right now, going for $20 or less at most places.

And, if you just have to go French, the Louis Roederer 1999 Cristal Brut is stellar. But, at $200-$240, I'd stick with the domestic stuff, especially on Election Day.

Regardless of your political affiliation, I urge you to vote on Election Day. And enjoy the bubbly Tuesday night...no matter the results...celebrate democracy.

I often struggle with the correct pronunciation of wine names and terms, like Chassagne-Montrachet. There are a bunch of resources on the web to help with that, including audio clips and text pronunciation guides. There are also a couple of pretty good wine-dictionaries too, which explain wine tasting terms and other things like masceration.

Robin Garr's Wine Lovers' Page Lexicon
A pretty good general dictionary of wine terms. Also has audio recordings of basic wine terms like Auslese, Charbono, Chianti, Gewurztraminer, Pauillac, Pinot Meunier, and Verdicchio. Most of the audio recordings are French. A good smattering of tasting terms are defined, too—like chocolate, hazelnut, leather, ripe, etc.

Louis Latour
Louis Latour's page is perhaps the best place to go to find Burgundy-related audio clips of pronunciations.

Berry Bros. & Rudd
BBR.com has audio clips demonstrating the proper pronunciations of virtually all of the Bordeaux Chateaux. (It appears that there should be links to other areas here, but I couldn't find them.)

Strat's Place Living Audio Wine Dictionary
The Living Audio Wine Dictionary has many audio clips and definitions of wine terms—best to go here if you aren't finding it at the others listed here. It does have a more diverse set of terms, but I found the site difficult to navigate and it did contain some dead links. Definitely worth visiting if you're not finding it elsewhere.

Tasters Guild New York
Tasters Guild New York has a pronunciation glossary, but no audio clips. If you're looking for a dictionary-style text guide to pronunciation (i.e. Chambertin (shahm-bear-tan)), this is the place to go. The number of definitions is very limited, however. You might have more luck with a traditional dictionary site if you're not finding it here.

Other wine dictionaries include:
Epicurious - A good dictionary of commonly used terms (and some less common too).
Terroir France - A short guide to French terms.
Interwines - One of the few dictionaries that helps translate Spanish wine terms to English.