Wine and Armitage… two of my favourite things. In the summer, we travel every year to the Okanagan wine region of British Columbia for a beach vacation. Of course, we always have to throw in a few visits to the local wineries!
Many of the wineries are located on high ground, with the best views of the surrounding countryside, and it’s very picturesque along the back roads too. (Views from Tinhorn Creek and from Burrowing Owl.)
Stoneboat Vineyards is one of the cutest wineries I’ve seen, and their wine is nice too. I bought an excellent ice wine from there this year.
Many of the wineries have tasting rooms. Burrowing Owl also supports conservation of the burrowing owls in the area. And they make an excellent example of a Bordeaux-style wine with an ending that rhymes with Armitage! (Apparently, the word is a combination of “merit” and “heritage”.)
My favourite type of wine, though, is Pinot Noir — something that I have in common with Richard Armitage, according to various interviews. While he’s said in the past that he’s more into wine than beer, it sounds like he may not regularly drink wine or anything much anymore, except in service to his craft.
During the interview for the Wolverine: The Long Night podcast, he mentioned that he hadn’t “drank in around two years.” But then he told us that he “probably got through about two bottles of wine (!)” the night before a particular scene to dehydrate and make his voice rough. He said, “I turned up on that morning, for the bar scene, kind of in bar scene mode. I had a really bad hangover and I was like, ‘That was, that was not a good idea.’ But it kind of worked… I couldn’t find the voice without going to that place.” This was apparently a technique he also used to “wreck” his voice and make it deeper for the role of Thorin in The Hobbit. Good thing he doesn’t have to do that sort of thing too often!
Drinking wine is something he’s had to do in character, though, for many of his roles. Good thing he’s had personal experience! (Screen caps from RichardArmitageNet.com.)
I wonder if the wine business is something he’d want to do in his down time, maybe while he’s waiting for his next big role? He mentioned setting up a production company — maybe he could produce wine instead of drama? Or maybe he could lend his voice to do some marketing for just the right winery?
There’s actually a winery in California run by a guy named Armitage! Armitage Wines advertises “award winning wine produced in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a focus on Pinot Noir!” And the home page sports a tiger’s face, reminiscent of Francis’ and Reba’s night out. What could be better?
Apparently, the winemaker “believes that if we quiet ourselves enough we can feel the plants vibrational energy speak to us. This level of connection is what he believes separates one winemaker from the next allowing for great variation in ones (sic) development of wine. He uses sacred geometry to pull this vibrational energy from the universe into the wine even during all phases of transformation.” Um… okay.
So what do you think? Has anyone ever tried the Armitage wine? The reviews on-line are good. A bit rich for my blood, though, at $55 U.S. for a bottle of Pinot Noir. Maybe if I’m ever passing that way…
LOL I had no idea there was a winery called Armitage… Sounds a bit too esoteric for my tastes. As for “our” Armitage and putting his efforts into wine production rather than film production: That reminds me of dear old Sam Neill who is quite successful with his own boutique wine-producing efforts in New Zealand. His company is called Two Paddocks – he actually tweets under the same handle on Twitter. So at least Armitage could follow in an acting colleague’s footsteps. And in his beloved New Zealand, no less. Maybe that eco house is going to materialise, after all…
LikeLiked by 5 people
Thank you SUEBC for this subject and to you Guylty it “Sounds a bit too esoteric” to me too!
It reminds me of odd biodynamic wine cultivation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, a bit of a unique philosophy about wine-making! Still, it would be fun to sample some Armitage! I didn’t know Sam Neill was a vintner. Cool! You’re right… New Zealand would be an idea… wine-making and skiing. And maybe some acting and some audiobooks now and then. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Even though NZ is on the other side of the planet, I am all for him becoming an actordirectorvintnerwriter over there. It’s a great place to be in – and Graham McTavish proves that it is possible to live in NZ and still have an international career.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had no idea McTavish lives in NZ. He just stayed on after The Hobbit movies?
LikeLike
I believe his wife is from there originally, iirc. So they “moved back” for The Hobbit — he had one small child already, and maybe they had another while there? Now I have the impression the family lives there full time and he’s there when he’s not working.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I liked him a lot in Outlander. He was one of the more interesting characters. I pretty much lost interest after the first season though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He is a SERIOUS collateral attraction. And I only saw one episode of Outlander. The problem is that most of his work is in stuff I don’t enjoy watching. I have developed a serious fanfic addiction to Dwalin, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Outlander is really not the best IMO. The first season is mighty steamy, but I don’t really like the female star all that much. And the story doesn’t really grip me. Then the second season is totally implausible as they go to France and slip right into French high society. (Plus not steamy.)
I’m not sure I’ve seen him in anything else except The Hobbit. Can’t say I’ve read any Dwalin fanfic. Any good ones that are m/f?
LikeLike
I think so. He brought his family with him to NZ and they must have liked it so much that they stayed…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d love to see that part of the world. It looks gorgeous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely recommend. (Can’t believe it is now 4 years since I was there… My travel companion and I decided back then that we would do a revival tour 10 years later… damn, that’s 6 more years to wait.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Um, yeah. I don’t need this much mumbo-jumbo with my wine, thankyouverymuch.
If he wants to make wine on the side, I’d support that. I’d suggest Franconia as a location. Not too far from home, great wine region and little old me as a guide, of course. 😉 But, please, only in addition to acting, not instead of!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Kate could you imagine The Armitage making wine to fund his production company? What a great idea! Imagine the fun he would have taste testing those Pinot Noirs!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Not likely if he were to head my call and come to Franconia. This isn’t Pinot country.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah well he could expand his taste buds a bit, change never hurt anybody not even The Tall Dwarf!! He’d love the scenery by you no doubt!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
*heed 🙄
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a sneaky suspicion that RA has no idea how good Franconian wines are! What a pity. He is missing something.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I volunteer to educate him!! 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
I suspected that.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Selfless, that‘s me!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sue, your blog is so educational! I always learn new things about a variety of topics outside of The Armitage gate. I love ice wine. I had some first in Germany on a Rheinland tour in 2011. Soo good! I need to buy some and speaking of that I am gonna google where to buy Armitage wine. $55 is pricey but I am curious to see what it tastes like. The visuals here are just breathtaking of the vineyards, even more picuresque than Nappa Valley where my sis and I went in 2014.
As an aside I hope your work stress has lessened. I love your blog posts so I am thrilled that this one popped up and you are the consummate researcher!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I made the ice wine last! I have mini-wine glasses that were just perfect. I’d love to try the Armitage wine, but it looks like maybe only in California. I love the area where we go in the summer and the views are definitely spectacular. We always go to the winery restaurant with the best view for lunch so I can take some pictures.
Nope. Work is really, really brutal. Today was not a good day. But thanks for the nice feedback on the blog posts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have to get some ice wine soon! We still haven’t had the second Cmas with the brother and family and my sister in law would like ice wine!!
I’m so sorry about work. Hang in there!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. Christmas in January sounds like fun.
LikeLike
Yeah the twins were so cute, they said we left up the tree for you Aunt Michele! It did buy me time to finish gift shopping for all 4 of them!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL on the Armitage wine! Wouldn’t mind tasting him… er… it! 😉
We drink about one bottle of wine a week at our house, usually one during the weekend (Fri or Sat evening) and usually a Merlot. Yumm.
Love the views in the wine country pictures!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Can I pour you a glass of Armitage? Wouldn’t that be fun? I used to only drink white wine when I was younger, but now I find it will often give me a headache. I prefer red. We also have some really nice dry rosés here.
Thanks! It’s a really beautiful area.
LikeLiked by 2 people
A la sortie de la série ” Hannibal”, une grande réception avait eu lieu. Pour cette occasion, il avait été servi un pineau noir, Grand Cru de Bourgogne, appartenant à la Côte de Beaune.
A cette époque, n’étant spécialiste qu’en hydro-minéralogie des eaux potables, j’avais fait quelques recherches en oenologie. De mémoire, je pense qu’il s’agissait de Puligny ou Chassagne – Montrachet. (Voir le site: https://www.vins-bourgogne.fr/nos-vins-nos-terroirs/la-bourgogne-et-ses-appellations/montrachet,2377,9170.html?&args=Y29tcF9pZD0yMjA1JmFjdGlvbj12aWV3RmljaGUmaWQ9MzU1Jnw%3D et pour plus de précision la carte de ces vins prestigieux: https://www.vins-bourgogne.fr/nos-vins-nos-terroirs/la-bourgogne-et-ses-appellations/gallery_files/site/321/402/29684/29733.pdf)
A cette période de ma vie de fan, j’avais été très choquée. Quel luxe! Compte-tenu du faible volume produit, ce vin est très rare donc très cher. Les ventes sont réservées très longtemps à l’avance. Pratiquement toute la production part à l’étranger… Voici à titre indicatif:
– le prix de certaines bouteilles de Montrachet à 185,50 euros: https://www.le-bourguignon.fr/fr/47-batard-montrachet
– des bouteilles les plus coûteuses au monde (en 5 et 6 il y a les Montrachet grands crus):
https://www.journaldunet.fr/patrimoine/guide-des-finances-personnelles/1131303-vin-le-plus-cher-du-monde/
Maintenant, j’arrive un peu plus à comprendre comment cela peut-être grisant de pouvoir accéder à de tels produits d’exception et de s’en vanter.
Pour l’anecdote, le printemps suivant, j’avais conçu le menu d’un anniversaire familial autour d’une bouteille de Côte de Beaune, bien moins prestigieuse à 45 euros.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice to be able to sample some high quality wines now and then. My hubby worked for a winery for around a year. It was great! He would come home with various wines we wouldn’t have been able to sample otherwise. Really, though, my tastes are not overly expensive. Mid-range price is just fine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do you have a favorite winery? Are those available in the States that you listed above? I would not mind trying Armitage wine.. pricey as it is.
LikeLike
The three I mentioned are favourites. Dirty Laundry is good too. We have good wine-growing country in BC. I don’t know which wineries export to the States. It’s funny… cross-border wine selling is allowed both ways, but we can’t buy wine from other provinces in Canada.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great post 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks!
LikeLike
No problem 🙂 check out my blog when you get chance 😊
LikeLike
One of my favorite vacations ever was in Bordeaux, where we did a combination of churches and art and winetasting. Truly memorable. However, if I were to do it again now I’d pay someone to do the driving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds great. I was in France only as a child — no wine tasting then!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What is ice wine? It sounds like something I might like. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mimi itbis a dessert wine. I just bought some for my sis in law. Lot of varieties
A bit sweet but gooddddddddd❤️❤️❤️😘😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Is it at all like Moscato wine? 🍷
LikeLike
Never tried Moscato.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sue and Mimi Moscato reminds me of a cross between Kool Aid and Sutter Home white Zinfandel it is sweet and I think is a summer wine but not that potent 😘😉🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is pretty sweet, but you don’t have to have a full wine glass of it to enjoy. In fact, if I’m indulging in desert, I usually won’t. 🍷
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep Muscato and dessert would be sugar overload!! Ice wines are great alternative
I think Muscato is somewhat of an acquired taste
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s made by allowing the grapes to stay on the vine until they freeze (hence the name) and pressing the frozen grapes. It’s often not a planned method of production because the grapes have to stay on the vine a long time and things can happen to them before they freeze (mold or animals, for instance) and then they have to freeze hard and get picked very quickly. I don’t care for Moscato — too sweet for me — but for some reason Eiswein is not especially sweet. (Compare freeze distillation with beer — “ice beer” is a thing, too — you let the beer freeze and then take the water off.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sounds complicated and labor intense, but I want to try it, so next time I’m gonna have to pick some up. Yes, Moscato is very sweet, but I’m gonna try the Eiswein you mention now too. I’ve never been a beer fan, but since I only ever tasted it as a child (parents let us have a taste if we wanted as kids and I never liked it) I didn’t ever try it again. Probably still won’t, but I do like champaign and some people tell me they taste similar, but I don’t believe it. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Moscato was a real trend wine about five years ago now — I remember an RA fan, Xenia, who got interested in wine because all of a sudden everyone was drinking Moscato. It was supposed to be an easy “beginner” wine — to me it tastes like alcoholic grape juice, but when I started with wine I also preferred sweeter varieties (Müller-Thurgau was my favorite for something like two years).
In general I’d agree that beer and champagne have little in common, but here are beer styles that taste like something like sparkling wines — although they are not beer in the sense of following the German purity laws; you’re looking for a lambic beer (Cantillon makes the best one) called a gueuze. I love these — they have wild yeasts and often include fruits in their mash.
LikeLiked by 2 people
One of my husbands close friends is a German Beer connoisseur and for several years rode his bicycle all over Germany tasting, well who are we kidding, drinking all the varieties he could and cataloging them. It was pretty funny because he is a fairly tall thin man, but after several years of riding his bike around Germany, his tall thin frame had a fairly round beer-baby belly. I think I tend to snooze through most of his beer critiques. haha
Ooo, Now I’ve got to add Müller-Thurgau to my sampling list. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
A very friendly wine.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s a bit sweet and a little thicker than regular wine. As Michele said, it’s a dessert wine. Usually you serve it cold and in a smaller glass. I really like it. They only make small quantities each year, due to the process and uncertainty of the crop as Serv described.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds tasty though. heh I may be driving down to San Diego again next month, have not made up my mind yet, but if I do, I am going to see about picking up some along the drive. ❄️
LikeLiked by 1 person