My Personal Experience with Wine Thus Far

Let's just start by saying I sincerely love wine. Why? Well, I love the many different styles and tastes, the social settings (...or not social, if you just like to "unwined" at home) in which wine can be drunk, and its ability to affect the actual tastes of food. I love that every bottle you open is unique in its own way. 

While I say that I love wine, I guess at this point in my life, I really love the appeal and the unknown of it. Do I like drinking wine? Yes, of course. But, do I really know a lot about it? No, not at all. Having a few glasses a week, and tending to buy the same wines over and over again doesn't leave me with much knowledge or learning experience. I love the idea of getting to know more and really figuring out what I like and don't like. 

Right now, like most college students, my taste for wine is more on the sweeter, lighter side. While I can go dryer than Moscato and White Zinfandel, like a medium-bodied Riesling or even Pinot Grigio, I have yet to acquire a taste for the dry wines. I don't like when wine is so dry it makes me pucker. Maybe I'll never come to like the dry wines, but maybe I can learn to pick the right ones for my taste. Who knows! But I am always looking forward to try new wines and learn more. 

I am looking forward to this course because I want to know more, and build the confidence to explore more wines, and talk to people about it. In specific, these are some things I hope to takeaway from this course:

- How to properly taste wine and determine the elements I do and don't like.

- The proper storage of wine both before and after opening. Does it really make that much of a difference?

- Does the use of different glassware make a difference with different wines? Or is it just an aesthetic thing?

- How to properly serve wine. At what temperatures? Do I let it breathe? How do you know what to do for each type of wine?

- How to properly pair cheese and other foods with wine, and how to actually go about tasting it.

- The verbiage of all things wine. How can I accurately describe what I'm tasting?

- How to determine the quality of wine without using just the price. For example, Boyer said Cool Woods Shiraz is a great wine even though it's $6. How do you know that?

I can't wait to soak up everything I can, and hopefully finish the semester with a lot more wine knowledge!!