Wine is definitely a completely new world for me that I've found myself slowly getting more and more curious about.
As a college student, a night of drinking wine meant buying a box of Franzia or a bottle of Sutter Home White Zinfandel and chugging it. Wine was my poison of choice early in my college career for three reasons: It's cheap, gets the job done with minimal caloric intake, and I found that I rarely got hangovers from it.
It wasn't until this summer that I began to explore different kinds of wines. First of all, I finally turned 21 in May, so in a way, it felt right to "mature" and begin exploring the world of wine. Secondly, I got a job working in a restaurant with an extensive wine list. I also worked at a restaurant over the summer where part of the training was getting familiarized with the wine options. However, the only thing that I took from that experience was a slight buzz.
I've visited two different wineries in my lifetime. One of them is owned by my mothers close friend, so every occasion we've visited has been more casual than informative. The other winery I've been to was one of many stops during a bachellorette party, so needless to say I didn't take much away from the experience either. I'm looking forward to visiting local wineries in Blacksburg and having an authentic tasting experience.
What I have come to find is that I really enjoy Petite Sirahs (or so I believe I do). I had somehow come across a bottle of 2007 Stag's Leap. Its one of the smoothest wines that I've ever tried and I've been hooked ever since. Of course, I have very fast learned that it is quite difficult to find Petite Sirahs, so Stag's Leap is the only wine I have to base my judgement off of. Therefore, I THINK I like Petite Sirahs, but I could be wrong. I would love to eventually try some different brands.
There's a lot of things I'm looking forward to in regards to this course. Foremost, I'm excited to be able to sit at dinner and enjoy a conversation about wine because I actually know what I'm talking about. For example, anytime that I have tasted wine, people around me describe the wine as "oakey" or "buttery", I want to actually taste that rather than just nodding my head like I do. I also want to try different varieties and find more that I like. I found that I actually enjoy red wine more than white which isn't supposed to be typical, but I want to try more whites to expand my palette.
So I guess, here goes nothing. Cheers to an exciting and informative semester!
