My Experience with Wine thus far!

Most of my current knowledge of wine came from two different summers since I have been in college.  One summer I learned out of necessity for my job and the other summer I learned for fun.  Both were wonderful starts to my running wine knowledge and I look forward to building on top of that.

The first summer between my Sophomore and Junior year, I was a server at a somewhat high end restaurant in Virginia Beach right on the ocean front.  One of the requirements of servers was to be able to present and open a bottle of wine for a table.  First, to show the bottle to the person who bought it and ensure it was the right wine, then to open it and give a taste to the lady.  We had quite an extensive wine list but unfortunately the restaurant failed to keep it updated, so we would just stick to the most popular.  Working there, I learned about four or five different red varietal wines and four or five different white varietal wines.  Unfortunately, most of my knowledge about what paired well with what is long forgotten.

I started to really appreciate wine over this past summer in Northern Virginia.  I was lucky enough for my brother to offer me a place to stay so I could do a summer internship in Fairfax.  Living with my brother was great for a multitude of reasons, but specially having him as a drinking buddy.  I have always looked up to him and valued his opinion on most everything.  So because he like Cabernet Sauvignon I became a Cabernet Sauvignon drinker.  My brother and his Girlfriend also introduced me to wineries and the tastings that went along with them.  I had a hard time understanding the language they used and frankly I couldn't help but laugh to myself at how they described the wines and what they entailed.  I stuck with "this tastes like wine, so does this! And this one!"  I also learned that you can spend a lot of money at wineries...

What I hope to learn in this class is basically everything that stood out to John Boyer on the first day of class when we gave him feedback.  I think the lectures will be great, but like he said, it is just going to come down to getting out to the tastings and drinking some different wines.