In the Beginning..

My personal experience with wine is...regrettable. My handful of encounters with Andre and boxed wine are such a slap in the face to the world of wine, I'm not even sure they should be considered "experience." Not only were the substances themselves questionable, but the circumstances under which they were consumed went completely against the notion that wine is not a drink of over-indulgence. Any kind of decent wine that I ever tasted happened when I was much younger, and my palate was not ready for the drink of the gods.

As of now (due to my limited "experience"), I find that most wines are not as agreeable to my taste as I wish they were. If it isn't obnoxiously sweet or obscenely fruity, I probably am going to have some trouble drinking it down. That's something I would like to get out of this class. If enjoying wine is a bit of an acquired taste, then by the end of the semester I would like to have acquired it (at least to some extent).

Besides being able to drink and enjoy wine, I'd like to be able to talk about it with other wine drinkers. Throughout the course of this semester, I plan on picking up a number of wine descriptors so that I can describe my drink as more than just good or bad. After all, wine is a complicated beverage and it deserves adjectives that can convey the complexity of many layers and tastes. Part of being able to talk about wines is possessing the terminology and vocabulary to describe them, but you also have to know how to really taste wine in order to experience the full range of sensory bombardment that a glass of fermented grapes can offer.

One last skill I hope to gain this semester (out of a long list) is the ability to pair wine with food. As of now all I think I know is that white wines can typically be paired with white meat and fish and red wines can be coupled with meats of the same color. However, I have no idea why that is and I am positively clueless as to any pairing information about specific wines. Hopefully, by learning about the wines at tastings and practicing my pairings at wine dinners, I will be able to choose appropriate wines to match up with any dish.