Wine and Me

   Have you ever been to one of those delightful, classy family dinners filled with intelligent conversation and loving remarks about one another? Me neither. Our holidays are usually just a group of loud Italians shouting at one another until finally everyone is either too full or intoxicated to do anything else…I can never really tell the difference. Over the years, I can’t help but think that without all the calming effects of alcohol, my family would have for sure murdered each other by now. Of course, coming from an Italian Roman Catholic family, the drink of choice is always wine. In fact, the Catholic Church was where I first tried this beverage.

Like any God-fearing Catholic child, it was my Godly duty to participate in my first Holy Communion around the age of 10. This is my first recollection of ever consuming wine…though, in a religious sense, I was actually drinking the blood of Christ. But anyway, it meant nothing else to me in my childhood other than that it was the most supreme drink chosen by God himself and that it should be revered.
           As I grow into the now end times of my college years, I have come to appreciate wine as a casual beverage (trying my best not to consume too much in one sitting). As I continue to drink it I am increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer variety of wine in existence. In general, I tend to stick with what I like in anything: food, music, etc. So, once I found a few good wines, I mainly stuck with those. Some include Apothic Red and Beaujolais Nouveau. These are both new world wines and hence, I never even thought about pairing them with food. My wine “repertoire” needs to seriously increase, which is something I know this class will do. I would like to discover new wines and what it is about the taste of these specific ones that I like so that I can find others like them in the future.

At the time I’m writing this, I’ve already learned so much from this course as well as what the rest will be like, so, in part, my expectations have been formed around that. Prior to starting, I had no stringent desires of what to learn, my main motivation was simply that it would force me to explore the wine game more than I probably ever would have on my own. So, this should be quite the experience and here’s hoping I don’t become an elitist jerk about it in the end!