How I Became Interested in Wine

From birth to college graduation, I had hazarded only two solitary sips of wine. One was delivered from the spout of my mother’s boxed Franzia “Chillable Red”, which lasted but seconds in my mouth before being expelled with great force into a nearby bathroom sink. The other was thrust upon me at a party in college – a saccharine Moscato, which seemed to me more a sugared fruit juice than what I had (by that time) expected of wine. I was not an enthusiast, I had acknowledged.

And so, when I arrived at my first ever Board of Directors dinner, hosted by the company’s CEO at his home, and heard that we would be served an 8-course meal with wine pairings, I was concerned. Though I had accepted glasses of wine to satisfy social expectations among work colleagues, I was far from confident that I could even pretend to enjoy (much less fully consume) eight glasses of wine. It was here, however, that my expectations would depart from experience.

To my surprise, as each wine was served, our host introduced the new selection with a personal story about visiting the vineyard and meeting the wine maker. He could explain how the wine was named and what was on the label; so specific were his descriptions of aromas and flavors that I didn’t even recognize the words he was employing. His home was situated on the outskirts of Montreal and he had selected an entire flight of complementary wines from Canada in the surrounding regions. His passion was enviable and, somehow, transformed a merely acceptable beverage into a personal story to be savored with care.

Over the subsequent years, I have endeavored to learn more about wine by tasting different varietals and blends, coupled with semi-frequent visits to cellar doors and wine regions around the world. As I had started to collect more of my favorites, it occurred to me that I knew nothing of the wine business. Thus, when it was brought to my attention that there would be a GST focused solely on the New World wine industry, I was sold. Hearing Professor Rapp speak to our group of trekkers, I knew that the class would quench yet another thirst for knowledge on the business side while providing even more context for tasting and enjoying a drink that I have come to love.