Wine with Family and Friends

We're 25 and 26 years old now, but that sibling rivalry is still going strong. Wine has been present at many wonderful Villa family experiences, and I couldn't help but feel green with envy as I heard my brother discussing the finer elements of each bottle with my parents. The Cornell hotel school graduate had taken all the beverage classes his university had to offer - beers, wine, and spirits. 

Even with my uncultured palate, I could feel the way in which wine had enriched many of my own experiences. My parents started to become serious about wine when I was in middle school, to the point that my father converted a spare bedroom into a small cellar and started collecting. I had my first drink in the form of a glass of wine at our kitchen table, and just a little over a year ago, my father opened a bottle of Screaming Eagle he'd been saving for ten years to celebrate the birth of my nephew, his first grandchild. The wine itself was not the center of the experience, but it served to commemorate a beautiful moment for our family. Time and time again, I have seen this dynamic play out, in the form of special bottles consumed at family birthdays, weddings, and graduations. 

With my friends, the wine quality may be lower, but the good memories are just as many. I remember many late night conversations with friends over (too) many bottles of wine. When the bottles my dad had left for us ran out, we would sneak into his wine fridge and pull out a few more, doing our best to avoid accidentally drinking anything too valuable. This resulted in me trying lychee wine for the first and last time ever. Here at Stanford, wine has been a wonderful way to connect with my classmates, and again, some of my fondest nights are conversations shared over glasses of wine. 

I want to take this class to be able to engage more deeply with my family on wine discussions, while adding new insight into the economics and business elements that go into bringing each bottle to our table. I already have some insight from my wonderful GST to Argentina and Chile, where we studied both country's wine industries, but I would like to develop a more global perspective. 

Furthermore, while I currently shop for wines based primarily on price point and region (and sometimes a cool label gets me too!), I aspire to become a more educated consumer of wines. Maybe I'll finally be able to gift my parents a bottle that they actually enjoy :)