Our Journey Begins

Greetings! Salutations! Good morning, afternoon, evening, or any time of day you decide to take in this new and exciting blog! I don't usually use rambling and grammatically questionable sentences like that, but it'll have to do for a special occasion such as this. What's the occasion, you may ask? Well, we're starting THE wine class at Virginia Tech!

You may be thinking to yourself, "Wait, I'm not starting a wine class...am I?" and you're probably right. You're probably reading this as someone who doesn't even go to Virginia Tech, or maybe you do but you're not enrolled in the course, or you're a TA for the class but not a student. However, if you're reading this blog, then you're embarking on a journey with me as we learn about the world of wine together! I'll be passing on my newfound knowledge throughout the semester so that we can all grow in the world of wine.

Pictured: me!

Let's start with a little about me and what I know about wine so far. My name is Tim and I am a graduate student at Virginia Tech. I graduated with my BS recently and just started graduate studies, but I couldn't end my time at VT without taking this highly acclaimed course. So far, I have little experience with wine. I've had a few glasses here and there and a boxed wine once (don't hate me please), but never really tried exploring more outside of what I was offered. From my limited experience, I would say I enjoy red wines more, although I do like some of the sweet white wines. Most of the wines I have tried have been of the table variety, although I also enjoy a good sparkling wine. I do not believe I have ever tried a fortified wine, but I am interested in trying one. Most circumstances in which I have tried wine were family occasions or celebrations, including weddings. I have also enjoyed wine with friends a few times, and I plan to experience many wines with friends this semester.

This leads me to what I hope to gain, and in turn pass on to you, from this course. The primary topic I'm interested in is refining my tastes. There are entire professions dedicated to tasting wines, whether to perfect the process from the producer's side, or to make a judgment on the quality of a wine as a critic. These people always speak about minute differences in tastes and how the aromas and tastes are released, but when I enjoy wine, I typically can't tell much of a difference between tastes. Maybe this is a symptom of my poor taste and wallet, but I hope I can learn more about what goes into wine so that I know what to look, or taste, for when I try new wines in the future. I also hope to learn more about the geographical significance of certain wines and why true champagne is only produced in Champagne, France. Lastly, I hope to get tastefully inebriated with my friends several times this semester while trying new wines for this blog.

That's all for now, but I hope you'll join me as we explore the wide and wonderful world of wine these next several weeks!