Meet the Author/Drinker/Wine-tasting Thinker

I was a late bloomer when it comes to drinking. As a freshman I watched fellow students, fresh off the party bus and reeking of Natty Light, stumble down the dorm hallways. "I will never be one of those people!" I said. "I'm never drinking." Then the stress of college sank in, and suddenly I was on board! Kidding... My first impression of alcohol was that people only use it to get drunk. Why else would you willingly drink something that tastes like paint thinner? But to be fair, I had only tried the hard stuff. Whiskey became my drink-of-choice, particularly Fireball (which I've found pairs best with Totino's pizza rolls and regret), so clearly I've always had a refined taste. But it wasn't until recently, when I realized I wanted to have a working liver past my 20's, that I decided to try wine. My roommate and I each bought a bottle from Kroger, hers being some... sort of red... kind and mine was rosé. They were from a local winery so we felt fancy as hell drinking it. 

Me!

To me, there were three types of wine: red, white, and pink. At first I wasn't a huge fan, maybe because I naively expected it all to taste more like grape juice. I thought the red wine my roommate bought tasted how I imagine nail polish remover would, so since then I've stuck with white wine. Pink moscato was my go-to for a while; I liked how sweet it is. I've also tried sips of various other white wines that I liked but don't know the names of. I'm starting to enjoy wine more, though I still only drink it on special occasions. But that's all going to change while I'm taking this class (and possibly after)!

My hope is that by the end of the semester, I'll have a better understanding of the language of wine. I'd like to be able to read a review or label on a bottle and actually understand what they're saying. What's the difference between pinot noir and merlot? How can a beverage made from grapes be described as "full-bodied" and "dry"? Why do certain wines pair well with certain foods, and what does that really mean? I'd like to use this knowledge to figure out my tastes so I know what to look for when broadening my horizons past the cheap moscato section of the grocery store. Because good wine is expensive, ya know? I want to try new things, but in a smart way. I like to think that with all the different wines I'll be having, I'm bound to find something new that I enjoy. I can only hope that I stay humble and don't start refusing to visit people who don't have wine in their house.

-Rachael