My History with Wine

When I was younger, my parents frequented wineries; there were plenty of weekends that they would spend going around doing tastings or spending an afternoon at their favorite winery. They frequented Pearmund Cellars so much that the dog mascot, Tug, came to recognize their car. So when I turned twenty-one, I was no stranger to wine. I went to several wineries and did tastings with my parents around the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia in the spring after my twenty-first birthday, developing a taste for both reds and wines.

My personal taste in wine is varied; I prefer wines that are off-dry to semi-sweet. Anything that is too far off to either edge is not particularly to my tastes, though I will give anything a shot once. I drink both whites and reds, preferring to sip wines out on the patio when it's hot out and cozy up with a red when it's cold. The only wines I will turn my nose up to entirely are dessert wines, which are far too sweet and syrupy for me.

What I am looking forward to in this course is to gain knowledge about wines from different areas of the world. As most of my experience is with local Virginia wines, I think it will be good to broaden my horizons and get an idea of what different styles of wine there are, particularly in the old world.