Introduction

Happy first blog post!

To start off here is a picture of me (on the right) with my friend at the Beliveau Farm Winery last semester. This was my first time going to a winery and getting to sample multiple wines made at the same location. For this I did a fleet of dry reds but also tried the wines my friends were drinking. It was a great first winery and would recommend to anyone in the Blacksburg area.

Most of my wine experience comes from my parents. They are avid wine drinkers and when I am home I will drink wine with them every night. They have started teaching me about different flavors, grapes, locations, maturation techniques, etc. My taste was influenced by them as I started drinking dry wines because that is what they were having with dinner. I am not a huge fan of fruity wines, especially Rieslings. In Blacksburg I will drink wine about 2 nights a week including wine nights with friends. My go to wines which I will write a review on eventually are Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and A to Z Pinot Noir.

Over winter break I travelled to New Zealand and Australia and got to try some amazing wine. In Marlborough we did two bike wine tours but throughout the trip we had different local wines at every dinner. My favorite vineyard we attended was this small vineyard that only produces 250 crates a year and mostly does Pinot Gris. It was interesting to see how they used the one grape and their technique as they hand pruned the vines and picked the grapes. As well, we were surprised by the Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from the region as they are not marked to the US as the Sauvignon Blancs are. For anyone interested in wine New Zealand is a fantastic place to travel to.

For this class I am hoping to get even more exposure to wine as that is the best way to learn about wine in general and personal preference. I also want to learn more about the differences. I've heard many terms related to wine without knowing what they mean. As well, I want to learn more about pairing wines with foods and will be doing blog entries on that. 

I am excited to learn more about wine over the course of the semester!