Excited to learn

My interest in this class stems primarily from a personal interest in wine. The more I know about the wine I'm drinking, and wine in general, the more I enjoy it. This class gives me the opportunity to not only learn more about wine and how to taste it, but also the global industry that produces it.

Growing up in the Bay Area allowed me to visit Napa with relative frequency. Every time I visited a winery, I was struck by the sheer number of decisions that go into creating a vintage and the nuance in taste that each of these decisions can create. I see this as a commonality across many forms of art - taking a process and pouring intense focus and effort into fine tuning every part of that process to create a work of art.

I've also been struck by the variation in the process - from mass producers to organic producers to fine "ultra-premium" producers. Each of these production methods has a tangible impact on the taste and on the emotional experience a consumer has with the wine. The summer before school I did a champagne tasting tour in France, and was surprised by the impact of seeing the facilities had on my experience with each champagne. Seeing the large champagne houses of fancy labels actually detracted from my enjoyment - seeing how automated their process had become detracted from my experience with the wine. On the other hand, the image of the family who still turn the champagne bottles by hand and have run this champagne house for generations stuck in my mind with every taste and greatly enhanced my experience with the wine.

I am eager to learn more about the industry as a whole, and cannot wait to see how this new understanding helps my appreciation of wine evolve.