My Wine Experiences (so far)

My wine experiences have primarily been with my Dad. Dad was always a beer person when I was a kid, with the occasional bottle for a special meal. But he started to get into wine when he started to go out with his girlfriend, Suzy - essentially when he had someone to drink it with who liked it. Suzy's daughter went to school out in California so she was a complete wine fanatic, and that was how Dad got into the wine club.

The wine club he joined was called Tobin James - apparently the actual location of the winery was somewhat close to Suzy's daughter's school. If you sign up for it you get a shipment of eight bottles of wine every six months for something like $160 per shipment. As you can likely tell by the price per bottle this is some really good wine. Dad then joined another wine club because it got him double cash rewards on some credit card he had. That wine club sent six bottles every month, which is quite a lot for a guy living by himself, girlfriend or not. So he canceled it once the freebies ended.

It was around the time that Dad joined the wine clubs that I really began drinking wine. I was in college, and therefore exposed to alcohol, but it was of the super cheap variety. So it took me a while to really get into liking wine. Reds didn't taste that well for a while, and even once they did I couldn't really tell the difference between them. It's really only been in the last year where I feel like I've gotten an appreciation for the taste of wines and how they differ. Not that I really know how they differ, but I definitely know what I like and don't like. My palate has experienced many different wines especially because of the numerous bottles that now populate our house.

Pretty much all I know about wine and how to properly drink it is what I've picked up from my dad and his girlfriend. I know you're supposed to let reds rest a while and "air out" so they taste better. I probably can dredge up some random fact about grapes that someone told me, but I struggle to remember the differences between them all the time. I can definitely learn more, and I look forward to learning in this class!