I'm starting a WINE BLOG?!

That's right! This semester I'm enrolled in Geography of Wines with Professor Boyer, probably one of the most famous professors at Virginia Tech. One of our assignments is to keep a blog throughout the semester sharing all of my wine stories. First blog assignment: My personal experience with wine thus far in my life! Let's get to it.

In the spring of 2016, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Lugano, Switzerland. For those of you who don't know, that is in the southern part of Switzerland right by ITALY! You better believe I was wining and dining Italian food for a whole semester. That was the first time that I was having wine with meals on a regular basis (because of the whole 21 y.o. law thing here in the US). Before my semester abroad, I was more of a white wine kinda gal. A few weeks into being abroad, though, I only ordered red. The Italian and Spanish red wines were soo good and sooooo good when paired with the right food that it made me discover my newest obsession - red wine.

Wines I tasted with my parents on a Tuscany wine tour

A small little town on the wine tour in Tuscany...beautiful!

Last semester back in Blacksburg, I took Wines and Vines and fell in love with learning about EVERYTHING wine. I learned everything from the vines and rootstock to the wine regions throughout the US and the world. Every class I got to try 2-3 wines. By the end of the semester, I tasted over 40 wines (including still, sparkling, port, and sherry)!! Wines and Vines got me even more excited to take Geography of Wines this semester. In fact, it made me want to pursue a career in the wine industry....maybe combine my passions of wine and marketing?!

I am always open to trying new wines and usually like a wide variety (besides sherry - still working on acquiring that taste!). However, when people ask me what my favorite is, I usually say Zinfandel. The warmer climate grapes have a cooked fruit taste that makes it taste jammy...YUM!

This semester I hope to learn more about the different wine regions around the world as well as different grape varieties since there are SO many! If you're still reading, thank you and I hope you continue this journey with me. Here's to a wine-derful LAST semester.

Cheers,
Natalie

Let's get to tasting!