Wine Drinkers - How did you get into wine?

[Leone]

picked up wine drinking after a trip through south africa and tasted the riper and richer wines then the fairly dry ones from france; really prefer and love the deep dark red ones, from the pinot noir to the Banyuls.

 

[jaydc7]

I didn't drink wine until after I graduated from college, which is surprising given the amount that is consumed in my family. Since then, I've been to Napa a couple of times, had a few good bottles of wine, and my intrest has grown from there.

 

[GrillinFool]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

I never really drank until I was 21. I got turned onto wine, though, when I was 18 and spent a week in Nice, France. The way that wine and food played such an important role in their culture really got my juices flowing. I started to appreciate wine, and read a little about it, etc. When I turned 21, I started to drink it. I started off with big, fruity, cab sauvs from CA that would knock ********* in the dirt. I thought that was the "manly" stuff, while my mom drank that girly Riesling and Sauv Blanc. I had no idea I was incredibly stupid. I never even bothered trying the stuff. Then when I came to culinary school, I started looking at wine as part of a meal instead of just a drink. For that purpose, I began appreciating other varietals for their nuances and pairing possibilities. I was still drinking mainly the same big, fruity, cab sauvs for personal pleasure. Then, as part of my schooling, I took a wine course that was 50% lecture, 50% tasting. I absolutely fell in love with every aspect of it--- the growing of the grapes, the picking, the crushing, the maceration and manipulation of color, the fermentation, storage, taste, culture-- just everything. Since then I have been learning more and more and it has been an incredibly pleasurable ride, which I hope doesn't end soon.

That, my friend, is almost poetry....

 

[Johnny_5]

I started working in my families restaurant when I was 19 years old. It was a big step for me coming from bartending at a local watering hole, to selling wines that ran far north of $100. I was in a position where wine was at my fingertips but I really didn't appreciate it so I decided I better learn.