My Wine Journey (Part I)
Wine and its enjoyment began as something I thought adults did especially fancy adults. My father drinks,but almost exclusively vodka. It’s usually in an old Tupperware cup from the 1980s my mom purchased and he refuses to let her get rid of. My mom stopped drinking in her 20s due to migraines. When she did drink, it was rum punch.
Beaujolais Nouveau: Bright, Fun and Fruity. Meant to be enjoyed quickly. It’s not something to think hard or over complicate.
I started drinking wine in my early 20s. I sought out wines that seemed bold and intense. The wines I wanted, mostly red wines and when I say red…I just mean generically red wines, needed to overpower me with dark fruit flavors. At the time, I really enjoyed Guinness and wanted wine to mirror that experience. I eventually began to move on and found certain white wines that made sense. A very buttery Chardonnay would smack me in the face and provide me the façade that I was drinking the right way.
After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2003, I briefly moved home to South Florida to start supposed adult life. It never really happened and felt more of like a pause.
When I moved to the DC area in 2004 with no job and a suitcase, I found a wine shop that was really accessible and designed for more drinkers and people like me. Unfortunately, it didn’t last and closed within a few years. I would check out their tastings and pretend I knew what was happening. “Oh yes…I taste the…vanilla.” The shop was bright and colorful. Each wall filled with wines and sorted by categories like bold and fruity making it easy to grab something.
As I got older and attempted to get more of what I thought was refined, I frequented new wine shops. One of my favorite activities was date night with myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t put out much, but I was fun company. I would stop by a pizza shop and grab a pie that you finished at home along with a bottle of wine from the shop next door. The owner was an eccentric French man that had many opinions that I was mostly happy to entertain.
Just like in wine, I think life has vintages. Instead of being year specific, I would say my 20s were promising. The harvest looked good growing from sandy soil. However, something was off. It never came together right and nothing really felt right. I knew though that perhaps more time and patience was needed.
My Wine Journey (Part I)
I recently took a writing class with the Muse Writing Center and developed a sort of memoir (but not) on my journey into wine. It covers over a decade of time and I’ll be featuring pieces here to break it up. I hope you’ll enjoy it and follow along as my story evolves.
