My Personal Experience with Wine
Hi, my name is Evan Hudgins. I am a student in GEOG 3133: Geography of Wine. I wanted to take this course to become more familiar with a variety of wines and learn how to better enjoy them. I have taken sips of wine here and there since I've been in college but my first true experience with wine was my trip to Italy in Summer 2016. I went on a study abroad trip with 40 other students from the University of Oklahoma. While abroad, we immersed ourselves in the culture and had wine with almost every meal. We even went to a vineyard for a tour and tasting as part of our curriculum. I had no real opinion on wine at this point. I would pretty much just drink the house wine or whatever else was put in front of me, more or less. Although I had almost no idea what I was drinking, it did allow me to begin to understand the basics of wine and develop a very limited taste of my own.
After my trip to abroad, I began picking out the wines I remembered enjoying in Italy and drinking them when it came time for some wine back home. Truthfully, when I first began drinking wine I wasn't a huge fan of the taste. Thus, I preferred wines which tasted, to me, less like wine. My favorite wine I had in Italy was Chianti. In my opinion, it tasted more dry and did not taste quite as sour. At the tasting we had in a little town outside of Florence, Chianti was easily my favorite wine. Which was fortunate because many of the restaurant's house wine was also Chianti.
I have never liked food/drink that was too sweet, but when it comes to wine I believe my feelings might be changing. Growing up, when I imagined wine in my head it was always red and in Italy, I had mostly red wine. I believed I would always drink red wine and prefer it to white. This began to change when I started drinking white wine. Although I still prefer red, some of the sweet white wine, although different, is also very good. One of the first white wines I had was Pinot Grigio. It is very sweet compared to red wine, but still has some sour taste to it. Depending on when I am drinking and what I am drinking with, I tend to stick with the two which I know I like. I realize I am going to need to change this habit if I'm going to learn anything about a larger variety of wine. Looking forward to branching out over the course of the semester!
After my trip to abroad, I began picking out the wines I remembered enjoying in Italy and drinking them when it came time for some wine back home. Truthfully, when I first began drinking wine I wasn't a huge fan of the taste. Thus, I preferred wines which tasted, to me, less like wine. My favorite wine I had in Italy was Chianti. In my opinion, it tasted more dry and did not taste quite as sour. At the tasting we had in a little town outside of Florence, Chianti was easily my favorite wine. Which was fortunate because many of the restaurant's house wine was also Chianti.
I have never liked food/drink that was too sweet, but when it comes to wine I believe my feelings might be changing. Growing up, when I imagined wine in my head it was always red and in Italy, I had mostly red wine. I believed I would always drink red wine and prefer it to white. This began to change when I started drinking white wine. Although I still prefer red, some of the sweet white wine, although different, is also very good. One of the first white wines I had was Pinot Grigio. It is very sweet compared to red wine, but still has some sour taste to it. Depending on when I am drinking and what I am drinking with, I tend to stick with the two which I know I like. I realize I am going to need to change this habit if I'm going to learn anything about a larger variety of wine. Looking forward to branching out over the course of the semester!
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