As a 22 year old college student, my personal experiences with wine are probably similar to my peers: I've enjoyed some quality wine with my parents on the occasion, but I've also drank cheap wine with friends. I grew up in Charlottesville, VA which has a fair amount of surrounding vineyards for being a medium-sized town in central Virginia. Before turning 21, my parents let me occasionally try some wine with dinner. After the much awaited birthday, I've travelled to various local vineyards to do tastings and try different Virginia wines. My favorite place is definitely Veritas Vineyard and Winery because of its great wine, amazing scenery, and friendly workers.
Linguistically, my wine experience is also quite limited. Unless instructed exactly what I'm tasting when drinking wine, I am unsure of what exactly to be looking for and how certain wine will vary from others. For example, I could not tell the difference between basic red or white table wines unless someone told me the difference in flavors as I was drinking them. I did have the opportunity to study in the U.K. last semester and was able to live with other foreign exchange students. Although whenever we drank wine together it was usually pretty cheap and low quality, I learned how popular wine was from the other countries my friends came. Of course, I new my French roommate would know a lot about wine, but I was surprised to learn that the Germans still produced a lot of wine as well.
In this class, I hope to learn more about the language of wine, the history of how wine has spread globally, and the future of the wine industry. Regarding the linguistics of wine, I would like to learn generally the details of common table wines but also learn how general regions can change the flavors of common table wines. How does a Napa Valley Merlot differ from a Virginia or Loire Valley Merlots? I'd also like to learn how wine used to be central to specific areas on earth and how it has spread agriculturally and culturally throughout the world. Lastly, I'd like to know the future of wine and if China will start producing and drinking more than the U.S. and many of the European countries that are known for wine production and consumption.
