a student of wine

Why do we want to learn about wine?

My earliest memories about wine are going into my grandparent's cellar with my Dad. He stored the wines he made down there - I was probably only 4 or 5 years old and we would come upstairs for whatever family feast it was... wine was as important as the roast beef or the mashed potatoes. Wine was a part of the experience.

Now I am a chef, finishing my Certified Chef du Cuiscene course and want to feel like I did when I was a kid, and my Dad & I would sit at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning and plan dinner, plan what wines would be served & mostly, plan an experience.

And so I have started the International Sommelier Guild's level 1 course.

It is the beginning.

I admit that whatever I may know about wine I know only through the grace of my father's patience, and the rare moments in my life I was able to keep quiet long enough to listen to friends of mine who are already sommeliers. I know enough to know how much I have to learn... it will be 3 years of studying to become a certified sommelier, and that's only if I can balance my life enough to make this happen.

But maybe that's the whole point of wine? To make us take the time for balance; for friends and family, for long discussions late in the night and summer bbqs, for romantic evenings. Maybe that is why we learn about wine: so we can create more experiences with the time we have.