Wine - An Introduction, with an Italian Individual

    Hello there! My name is Giovanni Rizzotti. I am currently a Senior student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (also known as Virginia Tech, of course), located in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia. My major here is meteorology, also known as atmospheric sciences...or the study of weather, if you want to get even more specific. For a few years now here at Virginia Tech, I have very much been a fan of Professor Boyer and his classes. In my freshman year, way back when in the fall of 2021, I took his World Regions class and thoroughly enjoyed it. His video lectures, while hilarious, were also very informative and definitely taught me things I never knew about the world...and its regions. I also enjoyed the structure of the class itself, being able to do assignments and such on our own pace. So, when I was made aware of the existence of the Geography of Wine class a year or two ago, and also learned it was taught by Professor Boyer, I knew I just had to get one more taste of a class of his before I graduated. 

    Now, I will come out and be straightforward with all of my readers out there - I am not really a drinker in any way, shape, or form. Due to personal reasons that I have decided to not touch upon on this blog, I have made it a goal to try to stay away from excessive alcohol intake in my life. That being said, I do enjoy a few drinks every now and then, as there's nothing better than sitting down and watching your favorite football team play a game with a few beers here and there...only to watch them lose said game because they cannot play up to their standards (Thanks, Ravens). Now, these are simply just normal alcoholic beverages - things like Miller Lite's, Stella's, and even Twisted Tea's. I will take the time now to mention wine is probably the one beverage I have always never really been a super big fan of, and it all stems from an incident a very long time ago. 

    When I was about 9 years old, we were having a house party at my house one day. All of our parties were generally very wild and had many people, so much went into the preparation of these house parties. That includes the inclusion of alcoholic beverages, of course, and yes that also includes a lot of wine. Unfortunately, being 9 years old, I could not tell the difference between some beverages. So during the middle of this party while conversing with my mother about something, I saw a random dark cup sitting on the table next to me, with a liquid in it. Being too lazy to go get my own drink and figuring it was just water, I picked the cup up and took a drink without even thinking. To horror of my younger self, it was not water - it was some type of wine. My taste buds could not handle the taste and it was immediately spat out all over the floor. I see this incident as traumatizing me as I vowed from that day forward to never drink a sip of alcohol in my life, a promise which I have since broken multiple times. Hey look, I'm a college student, who really figured a promise like that would stay together? 

    Even though I had that negative experience long ago, I want to attempt to flush it out of memory with this class. Since turning 21 last May, I have experimented with trying different types of alcoholic beverages to see what I like the most. While most of it has been beer of some kind, I have tried some wines and have definitely gotten a better taste now than when I took the sip as a kid. I don't exactly remember what type of wines I've tried, I think it was just some red and white wines. Regardless, I am taking this course simply to improve my knowledge of wine, understand how to order it and drink it at the dinner table, and get a positive taste for wine, to finally flush the bad experience I had out of my memory. I am very excited to take this course and cannot wait to see what is in store as we go through the next few months.

Thank you for reading my first blog!