(Me holding up a pitcher of sangria at a restaurant in Montreal)
My name is Jaden Gunn, and I am very excited to be starting up a wine vlog for my 2023 Spring Semester here at Virginia Tech. As a senior, I am in my final semester here at Tech, and I was looking to fill out my schedule with an enjoyable class. I looked on the internet for some recommendations and was specifically drawn to the Geography of Wine course; it seemed interesting to me as a novice wine-drinker who not only enjoys wine but recognizes the importance of it in today's society, and is intrigued by some of the intricacies of wine culture and lingo.
My experience with wine is not expansive, yet not nothing either. I have begun to form initial preferences in taste and style. While I do not quite prefer a red or white to the other, I have noticed that I enjoy drier wines, and when I can I like to try new wines, ask what they are, and attempt to internalize if I like them or not. Unfortunately, trying different wines sporadically one glass at a time lends to my opinions on one lacking distinction between others over time, so I am specifically excited not only to learn more about wine in this course but also to document the wines I try and more accurately represent and develop my preferences.
On rare occasion, I have tried wine flights/gone to wineries with the purpose of trying different wines. On one specific trip this last summer I traveled with my girlfriend to her hometown in Ithaca, NY, where I quickly discovered that the "Finger Lakes region" was a popular and fertile ground for producing well-recognized wines. We went on a wine tour over the course of a Saturday and it was a great experience. I truly do enjoy wine culture and want to immerse myself in it for the purposes of enjoying more the wine I try and the experiences around the wine I partake in.
Overall, I am very excited for this course, and am excited for how the added wine knowledge and more developed/documented wine opinions bode for my recreational future.
