7 Eleven Wining and Dining

"I remember my first glass of wine."

Nobody ever says that. Wine is simply not looked upon in the same light as beer, liquor or any other type of alcoholic beverage in this country. Here, in 'Merica, we drink Coors and take shots. Wine is for the French, and God knows we don't want to be the French. Therefore, when I began drinking at the appropriate age that the government would disagree with me on, I drank Coors and took shots. Wine was the last thing I was thinking about putting into my system, even though the results would have been relatively the same. The few wine-drinking friends of mine did not start until later in their college years, and their palette consisted of Yellow Tail and Barefoot Moscato. Basically I was faced with the choice of drinking keg beer or urine (which may be redundant), and I chose to avoid the latter.

Although I hadn't tasted any more than five wines before January, I predictably preferred white wines over reds because of their smoothness compared to bitterness. Little did I know that because of my lack in experience, the grass truly was greener, or in this case, redder, on the other side of the fence. One week into this class and I already am enjoying reds more. In my younger years (but not too young) white wine went down easier, which is what I and every other college student was looking for in an alcoholic beverage. Taste was not a factor. But now that I have seen the light, I am looking forward to this class even more.

Another topic relevant to my lacking wine background is my perception of wine drinkers. To me, there were two sides of the room: the keg drinkers/shot takers/kids who can't walk straight, and then there were bourbon and Coke drinkers/Jack Daniels/pipe smokers. I put wine drinkers in the second category. While I still hold these stereotypes to be true, I am not ashamed or embarrassed to join the fancy drinkers. I will be called a snob, I will be called a woman, and I will be called things potentially much worse than a snob or a woman, but I will drink my wine with my head held high and nose in the air. And I hope to still be able to walk straight by the end of this class.