RETURNING TO MY ROOTS

While I would prefer to return to my ethnic roots and talk about Italian foods, instead it is time to return to the roots of this blog: wine.

Vino.

Nectar of the gods.

SAUCED IN NEW YORK source code.

I am taking an online course in Wine Business this month.  I am a proud student of Sonoma State University! I can tell you how many cases you will get from a ton of grapes.  I can tell you about “custom crush” facilities, where you, too, can become a pseudo-winemaker, labeling that godly nectar without getting your hands dirty or buying equipment!

Did I mention this is super cool?

It makes you thirsty.  (Caveat and confession.)  But it is still super cool.

Our professor has challenged us to go to the local liquor store and research the cheaper wines.  His line is “It is harder to make Two Buck Chuck [Trader Joe’s inexpensive but not horrible wine], than it is to make a $100 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon!”  He tells us that wine makes most business people stupid.  Yes, “stupid”.  People get passionate about what they love, and they lose the business aspect of wine.

Gotta make money to afford the nice vino.

My classmates include people working at  vineyards in California, as well as a few outliers like me in Texas, South Dakota, Florida, Japan and Australia.

This is not about tasting “leather” in a red wine that has been swirled and swished.  Instead it is about the chain of processes and players starting out in the fields, and ending up in your glass.  There are more players than you can imagine, and there are more regulations than seem possible to legislate.

I am much more appreciative now as I swirl and sip my glass of wine in the evening.  I am also terribly interested in returning to my wine roots – Bully Hill wines (click here), sipped at 18 with my good high school girlfriends.

I am interested in their process and their business, and the genius behind the labeling.

Who knows?  I may even be interested in their wine.

It’s research, folks.  It’s for class, really!