Wine Xperience 2011: Confession of a Wine Student

The more I learn the more I realize there is to learn and that is how I see wine study. Once I learn 10 things, 100 more things appear in front of me and once I learn these 100 things, there will be 1,000 more things to learn and this continues infinitely. The study of wine is more than just learning viticulture (growing grapes) and vinification (wine making) but also history, geography, climate, biology, chemistry, culture, legal structure/system, economy, agriculture, sales/marketing/promotion ... the list just goes on. Being an extreme case of Gemini, I am always looking for something new and exciting, and it is the nature of wine study that motivates me to get up in the morning, hoping to discover something I did not know yesterday.

On the other hand, I sometimes feel like I am swimming in the ocean filled with wine books and study materials, not knowing where I am heading, but continue to swim so that I do not drown. Then there is weakness, which makes this swimming process more difficult. Yes, we are all human beings - we all have strength and weakness. In my case, it is the wine of Germany since the day one. Germany is the last section I tackle in any wine books, and even worse I sometimes skip the entire category. I really do not know why this is, since I love the taste of German wines but when it comes to learning, I get nervous and scared. Maybe because I've never been there, I cannot connect myself or maybe because I do not know the language and have hard time remembering the names and the regions, or maybe because of its classification system, which I do not quite comprehend.

However, Germany is one of the most important wine countries in the world and I know I cannot continue to avoid if I want to go any further with my study. Then, one day I saw this Wine Xperience opportunity on the Internet. At first, I tried not to pay attention to it but I did.  I decided to send my resume and application because "the best way to conquer fear is to confront it". To my surprise, I got a position.

Since then, I started to notice something different: the first section I hit in the wine books became Germany, the section I used to avoid until the very end. Now I want to learn as much as possible about the country and its wines so that I can benefit from this opportunity. As Wine Xperience web site says, "no book, no tasting, no seminar can replace first-hand experience in a wine-growing region", I am a true believer of hands on experience. It is possible to learn all the facts from the books and seminars but in order to learn how hard people work with nature to create a glass of wine and to really appreciate it, I think only the way is to be there and learn by soaked in rain, covered in mud, sweat, freeze, fall down, get cut, suffer from aches and pains, and also share meals and wine with the people to cerebrate each day's hard work.

I know I still need to manage a ton of information but I feel liberated by facing my long-time fear and I am extremely excited about getting my hands dirty in the 2011 vintage!