To whom it may concern... bonjour and bienvenue to my blog all about the wonderfully rich subject of wine! My name is Rachel Simon and, although I'm a french major and do not typically study geography, I am excited to be a student of a Geography of Wine class at Virginia Tech. This course graciously encouraged me to create this blog to document my thoughts, experiences and excitements about this hallowed beverage. And so I'll begin with some brief notes on where I've been, where I'm at and, what I'm looking forward to in my wine journey...
I was raised in a household where a glass of wine was the preferred drink of choice each night at the dinner table. Although I personally did not take part in this ritual until mid high school (don't worry kids-it's legal in your home with your parents permission), it was very much a part of my family's 'dinner culture' if you will. When I did start drinking wine, my naive palette knew just a couple of things: I preferred red wine but found it difficult to drink a warm-ish beverage with a hot meal, white wine gave me headaches, and rosé was considered sweet tasting swill by my more experienced parents. It is safe to say that these first impressions have definitely evolved over the years. I do still love a rich red wine but have realized that my need for something cold to drink with dinner wasn't just a phase. Therefore, more often than not, a tall glass of ice water accompanies my meal alongside my red wine of choice. However, this step isn't necessary when I pair my meal with a crisp, chilled white- something I'm proud to say neither me nor my head fear any longer (I guess that one was just a phase). Lastly, after some help from my older sister's encouragement, (she followed a wine training course when she was waitress at a high-end restaurant) we have managed to work some delicious rosé wines into our dinner rotations.
On a similar note, my experience with wine as a meal companion was also greatly fostered by the birth of my little brother when I was 10. With this new, adorable beast, however, came some time conflicts with our vital family dinners. First of all, my mother is an amazing, badass businesswoman and as such, arrives home at 6pm every night after a day of breaking glass ceilings. My father, while expertly gifted in literally every other subject, is verging on hopeless in the kitchen and, if you weren't familiar with newborns/infants, they do go to bed quite early in the evening so as to rest from being so cute and tiny all day. You might have figured out where I'm going with all of this by now. My sister, 2 years my senior, and myself found ourselves in the kitchen every night, making sure a meal was ready in the window of time when my wonderful family were all home, awake and hungry. This means that I made a (proper) meal for my family every night for about 6-8 years, including my 2 years as a solo chef when my sister went off to college. Thus, my verging-on-obsessive passion for food and everything that goes into making a meal was only bolstered by my family's love of wine. I began incorporating it into my dishes like my family favorite bolognese sauce (a dry red- quite often a cabernet sauvignon) and my (literal) award-winning potato leek soup (a crisp, dry white- preferably a pinot grigio). Soon, my family found itself enjoying fine cuisine (if I do say so myself) paired with a glass of wine each night- boosting my love for the whole shebang even more.
A bit more recently, I made a huge leap in my wine journey. I studied in France at Université de Savoie Mont-Blanc for this past fall semester to further my 9 year education and passion for the french language. I lived in the small-ish city of Chambéry (the blog's background is of a neighboring city called Annecy), surrounded by the breathtaking french Alps, right at the hub of the department of Savoie. Now, Savoie is a very special place with it's strong swiss-alp influences, focus on agriculture, and of course it's specialty cheeses, dishes, and most importantly, wines. I will not shy away from saying that I took full advantage of my 300 euro/month stipend for food, the large selection of 2 euro wine bottles in the supermarket, and the plethora of wine and cheese pairing possibilities to sample during my time abroad. I learned many things while I was across the pond, but perhaps the most important of which is that no one makes a white wine better than Savoie, France. From reasonably priced, delicious Chignins to cheap, crisp Apremonts- my palette and wallet were absolutely spoiled rotten.
Now that I'm back in the States, I'm thrilled to be continuing my exploration of the infinite wonders that wine has to hold. I am hoping to gain a more sophisticated tongue when it comes to expressing my feelings about a particular wine, how to expertly choose and purchase a wine that I'll actually enjoy, and how to vocalize those wonderful tastes and smells I experience when I go back to France and reunite with my beloved Savoie white.
Until my next wine discovery... santé!
