Or maybe you were at a dinner party at your colleague’s house and you were struggling to understand what they were talking about when they were describing a glass of white wine as being austere and having an intense autolytic character.
Hi! My name is Maria and I know exactly how you felt because that was me just a few years ago. You see, I’m Greek but not from the fancy part. I’m from the north where it’s cold. Vines cannot ripen their berries when it’s too cold so the wines they produce are more acidic and tannic than those made in the south. So I grew up not really liking or understanding why other people liked wine.

Fast forward a few years later, I had to organize a formal dinner and I had to choose which wines to serve with which food. I was completely overwhelmed.

Luckily a fellow expat who was a trained sommelier offered to give me a crash course in wine tasting and food pairing. That was it for me! My aha! moment. I was fascinated by the sheer amount of information one single sip of wine can “contain”. The science, the processes but most of all the stories!

I was exhilarated to learn and try something new in my glass. I changed careers and decided to study wine, but the poise and snobbery of some of my peers unnerved me, and the fear of saying something silly and embarrassing kept me from savoring that special wine moment.