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The Making of TheLooseTannin

Over the years, I have enjoyed drinking wine and I was always mystified at the Somms that could go thru the entire tasting matrix and end up with decifering the country, region, town, varietal and vintage. It was like a magic trick and while I have gleaned some of the skills in doing this, it is still crazy to me. Wine is a vast rabbit hole which can easily overwhelm people.

I started to attempt to unravel it for myself by picking up The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. Again I was taken aback so I then decided to drink my way thru The Wine Bible region by region, country by country. This coincided with my therapist telling me about The Wine Century Club, a club that encourages oenophiles to try as many different varietals as they can. As I tasted these, I developed a growing obsession! I then enrolled in some wine classes at a local community college that runs a wine program.

I also started traveling to local wine countries and down the West Coast of the US. I created thorough lists of wineries to taste and which wines to try at each location. (I know as some of my friends read this, their eyes roll at the mention of ‘the list’). On these travels, I came to adore the majesty of the landscapes in vineyards. The rolling hills, the perfectly aligned rows upon rows of vines (extremely gratifying to the OCD part of me), and the phases the vines go thru each year. All of this has been a wonderful escape from my day job.

I am passionate about my love and obsession with wine but I have been overwhelmed by it all and I will be in the future. There is just so freaking much to learn and while I continue my studies, my goal is to use this blog to ease this sentiment for others by:

• Exposing people to wines they haven’t experienced
• Having people experience single varietal wines and see what the typical expression presents as
• Unlock some of the mysteries of the extensive wine sections at wine shops
• Guide and encourage tasting skills
• Answering questions!

In addition to weekly, Wednesday posts, I will post intermittently about my personal wine tasting experiences and continuing effort to hit the Trebble (300) level of The Wine Century Club.

I hope you will participate along with me and send me comments about your tasting experiences! Cheers!!

-TheLooseTannin