monday appreciation

I almost just wrote "Good afternoon" and then it sounded too creepy in my head so I decided that today's greeting was going to be"Hello sweet peas!" instead. Why yes, I am going crazy :) and probably because I'm getting stressed about my upcoming three midterms. Thankfully, my wonderful Spanish professor (for whom I do not have an exam) is away at a conference and our next 3 classes are cancelled, thus, I have more time for studying and blogging. 

But enough about that nonsense, today I'd like to give you a glimpse into the class that has made the beginning of my week glorious again, Wine and Beer Appreciation. For the past two months, each Monday from 5:15 to 6:45 pm, I've been learning about different wines, how they are produced, where they come from, and tastalyzing (tasting + analyzing) six fantastic samples.

Which means that afterwards, I am often tipsy, and come home to a delicious, already prepared dinner, of which I then devour. Monday night are usually not very productive, but I've accepted that fact as a sacrifice for a wine connoisseur in the making ;)...

In the time of the Ancient Greeks, much of Italy was known as Oenotria, which is translated to "land of the vine" or "land of wine."

In this past year, Italy was one of the top wine producers in the entire world, second only to France. The two often alternate on a year by year basis.

France's soil is better for grapes than that of any other country, thanks it's abundance of limestone.

Champagne only truly hails from the region 90 miles NE of Paris, Champagne, otherwise it is merely a sparkling wine, and should only be labeled as such. One of the only countries not to sign the 1958 Treaty of Lisbon which dictated this, however, was the United States.

Research has proven that the bubbles in Champagne really do go "straight to your head." (So true! I could feel the inebriating effects more so after this class than any other one before or after it.)

California boasts more than 800 wineries, but only 12% of them are produced in the famous Napa, Sonoma, and Alexander valleys.

New York is the number three wine-producing region in the United States.

And finally, much to my own surprise: there are only ultimately six types of wine made from three grape varieties. Next Monday we have our midterm, then we're off for spring break, and afterwards, we will begin our appreciation of beer. Yay, so much learning! And on that note, I've got to get back to hitting the books. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did :). Happy Tuesday!