Tom Collins (1L)
I only know one Proverb: “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.”
I suspect that many of my fellow law students can relate; that passage probably sounds something like your last pre-drink. Wine does have a magical, antidotal quality. You might say, “That’s just the alcohol,” and I would reply, “Yeah… that’s the point.” But I would also say that wine is so much more than alcohol—in fact, few bottles top 16% ABV. For me, the joy of drinking wine is that the journey to sweet serenity can be tremendously tasty.
There are so many interesting flavours to discover, and all you have to do is open a bottle. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be a special occasion. The wine can be the occasion. Just the other day, I went to a tasting between classes. I had a $13 bottle of VQA gamay nouveau. It smelled and tasted like McIntosh apples and cinnamon. It was thoroughly bizarre. I didn’t like it. But, I’ll tell you, class was much better when I got back!
What I’m trying to say is that wine tasting often has an air of snobbishness about it, but it doesn’t need to. Tasting can be great fun, even if you can’t quite pick up on the hints of “freshly cut garden hose,” to quote one Master Sommelier. But if you don’t know where to start, In Vino Veritas can be of assistance. We’re the Faculty of Law’s wine club, and we want to share our love of wine and help you discover yours.
We are a simple club. There are just five of us: Sarah Strban (2L), Anne Marshall (2L), Danica Bennewies (1L), Jason Lamb (1L), and myself. All of us are committed to making wine accessible—this is 2017, after all. You might have seen that we will be doing a “Wine of the Month” feature, starting in December. That’s where we pick a varietal (a wine made from a single variety of grape) and suggest some good bottles for student budgets, and maybe for the odd splurge. December’s wines are going to be a selection of gamay, riesling, and prosecco. If you have suggestions, we’d love to hear from you at: [email protected].
Next semester, we plan to organize some tastings. You’ll hear more about them in the New Year. In the meantime, we thought it might be fun to share some of our own favourites:
