Growing up in Alabama, the only wine I was familiar with until after college was the sweet, sweet Muscadine and fruit wines that were prevalent in the South. I had never tasted a wine that I was a fan of until around 2014 when I first arrived in California on the Central Coast for my travel nursing assignments. As a (former) single guy in a new area, trying to meet girls led to the dreaded wine tasting dates which sounded about as boring as possible to me.

The first vineyard I visited had a sign promising wood fire pizza and I figured we could enjoy that and just pretend to like the wines we were poured. I don’t remember what wines we tried but I do remember thinking, “Wow, this is what wine is supposed to be.” I had no idea that this would lead to the obsession I have developed of learning as much about wine as I could. From what grapes grew better where, how wine was stored, how weather could affect how they tasted, I couldn’t get enough. Still to this day, I love learning everything I can about wine and the wonderful people that make it. I’ve been about to make some amazing friends in the wine industry on my journey and I look forward to a lifetime of more.