Why did I take this course? (Yen Tan)

I got bitten by the wine bug just this past summer during a trip to Bordeaux. It was a completely spontaneous decision to visit, as I had just gotten into the GSB, had taken a month of work, and a family friend familiar with the region (and wines) was planning to tour a few wineries and had extra spots open. During the visit, I was taken aback not only by the complexity of winemaking, but also by the unfettered passion the workers and winemakers had for creating quality wine and preserving their tradition. Almost everyone there was in some way touched by the industry, and took great pride when discussing their region. This sparked my fascination and appreciation for wine.

Since then, I delved a little deeper into the history and industry of wine, and what was interesting to me was how much has changed and not changed. The producers and distributors we met bragged about the pseudo-oligopolies and entrenched positions they enjoyed, and were aware but unafraid of the new world wines. Of course, that is an observation from a small sample set. While I'm currently still skeptical of there being a wine 'revolution', a part of me wants to believe that such a dated dynamic simply has to experience change somehow. I look forward to diving deeper into understanding the global wine industry, especially in the context of determining what influences the taste and choice of the emerging middle class and the newly affluent, especially in countries where wine consumption per capita is still relatively low.