Why am I taking this class?

I had the opportunity to live in Rome for my third year in the University of Notre Dame's undergraduate architecture program. For a 21 year old from suburban Hawaii, this was quite the change. Our studio was just three blocks south of the Pantheon and we lived in a hotel near the Campo de' Fiori. My days were spent wandering the streets, studying grand old buildings, and eating and drinking on the piazza.

Wine had, until then, never meant anything to me. My parent's never really drank it, apart from the odd steakhouse or country club dinner. Suddenly, I was drinking wine with dinner, and good wine at that. But my interest in wine as an experience really blossomed when our class visited Montepulciano. A professor recommended a tasting room during our free time, and, as soon as I tasted the Vino Nobile, I was hooked. I spent the rest of my year abroad tasting the wine of each town we visited, with the dawning realization that, just like each town's architecture and urbanism were similar yet unique, so too were each town's wine.

Since then I've tasted countless wines, gone to numerous wineries, and seen various regions abroad develop distinct wine varietals and reputations. Being a proud Hawaiian local that worked on the design of hotels and resort towns, I began thinking about why Hawai'i, with all its hospitality offerings, did not have a wine culture all its own.

I am in this class to learn more about the industry with the hope that as I work developing real estate for my primary occupation, I will be able to begin working on the creation of a winery based out of and unique to Hawai'i.