Why am I taking this class...

If you happen to land in the middle of the Atlantic, some 900 miles off the coast of Portugal, you would end up at a set of nine islands called the Azores. This magical place, which Anthony Bourdain described as the love child of Hawaii and Switzerland, is where my parents emigrated from 40 years ago. It is also one of my favorite places on earth. Geologically, these islands are primarily volcanic, making them great for grape growing considering the rich soils. In fact, they contain three official wine regions, as recognized by the Portuguese government, namely Pico, Biscoitos, and Graciosa. My dad grew up in one of them, Biscoitos, and told many stories of making wine throughout his childhood. He described this magical place where people, albeit poor, were happy. It was a time where everyone would make their own small batch of wine, "moonshine", sausage, and bread, constantly sharing and competing with one another for who did it best.

This is a traditional vineyard in the Azores.

Being sold on the romanticism of this life throughout my youth, I had to visit, and finally did during my sophomore summer of my undergraduate. When I went to visit my dad's childhood home--which is now next to many overgrown and run down vineyards left abandoned when there was a mass emigration to the U.S. n the 1970's--I came across  old people still in town who remembered my dad, and his dad. Almost as instantly as we would shake hands, some homemade wine was being poured and shared. This magical summer, and the few visits since then, have planted in me a small goal to start a winery in this area that caters to Portuguese locals and tourists alike, of which there are increasing amounts.

This is one of the reasons I am taking this course. A few others are based on other connections to wine/growing grapes that bring me close to this plant:

• I grew up farming almonds, alfalfa and wine grapes in California's Central Valley (Grenache and French Colombard, which we sold to E&J Gallo), and spent a lot of time pruning vineyards. 
• My brother is a trained viticulturist, and we hang out a lot :). 
• I attended UC Davis, where I partnered with a few viticulture and enology PhDs to make wine in 2015. We made a Grenache/Barbera blend that was hit/miss, but very fun to make.

Overall, I am just fascinated by the industry and seeing it playing a role in my future career. This class is a way to build some understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist.