For Love of the Grape

I may not look any different next time you see me, but just so you know, I m now an official member of the Wine Century Club. The process began last September at a Century Wine dinner at the European Market. The event was significant for several reasons; it introduced me to a talented woman with whom I've become very good friends and to Jason's superb and unbelievably affordable First Friday wine dinners ($25, four courses; you do the math) and it got me started keeping track of what grapes I was tasting.

We were given the application listing all the grapes that night as a starting point. Interestingly enough, only 3.5% of the people who get the application actually become members. Whether they lose interest, are too lazy to keep track or are overwhelmed at the concept, most people never follow through. My Wine Geek friend had told me as much back in June when I triumphantly mailed off my completed application; she assured me that I'd be the only person at that dinner to have bothered completing it.

Of course, the certificate of membership is nice, if relatively meaningless, but the effort put into acquiring it has led me to seek out grapes with which I'm not familiar to this day (Carignan just two days ago, for instance). And being the all-around geek that I am, I'm always interested in learning, so I'm patting myself on the back today for having moved to the head of the class.

Veni, Vino, Vici.