Have you ever taken a winery tour and wondered what it really took to get through the entire wine making process? Stepping through the back alleys of a winery really provides great insight into the depth of knowledge that is required to get wine just right. To the untrained eye it seems like there are endless vats, bottling machines, bottle spinners, labelers, oak barrels (sometimes), and more. I remember going back over a decade ago when I took my first real winery tour while on a trip to Mexico. I was very young, 15 years of age, and it was legal to drink at that age in Mexico.

I had virtually zero knowledge of what went into wine making, but still I was in a state of shock and amazement with every turn I took in the wineries we visited (3 in total). My Mother decided it was time that I got an appreciation for wine and with us living in the United States there was a real negative connotation to people my age drinking. This comes as a bit of culture shock to others around the world, as enjoying wine is a normal part of cultures from Europe. It is completely acceptable, and ordinary, for a child of 15 years old to enjoy a glass of Chianti in Italy with his or her family at dinner.

I really believe that this is why there is so much more responsible drinking going on in other countries compared to the USA when it comes to wine and other alcoholic beverages. Generations talk about the right way to enjoy wine without going overboard. Parents pass down a sense of tradition to their children- Wine is a beautiful thing when savored in moderation. It is truly sad the amount of regulation that the United States has had to force upon people. Wine culture has been around for thousands of years longer than the USA- It's terrible to think that politicians create rules that would send parents to jail for sharing a glass of wine with their young adult children at the dinner table in their own home.

Well, it seems I have gotten a little side tracked (I do that sometimes). Back to my first winery tour... Every room was filled with huge machines and vats I had never seen before. The tour guides were explaining the process in what seemed like another language (It was English; I didn't mean Spanish). This is where the wine begins, then it goes here, next it ferments here for six months to a year, then the wine goes to the bottling line, then it ages in bottles for another year in giant wine coolers or the wine cellar. The whole process was mind blowing and started my neurons firing on all cylinders. This, my friends, is how a wine makers passion begins. I hope to make you a part of my journey and potentially create some more wine makers in the process.