"I love to cook with wine, sometimes I even put it in food"

There was a magnet with this phrase on it on my family's refrigerator for as long as I can remember growing up. The Manning family just loves to drink wine! Far from taboo in our home, my parents offered me wine at dinner years before I even wanted to drink. My dad is from New Orleans and my mom from a Cajun French town in Central Louisiana, and indulging in extravagant food and drink is core to our family and culture. Oh, and did I mention they're Catholic?
My mom is an incredible cook and when I picture her working her magic in the kitchen with crawfish tails and spices, there's always a glass of wine (or a bottle) right there with her. I witnessed my parents' taste in wine become more sophisticated over the years, as they belonged to a wine club with close friends in our suburb. I remember how much fun they would have testing new wines at the monthly dinners (some were rowdy events at our house), learning about new regions and varietals, and enjoying the case together at home. Wine club was an amazing "adult learning" activity and experience for them and definitely shaped their endless curiosity about wine today (although my mom is very loyal to New Zealand Sauv Blancs these days).
I benefited from secondhand knowledge but wasn't particularly interested in the details of wine until I moved to New York for college (cue the wine snobbery) and spent a semester abroad in Argentina. I took a mini-course on Argentine wines, spent time in Mendoza, and studied the growth of the Argentine wine industry in an economics class. This foray peaked my interested in learning more about wine. When I soon after interned for a "lifelong learning" education-tech company in New York, I opted to create content for a few courses on the history of wine in key regions, leveraging some prominent wine blogs.
Throughout the past few years I have not continued any formal wine education. I find the industry fascinating though as it is deeply historical and traditional yet consumers continually buy into new modern branding, tastes, and experiences. This class appealed to me as I'm excited to hear about one works in and navigates this complex world, and how the lessons can apply to other industries. I'm also very much looking forward to testing out great wines considering my GSB budget has unfortunately knocked my standards down a bit the past year...