Greece: Tasting Beyond the Vine by Keira Walker, Food Science major

Along with a few of my fellow Food Science students I traveled to Thessaloniki, Greece to the Perrotis College at the American Farm School. I participated in a 6-week Greek Wine Business course. Over the weeks I had the opportunity to experience many different things, different islands, different foods, and most importantly different wines.

I visited many different wineries. The ones that were the most interesting to me were the ones on the Island of Santorini. One cool piece of information that I learned is that on the island the vines are grown in a very specific way called Kouloura. This is where the vines themselves are grown in a sort of basket or nest shape in order to protect the grapes from the strong winds and it allows the vineyards to not be irrigated, they depend on the humidity in the air. I also learned that there are vineyards that grow grapes for reasons other than wine. We visited one vineyard in Thessaloniki that grows grapes just for the leaves. They produce the leaves for the Greek dish, dolmas, which is stuffed grape leaves.

Despite only being 6-weeks, I gained a lot from this trip, most of which can be translated into the workplace. Being in a country where you don’t speak the language can really help you develop some teamwork and problem-solving skills. One time on the trip we ended up getting stranded at the beach with no way to get home so we had to put all of our heads together and come up with a plan attack and figure out how to get back. Another skill I gained from the trip was communication, because we did so many things in groups it was important that we were able to communicate with others.

I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to experience Greece and all of its culture and of course its wine. One of the main takeaways I have from the trip is that wine isn’t just about turning grapes into alcohol, it’s about what types of grapes you are using, where they are from, and how you want to market and to who you want to market it to.