objectification and feminism and periods………oh my!

Okay…this may seem a bit off topic, but stick with me for a minute…..

As a psychologist, particularly a social psychologist, I often see examples of the material I teach and study everywhere.  I even have my husband finding examples of this stuff now and will be blogging about this with my general psych students this summer.  Research is also everywhere, and I made an interesting link between an activity I love and my dorky love of all things research yesterday.

My husband and I went wine tasting.   We both enjoy good food and wine, and part of the fun of living in Virginia is that there are a lot of great local wines.  As we were leaving a vineyard where we tasted three viogniers, I commented that, while I didn’t love any of them, it was a lot of fun to see how different the grape could be.

This got me thinking about the few vertical tastings I’ve done at vineyards over the last few years.  I realized that it’s like an experiment.  You take the same grape(s) grown on the same vines in the same vineyard and vary rain, sun, soil conditions, etc. and get very different products.  Add in some differing barrel practices and occasional changes in winemakers and you get tons of fun.

What can I say…I am a dork, I love research, and you now have another reason for doing a vertical tasting if you ever get the chance.