How to Teach a Wine Tasting Class

Many people want to learn about wine. Wine is a complex beverage with many different types and varieties. When judging a wine, tasters look at the different characteristics of the wine to decide whether it is a good wine or not. If you want to share your knowledge of wine with others, you should teach a wine tasting class.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Prepping for the Class

1. Learn all that you can about wine tasting. Study the ways to judge a wine's color, acidity, clarity and balance. Read the books "Windows on the World: Complete Wine Course" and "The Wine Bible."

2. Take a tour through wine country. To expand your knowledge prior to teaching a class, you should visit an area that is known for its wines. In the U.S., you can travel to either the California or Colorado wine regions.

3. Sign up to teach a wine class. Look to learning centers and wineries to see if they have an opening for a wine tasting instructor.

4. Hold your own classes. You can go to people's homes and teach them all the basics of wine. Purchase enough wine for the number of attendants and prepare to speak about the qualities of each wine that is sampled.

Teaching the Class

5. Explain the way to hold a wine glass. Demonstrate finger placement and correct pouring techniques. You should also show how to swirl the wine in order to let it breathe before tasting.

6. Judge the wine's color. Explain to the wine tasting class about how the color of the wine indicates the grape variety used to produce the wine.

7. Smell the wine. Ask the class to smell the different wines and describe the scents. Smelling the wine before you drink it enhances the flavor by alerting the palette.

8. Request that the students keep the wine in their mouth for several seconds. This permits the wine taster to better judge the flavors.

Tips & Warnings

• If you own or operate a winery, then you probably know enough about wine to teach a class without much additional preparation.
• Remember to decide the order of the wines before you teach a wine tasting class. You should start with lighter white wine varieties and then move onto heavier red wines.
• Remember to learn proper pairings before teaching a wine course. Students often want to know what type of wines to serve with each meal.

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