This means that many New Yorkers will have the chance to visit the rich vineyards of the state and sample their products. If you are interested in wine but want to learn more about how different kinds of wine are made and how differences in production styles and methods impact flavor, you might be interested in taking a wine course. NYC has several different classes that teach students how professional sommeliers select, taste and pair wine with other foods, and learning wine tasting skills can be a pleasurable way to spend an evening. Read on to learn more about some of the finest wine tasting classes available through CourseHorse in NYC.
Wine Tasting 101 at CocuSocial
CocuSocial offers a Wine Tasting 101 course for students with no prior experience with the science of working with wine. Students enrolled in this class will receive expert instruction from professional sommeliers on the intricacies of different kinds of wine and the steps that professional wine-tasters use to judge the quality of a wine. This course will also teach students the history of winemaking and the science behind oenology. Students will learn why different wine regions produce different styles and flavors of wine and how the cultivation of grapes and the aging process contributes to the taste of a given bottle. This will help students better understand how to detect subtle differences in wine and how to articulate their own tasting notes.
The course isn’t just about the history and theories behind wine tasting. Students enrolled in this course will receive a practical education in wine tasting. Professional instructors will guide the students through a live wine tasting session that includes a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Rose, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and a rotating final red. Through these practical exercises, students will create their own tasting notes, and they will get a feel for how different styles of wine require different approaches to the tasting process. This course offers students an accessible, welcoming introduction to the world of wine tasting. It is a great way to spend an afternoon or evening preparing for a trip to one of New York State’s illustrious wine regions.
Tour of Europe—Wine & Cheese Pairing at Murray’s Cheese
If you have ever been to a formal reception, professional party or another fancy event, you’ve likely had the opportunity to sample a wine and cheese platter. Murray’s Cheese is NYC's oldest cheese shop and one of its most well-known. They offer a wide range of different cheese tasting and making classes, and understandably, they offer quite a few classes that teach students how best to pair wine and cheese for their social gatherings. Food pairing is a technical art, and it is even more challenging when dealing with the complex flavors of wine and cheese. In this class, students will learn the history of European wine and cheese production and participate in a guided tasting. This aims to give students a practical demonstration of how experts pair wine and cheese and how you too, can effectively pair them at your social functions.
This course emphasizes regional wines and cheeses coming out of Europe. France and Italy are both well-regarded wine and cheese countries, with many well-known styles of both being named for the region in which they were first cultivated. In this class, students will sample a prepared collection of four wines and four kinds of cheese selected by Murray’s expert instructors. These pairings are intended to give students a wide sample of the kinds of wine and cheese that they can bring together and the logic that informs various pairing choices. If you are thinking about hosting an event or just want to start picking up a unique food-related skill, this course may be the option you are looking for.
Wine and Cheese Pairings—Summer Favorites at Murray’s Cheese
Another aspect of the pairing of wine and cheese is considering the time of year. Like most fresh foods, certain cheeses are produced at certain times of the year, meaning they will be freshest in certain seasons, and like many kinds of drinks, some wines are better suited for the hot summer months. This course aims to help students understand this aspect of wine and cheese pairing so that they can prepare their own spreads that account for the time of year and the weather. While it may seem like a minor aspect of the process, learning this subtle art can greatly improve the quality of your spreads. This course is taught by experienced instructors at Murray’s Cheese, so you can be assured that the pairing decisions will make sense given the context.
Cheese & Chocolate Pairing with Rosé Wine at Murray’s Cheese
Of course, cheese isn’t the only thing you can pair with wine and wine isn’t the only thing you can pair with cheese. Murray’s Cheese also offers courses that help you learn to expand and focus your spreads in courses like their Cheese and Chocolate tasting course. In this class, students will focus on French wines and cheese and be paired alongside signature accompaniments like chocolate and jam. This course will aim to teach students how to utilize additional accouterments in their wine and cheese pairings, and since all four wins in the class are French Rosés, students will learn how different wines of the same style and location can differ in their roles in a food pairing. Led by experienced instructors, this course is a great way to learn how accouterments are an essential part of a complete and robust wine and cheese pairing, and, as an added bonus, the class is a great way to sample fine chocolates and delicious Rosés.
Wine Tasting 101 Online at the NYC Wine Company
Students who are interested in learning more about a wide variety of different wines, both local and foreign, may want to consider a course offered through The NYC Wine Company. Their most popular course is their online introductory Wine Tasting 101 class. This beginner-friendly, three-session online course introduces students to the world of wine taste and the process of acting as a sommelier. This course is an ideal first step into the world of wine taste, and students will learn concepts such as the difference between a sweet and a dry wine and how different grapes grown in different wine regions produce radically different kinds of wine. The course aims to teach students the science of winemaking and how they can take that knowledge with them when they sample wine in-person.
In this online class, students will sample six wines regularly rotating. Students can have the wine bottles shipped directly to them, or they can source the wine themselves. In each class, students will sample two different wines to compare and contrast their flavors. This process will help students understand the different taste palettes and flavor profiles that differentiate types of wines and different bottles and brands within the same style. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify their favorite wine from the samples and work directly with their instructor to identify what wine they enjoyed and what other similar wines are available to them. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the pleasurable world of wine, and this guided class can help students find the flavor profiles they most want to pursue.
An Evening of Château Rayas Dinner at the Wine Workshop
Opening its doors in 1820, The Wine Workshop is one of the country's oldest and most respected wine sellers. They sell many of the most popular new releases in the industry, and they have a large collection of modern favorites. In addition, The Wine Workshop has one of the nation’s largest catalogs of rare wines, including many which are so limited in release they can only be acquired at specialty auctions. The Wine Workshop regularly hosts high-end tasting dinners and classes that aim to guide students through rare wine tasting experiences that may otherwise be impossible to replicate. While these events can be fairly pricey, they are one-of-a-kind wine tasting experiences that will leave you with a much deeper appreciation for the world of wine.
Their An Evening Of Château Rayas Dinner is a complex vertical of more than three decades of production from the Château Rayas, a century-old French vineyard that produces some of the world’s most well-regarded French wines. The wine is made with a traditional French practice that causes each year of the crop to produce fairly different wines. This vertical will let attendees see how even in the same soil and field, grapes can produce incredibly distinct vintages of wine. The vertical includes 18 wines, with the oldest vintage bottled in 1990. The wines include two red Côtes du Rhône’s, a Pialade, a Syrah Cuvée and a white. This vertical represents a collection of some of the finest and rarest wines produced by one of the most prolific vineyards in France.
The Terroirs of Savigny Les Beaune Tasting at the Wine Workshop
The Wine Workshop regularly offers new tastings, dinners and verticals such as The Terroirs Of Savigny Les Beaune Tasting. Hosted by John Gillman, who has spent decades writing on Beaune, the capital of the Burgundy wine region, this tasting will introduce participants to more than a dozen of the finest red wines produced in central France. Rather than focusing on a single vineyard, the tasting covers several of the region's most prolific wineries and allows attendees to see how different approaches to the soil and grapes of Beaune produce distinct wines. Sampling vintages that date back to the late 80s, this sample will give participants a robust picture of the region, the evolution of its vineyards and the ways in which this historic region of the country has shaped the winemaking industry over the centuries.
Salumi & Charcuterie / Wine & Beer (Tasting & Pairing) at Dickson’s Farmstand Meats
Dickson’s Farmstand Meats is one of NYC’s finest purveyors of artisan meat. They source beef, lamb, goat, pork and poultry products from local farmers in New York State, and they aim to maximize the sustainability of their farming operations. In addition to a robust selection of classes for aspiring chefs and butchers, they also offer a fascinating Salumi & Charcuterie class that teaches students how to select, prepare and serve fine salami, pate, rillette prosciutto, pancetta, lomo, and other salted meats. In addition, students will learn the art of pairing wine and beer with a charcuterie tray, giving them the knowledge they need to prepare appetizing food for celebrations of all kinds.
In addition to learning how to prepare and serve a wide range of excellent cured meats, students will learn the art of pairing their charcuterie with beer and wine, each of which add unique flavor profiles to a board. Through a partnership with Bowler Wine, students will receive a curated selection of wine pairings that expert sommeliers have selected to complement the dry-cured, fermented and smoked salami offered through Dickson’s Farmstand. Students who prefer beer will also have the opportunity to sample local favorites alongside locally sourced meat.
Other Classes You Might Like
Wine isn’t for everyone. While taking a wine course can be a good introduction to the drink, many students may prefer other food and beverage-related tastings. Students interested in learning more about beer can enroll in a brewing or tasting class through CourseHorse, and if spirits are more up your alley, CourseHorse has a wide range of mixology classes open to residents of NYC. For non-alcoholic food tasting options, you may want to consider a cheese tasting course, a dessert-making course, or an NYC food tour. Regardless of what you are looking to eat and drink, CourseHorse offers a class that will help you better appreciate and understand the science of flavor and food pairing.