This past week I fully took the plunge and embarked on my journey to become a certified Sommelier. I will be taking my first exam in October. In the meantime, I am studying up, doing as much tasting as possible (more exhausting than you would imagine…I know, right…) and taking wine classes taught by certified Somms and Wine Professionals at the hip new San Francisco Wine Center in SOMA. In the past week, I have taken three courses: “Tasting and Comparing Old World and New World Wines”, “The Wines of Spain” and “The Grand Wines of Bordeaux”. Each course lasted approximately two hours, each was completely different in style and content (and of course wines), and each was attended by about ten-twelve individuals alongside me. These classes have already opened up my thirst for more knowledge about this incredible living organism we call wine, and I cannot even fathom the incredible amount there is to learn about wine. I am impassioned, invigorated by it, and completely up for the challenge. I will attempt to cover snippets from my classes in my upcoming blogs -please forgive the fragmented information as it may come randomly, but hopefully you will enjoy the little pearls and stories nonetheless.
First though, I’d like to praise The Wine School at the San Francisco Wine Center. Owner Brian McGonigle has hired some incredible wine professionals to teach the classes, and so far our classes haveranged to blind tasting, comparing wines of the same varietal from different countries, varies wines from the same country, and the same wine varietal (Bordeaux) from different crus tasted over many decades of some pretty incredible and diverse wines. The Wine School, which takes place at San Francisco Wine Center, officially opened in April. Located in a gorgeous SOMA venue, it provides the perfect industrial chic. Class is taught around a king table that seats up to 20, lending itself to a great interactive environment. Master Sommeliers, Masters of Wine, winemakers, top chefs, and visiting wine dignitaries including Jason Alexander, Rajat Parr, Christie Dufault, Jesse Becker, Andrea Immer Robinson, and Leslie Sbrocco make up the instructor team. Cheers!