Wine Education

[helenas]

David,

First of all, thank you very much for "Vino Italiano" - it's such a terrific book!

Could you please answer the following question:

There are a lot of wine-related classes around. Do you think, wine appreciation can be learnt there, provided you have a good teacher? What are the other ways: books, organized wine tastings, just buying wine from good wine seller and trying to write your own tasting notes?

Thank you, helena

[David Lynch]

Thanks so much for the kind words--

books are helpful, and classes are great, but tasting is the best education. Attending guided wine tastings is definitely helpful (for Italian I'd refer you to Italian wine merchants in Manhattan).

Wine classes are also great. For me, the Gold Standard remains Kevin Zraly's 8-week course, which of course used to be held at Windows on the World. The class is still going strong and remains the best and most entertaining orientation to the world of wine. His company is called Wine Services International and they are based in New Paltz, NY. And I imagine that if you hit "Zraly" on a web search engine you'd find out everything you need to know about his classes. He's the man!

[helenas]

For those who're interested, here is information on Kevin Zraly's

The Windows of the World Wine School.

The fall class starts September 23rd.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

I have to add emphasis on the descriptive "entertaining" with reference to kevin zraly. his class is also very, very introductory and only 8 weeks. for the same price you could do the ASA introductory class, and for a bit less i believe you could do the IWC introductory class. not to cut you off, mr. lynch, but if anyone would like more information, i have experience with two of the above three programs.

[LaNiña]

I have to add emphasis on the descriptive "entertaining" with reference to kevin zraly.  his class is also very, very introductory and only 8 weeks.  for the same price you could do the ASA introductory class, and for a bit less i believe you could do the IWC introductory class.  not to cut you off, mr. lynch, but if anyone would like more information, i have experience with two of the above three programs.

I'm starting the IWC class next week, after much advice from lots of sources - one of the reasons was that it's not quite as introductory as Zraly's, as nesita mentioned. And it's significantly less expensive, and the certification is internationally recognized.