Great French Wine

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Don’t deny yourself French wines. The lack of Bordeaux and Burgundy in your wine diet is unhealthy and will cause everlasting damage to your psyche.

In this class, you will taste the essential French wine regions and grape varieties. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Languedoc, Loire, Rhone, Alsace: All the great flavors and stories will be encapsulated in this two-hour wine-tasting class. You can expect a dynamic learning experience from a world-class sommelier-instructor.

Why French Wine?

Our French Wine class is an important one for wine lovers. Heck, it’s virtually illegal for a seasoned sommelier not to take this class. For a good reason: France remains the gold standard for fine wine worldwide.

How you and I think about wine is due to centuries that the French perfected the craft of making wine well over a century ago. How we grow, make, bottle, sell, store, drink, and pair food is due to their innovations. Knowing French wine is comparable to reading the classics. You can skip it, but don’t ever hold yourself up as a wine expert.

A Bit of Trivia

French wines are the touchstone that all other wines are compared. So much so that every interview Keith Wallace (the Wine School’s founder) had included at least a passing remark about French winemaking. In Business Insider, Keith talks about why French oak wine barrels are more expensive than American. In a Nerd Wallet article, he compares the geology of  Texas wine country to several French wine regions.

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Tasting Sheets from Previous French Wine Classes

JANUARY 2017

Flight 1
1. Trimbach 2013 Riesling (Alsace)

2. Karine Lauverjat 2014 Pouilly-Fumé (Loire)

Flight 2
1. Vignerons de Buxy 2013 Montagny Premier Cru (Bourgogne)

2. Domaine Arnoux 2013 Chorey-Lés-Beaune (Bourgogne)

Flight 3
1. Eric Texier 2014 “Chat Fou” (Côtes Du Rhône)

2. Aleria 2013 XX 270 (Corsica)

Flight 4
1. Ch. Greysac 2011 Cru Bourgeois (Bordeaux)

2. Georges Vigouroux Ch. De Haute-Serre 2011 Malbec (Cahors)

September 2015

Flight 1
1. Domaine de la Noblaie 2010 Chinon Blanc (Loire)

2. Pierre Boniface 2013 Apremont Vin de Savoie Blanc (Savoie)

Flight 2
1. Domaine Les Pins 2011 “Clos les Pins” Bourgueil (Loire)

2. Antonin Rodet 2011 Givry Le Vigron Premier Cru (Bourgogne)

Flight 3
1. 2009 Franck Balthazar Cornas Cuvee Casimir Balthazar

2. Domaine Olivier Hillaire 2007 Reserve Chateauneuf du Pape (Rhone)

Flight 4
1. Clos des Baies 2008 Saint-Émilion Grand Cru (Bordeaux)

2. Ch. Beychevelle 2010 ‘Amiral de Beychevelle’ Saint-Julien (Bordeaux)

July 2014

Flight 1
1. Domaine Ostertag 2010 Barriques Pinot Blanc (Alsace)

2. Roger Lassarat 2007 Macon-Vergisson La Roche (Burgundy)

Flight 2
1. Arnoux Lachaux 2009 Bourgogne Pinot Fin (Burgundy)

2. Fabrice Gasnier 2012 Chinon Les Graves (Loire)

Flight 3
1. Château Bouscassé (Alain Brumont) 2003 Madiran (Sud-Ouestz)

2. Chateau Mongravey 2009 Cru Bourgeois (Margaux)

Flight 4
1. Vignerons De Caractere 2010 Gigondas Cuvée Prestige (S. Rhone)

1. Emmanuel Darnaud 2011 Les Trois Chenes Crozes-Hermitage (N. Rhone)