Wine Education

Wine can be described in grades from sweet or dry and there are a large number of terms used to describe the ancillary flavours in a glass. Whether you're tasting professionally or for personal enjoyment, a basic knowledge of how to taste wine and how to describe what you taste will help you communicate with sommeliers, wine buffs and suppliers.

Wine educators will teach you about the mechanics of wine tastings - the areas of the tongue and the inside of the mouth that contain different taste receptors, the importance of the sense of smell. These are the key items in a wine taster's toolbox and it pays to have sharp tools!

Wine has been made for millenia and like any ancient art, it has a wide spectrum of regional variations. Different grapes, means of production and local tastes all have a bearing on the strengths and weaknesses of a country's modern wine output. Learning a region's wine history is a key step in choosing and appreciating great bottles - and not paying over the odds for a mediocre variety!

Studying wine making involves the disciplines of history, geography, botany and politics. A good wine course will distill the varied disciplines into a coherent worldwide narrative that builds into an understanding of the wine world today.

A bottle's labeling reflects the type of wine inside but also the legal and cultural mores of the country in which it was produced. From minimal, typographic labels of the typical Australian Shiraz, to the heraldic designs of Northern France, a wine's label gives a lot of information about the contents.

Many labeling terms are protected and stipulated by law (although wily marketers will attempt to get around the rules). Marks such as Champagne, Chianti, DOC, Appellation d'origine contrôlée are great indicators of quality and wine students can find some great wines at low prices by learning the ins-and-outs of wine labels.