13 Essential Tips for Your First Wine Class Experience

Do you want to learn more about wine? Taking a wine class can help you identify the wine styles you love so it’s easier to order off a menu at a restaurant or pair a wine from your local wine shop with whatever you’re making for dinner. It can also be an opportunity to really deep dive into geography, agriculture, and even chemistry. If you’re ready for a career change, it can even give you new opportunities to work in the beverage industry. But if you’re relatively new to the world of wine, you may not know where to start on your wine education journey.

As a wine writer, I’ve taken two months-long courses from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, one of the two major global wine-certifying bodies, and I’ve expanded my education through the Food and Wine program at Boston University. I’ve compiled this list of tips that may just help you figure out what kind of wine class you should take — and what you should know before your first day of swirling and sniffing. These are the tips you should check out before taking your first wine class.

Before you do anything else, you really need to hone in on why you want to take a wine class. If you’re looking for a basic entry point into learning about wine, you may want to start with an hour-long class. This can help you better understand different types of grapes and what characteristics are generally associated with them. If you want to go a bit deeper to gain a better understanding of terroir and production, you may want to take a day-long class to really start building a deeper foundation of knowledge. These types of classes may be able to help you pick out a better bottle the next time you go to the wine shop or give you an idea of what you might want to taste from a restaurant’s wine list.

If, on the other hand, you’d like to start building a career in wine, you’ll probably want to sign up for a more in-depth class. The Court of Master Sommeliers offers an educational track that’s more focused on service — this can be a good option if you want to work in a restaurant in the future. The Wine and Spirits Education Trust, on the other hand, focuses less on service and may be better suited to students interested in becoming journalists, educators, or pursuing a less service-focused career in the wine industry. Other organizations, like Boston University, offer in-depth wine education opportunities as well.

Next, you’ll want to think about how much you already know about wine, as this will give you a good idea of where to start on your path of wine education. If you like drinking wine but don’t know much about different varieties, production methods, or regions, you’ll probably want to start with beginner-level courses. Going to a tasting or an hour-long course at a local wine shop can be a good place to start for true beginners.

For those who are interested in going a bit more in-depth, WSET and CMS offer introductory courses that offer a more comprehensive view of the wine world for beginners. WSET offers a Level 1 Award in Wines that can help you orient yourself to the wine world. It’s an opportunity to learn how to taste and describe wine while learning the basics about production. You can take a similar course with CMS, which is available in-person as a two-day class. You can also take it online where you set your own pace — doing the course this way allows you to study for up to six months before taking the test.

As a beginner, there’s not much you can do wrong when you go to your first wine class. After all, you’re there to learn, and as long as you’re open to the experience, you shouldn’t have any problems. There is one exception, though. The number one mistake you should avoid is wearing any sort of fragrance. If you’re used to wearing perfume or cologne, you might be accustomed to the scent, so it may not seem like a big deal to spray a bit of it on yourself before you leave the house. But in reality, fragrance can be distracting when you’re trying to smell the subtle aromas in wine. It can interfere with both your sense of smell and taste.

What’s even worse is the fact that wearing a fragrance can disturb others’ sense of smell as well. If you want the best possible wine-tasting and -learning experience for yourself — and for everyone else around you — you’ll skip the fragrance and save it for the times when your senses won’t be so heavily taxed by the task at hand.

You’ll want to decide whether you’ll want to eat or avoid food before a wine-tasting session at a wine class. There are a few factors to keep in mind. If you’re going to a wine class mostly as a fun experience, then you may actually want to drink as you’re tasting. If that’s the case, then your best bet is to eat ahead of time. This will prevent you from getting too tipsy too quickly, which can interfere with your learning experience.

On the other hand, if you’re going to a wine class for more of an educational experience, you may want to skip the food for at least an hour before the class begins. This is because strong flavors from food can linger on your palate and may affect what you taste in the glass during your class. This is especially true for intensely flavored foods like garlic and onions — these foods especially should be avoided before a wine class where tasting is involved. If you do decide to eat, choose more neutral-flavored foods, like carbs and lean meats without a ton of seasoning.

Regardless of whether you decide to eat or not, you’ll want to stay hydrated for the best possible experience. Make sure to drink plenty of water before your class, and keep sipping on water in between tastes of wine both to cleanse your palate and to ensure that you don’t get too dehydrated.

It may not occur to you to bring a pen and notebook to a wine bar, so why should you bother to bring these tools to a wine class? Well, just like in any class, having a notebook on hand can come in handy when you need to jot down important notes. This may not be a big deal if you’re just going to a wine class for fun, but it’s recommended anyway so you can at least make note of the wines you try that you enjoy and those that you don’t like as much. Doing so can make it easier for you to pick out a wine the next time you find yourself at a wine shop or bar.

And if you’re taking a wine class specifically to learn more about wine and potentially enter the wine industry, then it’s super important to take notes. Wine production is incredibly complicated, and you’ll likely be getting a lot of information you don’t already know. Without taking detailed notes, it can be easy to miss important information. Creating an outline and having a detailed note-taking process can make things a lot easier for you when it’s finally time to study for exams. After every class, go over your notes to organize them in a way that makes it easier to remember what you learned.

If you don’t feel confident about your wine knowledge, it can feel intimidating to speak up during a wine class, particularly during the wine-tasting portion. But speaking up in class is an important part of the learning process and can help you succeed when it comes time for any exams you’re taking. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you smell and taste in the wine glass. Even if these aromas and flavors aren’t what your teacher is looking for, you’ll gain confidence in your tasting method by being open about what you experience. Your teacher or other students in class may be able to help you identify those aromas and flavors that can be difficult to describe.

And even if you’re not that serious about wine tasting, speaking up during class can help you make friends and connections in your class. Wine is all about connection, and actively communicating can help you better forge those connections with your fellow wine classmates.

Just like how you may feel uncomfortable speaking up about wine tasting during class, you may be hesitant to ask any questions. After all, wine can be intimidating if you feel like you don’t really know what you’re talking about. But just like in any other type of class, asking questions is an important part of learning. Since wine can be so complicated, you’ll likely have a lot of questions the class and even your books can’t answer, so getting the correct information from your teacher is important. Plus, other students are probably curious about the exact same questions you’re pondering.

Taking a wine class just for fun? Asking questions can help you better identify the wines you enjoy so you’ll have an easier time picking out a bottle the next time you go to a wine bar. Also, you’ll get information that’ll make it easier for you to impress your friends the next time you’re out to dinner.

Whether you’re taking a wine class simply for something fun to do on a weeknight or you’re interested in working in the industry, it can be useful — and fun, of course — to taste with others. Why not ask some of your classmates to join a tasting group? This is helpful for a few reasons. First of all, it gives you the chance to talk about what you taste in different wines outside the more formal confines of a classroom. At the same time, it allows you to try a wider variety of wines than you’d be able to try on your own, since you can ask everyone to bring a bottle to share.

Plus, it’ll help you build bonds with your classmates. This can just be a great way to make new friends, or you can create study groups if you’re really committed to learning more. And, after all, wine is all about connecting with other people, so you should absolutely try to make some friends in the process. Not serious enough to want to spend time building a tasting group? Just throw a wine-tasting party instead!

One of the trickiest parts of wine tasting is identifying what you’re smelling in the glass. You may have experienced the feeling of smelling a wine and experiencing a familiar scent but not being able to put a name to it. To succeed on wine exams or to just have the most possible fun tasting with other people, you’ll need to have the vocabulary to talk about the wines you try. One way to better identify these aromas, other than simply tasting with other wine students, is to invest in an aroma kit.

These kits contain little vials of different aromas that you can use, over and over, to train your brain to recognize different scents. Once you understand what gooseberry smells like, for example, it’ll be easier to pick out in the glass. There are several different aroma kit brands out there, including Le Nez du Vin, which is highly recommended by many wine schools. These kits can be pricey, though, so you might not want to invest in one of these unless you’re pretty serious about your wine education.

If you’re taking your wine class at a wine school, there’s a good chance that you’ll be offered neutral-tasting crackers while you’re tasting. If you aren’t offered any during class, you can always bring some with you. Why should you use plain, unsalted crackers while you’re tasting? Well, it’s all about cleansing your palate. Sometimes, the flavor of wines can linger on your palate for longer than you would prefer, interfering with the next wines you taste. This is especially true when you’re dealing with bold, tannic red wines.

By eating a piece of unsalted cracker after tasting a wine, you’re giving your mouth a very different flavor and texture to sort of reset your taste buds. This is helpful between sips of any two types of wine, but it’s especially important when you’re going from reds, which can be quite strong, to whites, which are often more subtle. It’s also helpful for avoiding tannin fatigue, which can make it difficult to taste wines after you’ve had too many high-tannin wines.

Have you ever seen people swirling wine at wine tastings before they take a sip? If you have, you may have assumed that they were just being obnoxious. You may have been right, but swirling your wine also serves a practical purpose. When you swirl your wine around the inside of your glass, it aerates, or brings more oxygen into, your wine. This can make its aromas more pronounced and easier to smell. Swirling your wine a few times before taking a sniff and then a sip can help you better identify different aromas.

You can swirl essentially any type of wine to better pick up those subtle aromas, since this process works with reds, whites, roses, and even skin-contact wines. You can swirl sparkling wine, too — despite the bubbles, most sparkling wine can still benefit from some aeration. Once you learn how to swirl your wine, you’ll start looking like the wine pro you were always meant to be.

It doesn’t matter whether you decided to take a wine class as a bridge to employment opportunities or just because you wanted to have some fun — every wine student is trying to get a better sense of what they like in the glass. During your wine class, there’s a good chance that you’ll taste some wines you really enjoy that you may not have encountered before. When you do come across one of these wines, you should make sure to take a photo of the bottle.

Taking photos like this is important because it helps you better remember what you’ve tried before. After all, it can be helpful to scroll through the pictures on your phone to jog your memory about the fact that, yes, you have tried Barolo (an Italian wine made with the grape Nebbiolo), and yes, you definitely liked it. But it can also help you identify bottles that you want to seek out and taste again. And if you’re into social media, taking photos will allow you to share what you’ve been drinking with others.

If you’re a beginner, you may assume that wine classes are all about picking out different aromas and flavors in wine. While, yes, that is an important aspect of most wine classes, it’s far from the only thing you’ll be learning. If you really want to learn how to pick out a good bottle at a wine shop, geography is one topic you’re definitely going to want to dive into deeper. Where a wine grows, or a wine’s terroir, plays a huge role in how it ends up tasting, and many wine regions have specific rules for how specifically labeled wines should be produced.

The best way to learn about these geographical factors of wine production is to visualize where the wines you’re trying are coming from. If you think of yourself as a visual learner, it’s a good idea to print out and label maps to get a better sense of where certain regions are and what they’re known for. Using maps that display elevation, bodies of water, and other features of the landscape can also help you better understand how different environments create wines — plus, you may even learn about some of the world’s most underrated wine regions.