The WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) is considered one of, if not the, most prestigious routes to wine education available. Lyn will be leading wine courses throughout the Spring for Fine Vintage, Ltd, the most comprehensive WSET provider in North America. 

WSET Level 2 is offered over two weekends so you have three days of intensive class study and tasting without interrupting the business week: Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13, with the final day on Saturday, March 19, 2016. The classes are held at the beautiful (and easily accessible) Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida.  We will offer Level 1 at the Biltmore as a full-day class on May 7, and then Level 3 is being offered as a six-day course taught by both Lyn and Master of Wine James Cluer in late May and early June, 2016. 

Who is this class for?

The Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits (to use the course’s official name) naturally follows from the foundation in wine provided in the Level 1 course. While we recommend taking Level 1 so you have a solid grounding in the WSET approach to systematic wine tasting, it is not an absolute requirement if you already have a good understanding of wine. For the amateur wine lover and the hospitality professional alike, Level 2 classes are entertaining as well as informative and include a diverse array of students that is usually a mix of passionate consumers and people from the culinary industry and beverage trade. Level 2 is the ideal place for the wine lover to gain some solid technical knowledge and tasting experience that just cannot be gained from reading magazine articles and books or following online lessons.

Why take a class?

It must be said that Level 2 is a significant step up from Level 1 and includes tasting more than 50 wines and several spirits over the course of the three days. I've found that tasting this range of wines with a knowledgeable tutor is an excellent way to get a real fix on one of the WSET program's strongest elements, structured tasting. This can't easily be learned in a self-study program; it can only be truly understood as part of a series of interactive tastings. Part of the reason to take a WSET course is to get a dependable framework for tasting, a system on which you can rely no matter what wine you are sampling. Working with the textbook and the study guide (both provided several weeks in advance as part of the course), you'll also finely hone your tasting skills as well as your knowledge not only of what different wines taste like, but why they taste different.

Over the three days of the Level Two course, we'll delve into the following areas:

•  Growing grapes
•  Making and maturing wine
• The art of tasting in detail
•  Food and wine matching
• The classic grape varieties
• An in-depth look at the wines of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as well as 
• New World wine regions including the U.S., Australia and South America
• Sparkling and Fortified wines
• The major spirits and how they are made

The final hour of the course is given over to a comprehensive examination that, when passed, entitles you to the Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits, a highly coveted certification within the hospitality industry. Passing the exam and gaining a Level 2 certification is a serious accomplishment. It's not an easy exam, which is why you want to study the material in an environment with a proven record of success. Fine Vintage, Ltd. is the most successful WSET provider in North America, with a 97% pass rate... Just sayin'! Looking to really polish your wine and spirits knowledge and tasting skills? To my mind, this is the without question the best place to do it.

A Sense of Urgency

For more information on the Level Two course, click here to open a new window on the Fine Vintage, Ltd. website. And to register for the course with Fine Vintage, click here. 

One caveat is in order: Advance registration is necessary to assure you receive the text book and study guide well before the class begins so you may read through the materials before we have the classroom review.