The Barrel room at City Winery in Chicago (Photo: (c) Lyn Farmer)

I'm happy to announce our mid-September WSET Level 1 course in Chicago at City Winery, where we conduct classes in the beautiful Barrel Room.

The WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) is considered one of, if not the, most prestigious routes to wine education available. I'll be leading several courses this autumn for Fine Vintage, Ltd, the most comprehensive WSET provider in North America - including this one-day Level One course covering the fundamentals of wine.

The Level One course is a "foundation course" that is ideal for everyone who likes wine and wants to understand it better -- how it's made, what it's made from, why it tastes the way it does and how to find the wines you love. This full-day course focuses on learning the art of wine tasting (including demystifying the vocabulary you might have once found daunting), pairing food and wine, and exploring the characteristics of the major grape varieties with intensive exercises. We also delve into grape growing and winemaking, and serving and cellaring wine, and learn about wine diversity by tasting 16 different wines from Premier Cru Burgundy to Grand Cruller Saint-Émilion. And if those terms are a little baffling, no worries - by the end of class you'll be fully conversant with Grand Cru!

For more information or to register, visit the Level One page - click the button below and it will open in a new tab