Tuesdays, June 16, 23, 30; July 7, 14, 21; 7-9 PM
or Wednesdays, July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; August 5; 7-9 PM
or Mondays, July 20; August 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; 7-9 PM*
or Tuesdays, August 4, 18, 25; September 1, 8, 15; 7-9 PM*
or Fridays, September 11, 25; October 2, 16, 23, 30; 7-9 PM*

This six-week course, created by ICE’s Director of Wine Studies Ron Ciavolino, uses grape varietals as a key to understanding the full wine spectrum, which ensures that you’ll retain and be able to apply the knowledge gained. You will receive a thorough introduction to wine tasting, as you learn about wine components and taste some of the world’s most celebrated wines. Limited to 32 students.
Week 1: An introduction to wine; how to taste and evaluate wine; the wines of the Loire valley
Week 2: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: the king and queen of Burgundy
Week 3: The grapes of Bordeaux
Week 4: The major varietals of Italy
Week 5: The grapes of Spain and southern France
Week 6: The grapes of the West Coast of the United States: an embarrassment of riches

*Indicates course that skips one or more dates.

Wednesdays, June 24-July 1, 7-9 PM
or Fridays, July 31-August 7, 7-9 PM
or Wednesdays, August 19-26, 7-9 PM
or Wednesdays, September 9-16, 7-9 PM

This class, crafted by ICE’s resident sommelier Ron Ciavolino, is tailored to the wine novice who wants a quick introduction to the world of the grape. You’ll learn the distinctions among the grapes that fill today’s most popular bottles; you’ll also begin to taste wines critically, judging color, aroma, flavor and body. You’ll discover the meaning of such wine concepts as dryness, acidity, fruitiness, tannins, varietals, vintages, and more. Your wine educator will offer a primer on reading a wine label and wine list, offer suggestions on pairing wine with food and teach you the proper way to open a bottle of wine. After attending this class, you’ll be able to order wine in bars, restaurants, and wine shops with confidence.

Wednesday, June 3, 7-9 PM
or Friday, August 21, 7-9 PM

In a single session, you’ll get a handle on France’s various wine-producing regions. This subject can sometimes seem daunting, but the class will provide a clear and thorough explanation, and you’ll no longer have any trouble differentiating a Pouilly Fuissé from a Pouilly Fumé. Pairing with food will be discussed, so you’ll understand what to serve with Cabernet Sauvignon, and what marries better with a Pinot Noir. A representative wine from each of the major grape-growing regions will be tasted.

Saturday, June 13, 7-9 PM

Crisp white wines seem to be in everybody’s glass once the thermometer reaches the 80s. But the love of red wines does not have take a summer break. There are plenty of refreshing, lighter and lower alcohol reds to enjoy with your summer fare and fun. In this class, you will compare, taste, and discuss some perfect warm month reds from around the world, to beat the heat one sip at a time.

Monday, June 15, 7-9 PM

In this class, David Lombardo, the dynamic wine and beverage director of Manhattan’s favorite neighborhood restaurants Landmarc and Ditch Plains, will teach you how to recognize and understand aromas in classic wine varietals. By smelling an ingredient found in the wine’s aroma, such as blueberries for an Argentine Malbec, you will learn the basic wine components of these varietals, how to understand the different representations of grapes from different regions, and what to expect from each. While sitting around a table in groups, to promote interaction, you will taste eight wines and use a range of ingredients, from coffee and kiwis to grapefruits and green peppers, to pick out these aromas.

Wednesday, June 17, 7-9 PM

Tuscany is perhaps one of the most beautiful wine regions in the world, and is steeped in history and tradition. The wines produced there offer reliable food-friendly choices in every price range. In this class, you will taste some of the region’s most representative wines, including Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Super Tuscan (made from non-traditional grapes that also grow there).

Saturday, June 20, 7-9 PM

What constitutes a summer wine? Do some wines really taste better in the summer, and if so, why? Delve into this question and sample some favorite warm weather vintages. Along the way, you will discuss suitable candidates for summer entertaining: reds, whites, champagnes and after-dinner wines. Many of the wines will be relatively unknown, and all will be refreshing surprises.

Wednesday, June 24, 7-9 PM

Most discussions around a wine list, whether they take place with a sommelier or a friend, rarely include rosé as an option. Rather, the choice given is “white or red?” But not all rosés are sweet, and they can be serious wines. Join Richard Vayda for a trip into the world of crimson, and discover rosé’s varied origins, styles, and uses. You will taste wines that are perfect for warmer weather, as aperitif, with fish, and more.

Friday, June 26, 7-9 PM

Serious red wine lovers are instantly aroused by the name Nebbiolo, the grape that produces the famous Barolos and Barbarescos of Italy’s Piedmont region. Nebbiolo is part of the distinguished trinity of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sirah that produces the most elegant, complex and long-lasting reds of the world. This course will introduce you to the region, which has been called the Bordeaux of Italy, and explain why it holds its eminent position among the fabled wine zones of the world. But this survey extends far beyond the glories of Barolo and Barbaresco, for the region itself is the home of an incredible number of varietals, such as Cortese, Moscato Asti, Barbara, Brachetto, Dolcetto, and Freisa. Each of these grapes is a story in itself, which you will discover over the course of the evening.

Friday, July 17, 7-9 PM

The quickest way to get up to speed on the wine scene is to grab hold of the latest wine trends. W. R. Tish---New York’s leading corporate wine-event planner---will lead you through a range that is both trendy and delicious, from dry Riesling and “groovy” Gruner Veltliner to “splendid blendeds,” offbeat southern hemisphere reds, and even a French upstart so good you won’t believe it came from a box. And in the spirit that nothing is trendier than maximum bang-for-your-buck, Tish will also clue you in to the best values on wine lists, and the best values in wine stores.

Friday, July 17, 7-9 PM

Sometimes it seems like there are just too many wines out there. The antidote? Focus...and diversity. Join W. R Tish, former editor of Wine Enthusiast, for a delicious crash course in the most essential wines for the modern-day palate. Sparkling, check. White wines, try four iconic styles. Reds: one blended, one not, one site-driven and one grape-driven. Throw in one mystery wine to hone your blind-tasting skills, a nectarlike dessert wine, and Tish’s standup-peppered delivery, and it all adds up to a perfect one-night round-up of the wines that will put you IN the know.

Saturday, July 18, 7-9 PM
or Thursday, September 17, 7-9 PM

This course, created by ICE’s resident sommelier Ron Ciavolino, will familiarize you with the essentials of Italian wine, including the effect of geography on wine production and the Italian wine classification system. You’ll discover some little known, but truly marvelous Italian wines and learn how to pair them with food. You will emerge from this class with enough knowledge and confidence to stand undaunted before the Italian section of a wine list or wine shop.

Monday, July 20, 7-9 PM

In this fascinating seminar, Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach®, will train you in the art of blind tasting. Blind tastings refer to tasting a series of wines without knowing what they are, and are often used by professionals as a way to focus solely on the wine, without preconceived notions to cloud their observations. You will taste wines from different origins that are all from different varieties, price ranges, and vintages, refining your tasting skills along the way. You will all be given the chance to guess the identity of your wines, trying to pick out the least and most expensive ones, and you will vote for your favorite. When the results are unveiled, not only will your tasting skills be improved, but you will see who has mastered the art of blind tasting!

As The Wine Coach®, Laurie Forster blends her training as a professional sommelier with her experience as a life coach to help people connect with wine and each other. She studied with the American Sommelier Association and earned a certificate in Viticulture and Vinification in 2002. She is a regular contributor to several magazines and has her own weekly radio show, Something to Wine About®. Her newly released book, The Sipping Point: A Crash Course in Wine, reflects her fresh perspective on wine education.

Friday, July 24, 7-9 PM

Most wine authorities agree (in spite of the protests of Chardonnay lovers) that the greatest white-wine grape in the world is Riesling, a varietal indigenous to the Rhine Valley and its tributaries, apparently dating back to Roman times. Unusually, the grape is able to retain its acidity as it ripens and appears to be impervious to cold weather, so that even those picked late in the season will show a pleasing balance between sugar and acid. The resulting wines are traditionally described as possessing a flowery, fragrant aroma and a special fruity acidity; and can range from light and delicate to full and ripe. These wines can be paired with an incredible assortment of foods. This tasting will offer a surprising collection of excellent Rieslings accumulated not only from the famous regions of the Rhineland, but also from those areas of the New World that have recently become famous for their renditions of this fabulous grape.

Saturday, July 25, 7-9 PM

This tasting will you students to the history, geography, and rankings of the wonderful wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux. Since these regions produce some of the most august and expensive wines in the world, in the red, white, and dessert categories, it will be in the interest on anyone who loves food and wine to familiarize themselves with the ins and outs of these very special regions. A wide range of wines will be offered: the famous Bordeaux aperitif Lillet, Burgundian Chardonnays, a white from a famous Château, Pinot Noirs and Cabernet Sauvignons from various vineyards, a grappa (Marc) from Burgundy (which produces some of the greatest) and, finally, a great Sauternes from one of the top estates.

Thursday, July 23, 7-9 PM

Are you looking for a bargain? Can a $15 bottle really be better than a $30 bottle? Come join a discussion and comparative tasting of wines from regions around the world. During this quest for value, you will learn what to look for when assessing wine quality and how to spot it on a label, and figure out whether a wine represents a real deal or is not worth the price. And is a kangaroo on the label really a good thing?

Thursday, July 30, 7-9 PM

Join Richard Vayda for a bubbly evening spent exploring the world’s other sparkling wines. You will learn how different effervescent wines are made, where bubbly wine originated (hint: not Champagne), how to match them with food, and how to find the best wine value. A dégustation of varied sparklers, which will include white, pink, red, dry, and sweet from across the world, along with selected cheeses, will accompany the lively discussion.

Saturday, August 1, 7-9 PM

What is a new world wine superhero, you ask? Join wine educator Jane Brock to learn about the wines that she so nicknames: new world wines that have become benchmarks in their own right and have proven to be worthy of recognition. They include Barossa Valley Australian Shiraz, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, California Chardonnay, Argentine Malbec, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Chilean Merlot, which you will taste in class.

Wednesday, August 12, 7-9 PM

There is something particularly thrilling about putting away a few special bottles and, years later, opening a long-kept vintage to celebrate a milestone. But does this require a subterranean cave to do so? And if so, what’s an apartment dweller to do? It is also challenging to predict which wines will truly age well. Led by Richard Vayda, you will discuss the ins and outs of starting a collection, choosing a few bottles to be stored at home or locked away in a rented vault, while tasting and evaluating the aging potential of various wines from around the globe.

Friday, August 14, 7-9 PM

When traveling south of Rome, you soon cross the boundary called the Mezzogiorno, the line that separates the south of Italy from the north. You are now in an entirely new world---or actually a very old one---and everything here is different: climate, people, culture, cuisine, pace of life, and grapes. Here are found varietals that exist nowhere else in Italy, let alone Europe; grapes that are said to descend from the original vines carried over by ancient Greek settlers around the ninth century B.C. These vines barely survived into modern times; however, with advances in vineyard management and the advent of sophisticated winemaking equipment, they are being revived in the south. The great Aglianico, called the Cabernet Sauvignon of the ancient world, is once again being produced in Campania, along with Fiano di Avellino and Greco di Tufo, the legendary whites of Antiquity. This course will introduce you to the great wines of the ancient Italian southern regions---wines that were drunk from Pythagoras to Constantine.

Saturday, August 15, 7-9 PM

Champagne is the only wine whose inventor is known to us, the monk Dom Pérignon, cellar master at the Abbey of St. Pierre in Hautvillers in the Champagne region between 1668 and 1715. The abbey is still standing and is now the property of Moët & Chandon, while Dom Pérignon is buried at the foot of the altar in the old monastery chapel. It was to honor its distinguished tenant that the company in the 1920s named its most expensive and exquisite wine Dom Pérignon. But who was he and what did he actually contribute to the region’s wines, and what is it that makes Champagne so special even today, over two and a half centuries after the death of its inventor? If any of these questions strike a chord, then come spend an evening enjoying and learning more about all the various styles of Champagne.

Friday, August 28, 7-9 PM

The heartland of Venetian winemaking is called the Veneto, a green, fertile, undulating countryside, reclining just behind the gilded city of Venice. Caressed by a soft generous climate, and dotted with exquisite Palladian villas and towns that could serve as opera sets, this generous garden has offered the region’s winemakers all they could possibly desire in the way of raw materials for the last three millennia. They have responded to the glorious opportunities lavished onto them with some of the most celebrated wines on earth, including Prosecco, Soave, Bardolino, Valpolicella, Amarone, Recioto di Amarone, Torcolato, and many others.

Saturday, August 29, 7-9 PM

During the last 50 years, an extraordinary number of new wine regions have come into existence, and in almost every case they offer wines made with traditional European grapes that have been grown in their native regions for over 1,000 years. This course will address the question of how the new regions compare with the established ones. Does a Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia resemble one from a chateau in the Medoc? How does an Oregon Pinot Noir compare to one from Burgundy? More importantly, should they be similar? Do developing regions add new dimensions to European grapes, or do they detract? Wines from both old and new regions will be analyzed, compared, and discussed.

Saturday, September 12, 7-9 PM

Shiraz is just English for Syrah, the French name for this ancient, full bodied grape known for its floral, smoky, black fruit and herbal characteristics. Many different regions around the world produce varying styles of fantastic wine from this grape, so it is not always easy to pick one. This class will clear up all of the confusion, as you taste Syrah from the Rhone Valley of France, where the grape has its true roots, Shiraz from Australia, where they do shiraz true justice, and several other fine examples from California, South Africa, and South America.