Serious wine knowledge. Questionable levels of seriousness.
Learn wine properly—without becoming insufferable.
A free, evidence-led course for curious drinkers. Watch the lesson, prepare a simple tasting, go deeper than the video, then test what actually stuck.
The course
Start with what is in the glass
Level 1 · Lesson 1
Taste without making things up
Build a tasting note from evidence instead of guessing what you think you ought to find.
Level 1 · Lesson 2
Aroma, taste, and flavour
Separate taste, smell, touch, temperature, and irritation before combining them into flavour.
Level 1 · Lesson 3
Acidity: the skeleton of wine
Locate acidity through sourness, salivation, shape, and persistence.
Level 1 · Lesson 4
Tannin: why wine grabs your mouth
Distinguish astringent drying and texture from bitterness.
How this works
No fruit bingo. No velvet rope.
Level 1 builds sensory language. From Level 2 onward, every class introduces the wine and grape, teaches the governing idea and its limits, then guides the tasting. The quiz rewards calibrated thinking rather than swagger.
- 01Prepare
Choose the observe, one-glass, or comparison track.
- 02Learn
Meet the wine, grape, vocabulary, idea, and limitations.
- 03Watch & taste
Use the video as a guided sensory lab.
- 04Check yourself
Score 80% to complete the lesson.
A history of wine
Eight thousand years, without the fairy tale.
Follow wine from Neolithic jars through Mediterranean trade, medieval vineyards, colonial expansion, phylloxera, appellations, Prohibition, and the modern global cellar—with evidence separated from legend.
Explore the chronological history →World Wine Explorer
Click the map. Meet the grapes. Understand the market.
Travel through 63 major and emerging regions with climate, landscape, grapes, signature styles, classification systems, export reach, food, and a sensible first bottle.
Open the world map →
Climate change & wine
The map is moving.
Follow warming, water stress, frost, fire, disease, and extreme weather from the atmosphere through the vine and into the glass—then open a specific assessment for every region in the World Wine Explorer.
Explore the worldwide climate guide →Optional Nerd Mode
When “because wine” is not enough
Follow smell into flavour, unpack buffering, meet tannin–protein interactions, and do just enough fermentation maths to become dangerous around a whiteboard.
Browse 5 science companions →