Winter Wine School 2026 - Full Course
Winter Wine School 2026 - Full Course
Transform Your Understanding of Wine
Join us for an extraordinary journey through time as we explore wine through a revolutionary lens: not just as a beverage, but as a living chronicle of human civilization, migration, and cultural exchange.
This isn't your typical wine tasting series. Over four immersive Sunday sessions, you'll discover how wine has shaped—and been shaped by—the rise and fall of empires, the movement of peoples, and the evolution of societies across millennia.
What Makes This Series Unique
Rather than focusing solely on tasting notes and varietals, we examine wine as a historical artifact, a cultural touchstone, and a window into humanity's shared story. Each session features five carefully selected wines that illuminate a specific era of human history, allowing you to literally taste the legacy of civilizations past.
Perfect For
History buffs, archaeology enthusiasts, anyone fascinated by ancient civilizations, social-political advancements and cultural development, or simply wine lovers who want to understand the deeper story behind every bottle.
Course Content
In the Beginning: Wine and the Dawn of Civilization
Journey back 8,000 years to discover how wine emerged alongside civilization itself, shaping—and being shaped by—the ancient world's greatest cultures.
What We'll Explore:
The Birth of Viticulture
Trace wine's origins in the Caucasus region, where wild grapes first met human ingenuity. Discover how the earliest winemakers in ancient Georgia and Armenia developed techniques still used today.Greek Symposia
Experience the role of wine in ancient Greek philosophy, politics, and daily life. Understand why Dionysus was among the most important gods and how wine fueled both celebration and intellectual discourse.Roman Engineering
Discover how Rome transformed wine from luxury to everyday commodity, developing amphoras for transport, creating vast vineyard estates, and spreading viticulture across Europe.Empires, Monasteries, and the Making of Wine Culture
Discover how the Middle Ages and Renaissance transformed wine from ancient beverage to cultural cornerstone, creating the traditions and regions we revere today.
What You'll Explore:
Monastic Mastery
Learn how medieval monks became Europe's greatest winemakers, meticulously mapping terroir, developing techniques, and creating many of the world's most prestigious wine regions. Discover why Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries were the Silicon Valley of their era.The Role of the Church
Understand wine's sacred significance in Christianity and how the need for communion wine drove viticultural innovation. Explore how the Church preserved and advanced winemaking knowledge through the Dark Ages.Royal Courts and Noble Estates
Follow wine as it moved from monastic cellars to royal tables. Learn how aristocracy shaped wine culture, created the concept of "great growths," and established the prestige appellations we know today.Trade Routes and Economic Power
Trace the Hanseatic League's wine trade, the economic importance of Bordeaux to English kings, and how wine commerce shaped European politics and power structures.Classification and Codification
Explore how Old World wine regions developed their classification systems, appellation controls, and quality standards—frameworks that still govern wine today.The Phylloxera Crisis
Discover how a tiny insect from America nearly destroyed European viticulture, and how New World rootstock saved Old World wine—forever intertwining their fates.Innovation, Globalization, and the Contemporary Wine Revolution
Discover how the 20th and 21st centuries transformed wine through technological revolution, cultural upheaval, and global democratization.
What You'll Explore:
Prohibition's Legacy
Examine how America's "Noble Experiment" devastated domestic wine culture, created lasting legal complexities, and ironically led to wine's eventual renaissance. Learn what was lost and how the industry rebuilt.The Judgment of Paris
Relive the shocking 1976 blind tasting that changed everything—when California wines defeated French legends, shattering Old World supremacy and democratizing wine forever.The Birth of Wine Criticism
Understand how Robert Parker and the 100-point scale revolutionized wine, for better and worse. Explore the tension between traditional and modern approaches to wine evaluation.Technology Meets Tradition
Discover how scientific advancement—temperature-controlled fermentation, modern viticulture, sophisticated analysis—transformed winemaking while traditional methods experienced a revival.
We will conclude by bringing us to date in the History of Wine, having had a quick glimpse through the lens of Wine as History, it is so much more than just a beverage.
Save $40 by registering for the complete 4-session series!
Hosted in the Médoc Room, the private dining room of Meritage just across the hall, bedecked with historical maps and surrounded by our wine cellar. Seminars are taught by Desta Marée and team, including Alex Seide our Assistant Wine Director and Nick Rancone, our Hospitality Manager, as well as other invited professionals.
Five Wines Tasted Per Seminar:
Each wine representing a key Old World tradition, a significant varietal, or an important t contextual history, including:
A wine from a historic monastic vineyard
A classified growth from a prestigious region
A wine made using centuries-old techniques
A side-by-side tasting of the same wine with at least a decade between the bottles - to learn about secondary & tertiary.
You'll Learn:
How wine technology has evolved
The connection between wine, religion, and social structure
Why certain regions became wine centers in antiquity
French White Wines as a structural backdrop
French Red Wines and why they are still the standard
How ancient trade routes spread viticulture
The surprising sophistication of ancient winemaking
The rise of modernity and science in our wine world
The revolution within the wine world and its origins
How our wine world is adapting to our current era;
from vine to table
Details:
When: Sundays in January 2026, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Where: The Médoc Room, Meritage Restaurant
Investment: $85 per person, per seminar (or $300 for all four sessions)
Includes: Five wines per tasting, expert instruction, tasting notes, historical materials and information
You are welcome to join us at Meritage, of course, as we offer Brunch from 10am-2pm & dinner service begins in the Oyster Bar at 4pm. All enrolled students are offered 10% off their entree & even beignets or dessert on class days, as a benefit for enrollment.
Off-street parking is free on Sundays, and they are just wrapping up multi-year construction, so parking this time of day is ample outside of events.
PRO TIP: recent students have reported taking ride services like Uber or Lyft to and from class, with positive feedback about the cost being offset by not having to find parking, pay for a lot, or deal with the weather - or drive after class and the wine tastings for that matter.
