Local Wine Events

 This is a series of classes that has to be taken together and this is the first in the series.

The French Wine Scholar program is a U.S.  industry-endorsed and Wines of France/French National Wine Office-endorsed wine study program for trade. 

Wine professionals who follow this in-depth curriculum on the wines of France and pass the exam, earn the resume-building French Wine Scholar (FWS) post-nominal.

The exam is given in multiple-choice format. There are 100 questions covering all of the wine regions of France.
Passing score is 75.

Cost $675.00. including all wine, materials and exam.
Location: Nos Caves Vin, 2501 Wroxton Road, Houston, 77005
Dates: Sunday June 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th and Exam Monday June 27th at 8.00pm.
Time: 9.00am - 1.30pm
Exam Date and Time: Monday June 27th at 8.00pm
Contact: James King 713-882-8773, jamesking@thetexaswineschool.com

This is a series of classes that has to be taken together and this is the first in the series.

For more detail about the Certification: http://www.thetexaswineschool.com/frenchwinescholarindetail.html

The French Wine Scholar Manual is a 250-page, full-color study manual. It was developed by the French Wine Society, an organization dedicated to the promotion of French wine through French wine education in North America; it was vetted by the French National Wine Office and is current in its facts and comprehensive in its coverage of each wine region’s history, climate, geology, soils, viticulture, viniculture and wine law.

 The French Wine Scholar Program consists of eight wine seminars:

 1. Alsace: Although this wine region only consists of three AOCs, the diversity of soil types, grape varieties and wine styles makes for a complicated sensory landscape. Do you know the difference between Klevner and Klevener? The relationship between Pinot Gris, Tokay and Furmint? Can you explain the difference between a Vendanges Tardives and a Sélection de Grains Nobles? This class takes Alsace beyond the basics.

2. Bordeaux: Study Bordeaux from the ground up. Here, wine styles are predicated by a combination of soil, grape and the hand of man. Explore Bordeaux’s distinctive terroirs in order to better understand the nature of the blend, then discover how and why the blend has changed over the past 150 years.

 3. Beaujolais: Discover the multi?faceted nature of Beaujolais as expressed through its different soil types and vinification techniques. Learn how carbonic maceration and traditional fermentation changes the flavors in the glass. Find out how varying trace elements in the granitic soils of the Crus Beaujolais create wines of different character and ageability. Beaujolais may be a light?hearted quaff, but the subject is far from simple.

 4. Burgundy: In Burgundy, an ancient and fractured geology delivers wines of distinction and distinctiveness. Learn how soil, topography and climate create enough variability to craft 100 different AOCs within this region’s borders! Discover the history and historic precedent behind such subtle and nuanced fractionalization.

 5. Champagne: The champagne process was an evolutionary one not a revolutionary one. Find out how the method developed from an inexpert and uncontrolled phenomenon to the precise and polished process of today. Learn why Champagne is unique among the world’s sparkling wine producing regions and why it has become the worldclass luxury good that it is.

 6. Loire Valley: Did you know that the Sauvignon Blanc vineyards of Menetou?Salon, Reuilly, and Quincy are all grown on Kimmeridgean marl? That one of the longest?lived white wines in the world is Savennières? Are you familiar with Breton, Côt and Pineau d’Aunis? It’s time to explore a wine culture as long and wide as the river itself. There are 68 AOCs that flank the banks of the Loire. Learn about the undiscovered treasures of this region and explore its diversity of grape varieties and wine styles.

 7. Southern France: Although Provence, Languedoc, Roussillon, Corsica and Southwest France are often discussed together, they are distinctive regions with distinctive personalities. Did you know that Provence is the oldest wine region in France? Did you know that 90% of France’s vins doux naturels hail from Roussillon? Did you know that France’s first and oldest sparkling wine was produced in the Languedoc? Certainly, Southwest France is underappreciated, undermarketed and undervalued. Although these vineyards predate the vineyards of Bordeaux they have long languished in obscurity. Find out why. Corsica is home to grapes that sound more Italian than French. And there’s a reason for this. This vinous trek will take you through some charted, but often unexplored territory.

 8. Rhône Valley: The Rhône River serves as the gravitational axis around which its two halves revolve; the northern half clings tightly, the southern half expands outward and experiences less pull to the riverbanks. These two different wine cultures possess distinctive soils and topographies and they craft vastly disparate wines with unique personalities. It’s one region, but two brave new worlds. Explore them both.