DISCOVER YOUR WINE STYLE • A PERSONAL TASTING EXPERIENCE

Your Palate. Your Rules.

Ever bought a wine everyone raved about, only to wonder what all the fuss was about?

There’s a fascinating reason why some wines thrill us while others leave us cold. Your palate is as individual as you are, shaped by subtle differences in how you experience flavor. In this engaging 90-minute tasting, you’ll discover your personal wine fingerprint: the patterns that explain what you love, what you don’t, and why. Forget memorizing hundreds of grapes or regions. The secret to enjoying wine isn’t knowing everything about wine. It’s knowing more about yourself.

01 / EXPLORE

Taste Your Preferences

Explore contrasting wine styles and discover the flavors and sensations that naturally appeal to you.

02 / DISCOVER

Decode Your Palate

Uncover four core factors that influence wine preferences and begin recognizing your personal wine fingerprint.

03 / ENJOY

Choose with Confidence

Turn those discoveries into a practical guide for finding wines you’ll enjoy, wherever you shop or dine.

Discover Your Wine Fingerprint

Why does one person love a wine that another can’t stand? Differences in sensory perception play an important role. Through guided comparisons, we’ll explore four underlying factors that help explain individual wine preferences. You’ll begin to recognize the characteristics that consistently appeal to you, building a clearer picture of your own wine style.

THE PERSONAL WINE DISCOVERY

What catches your attention?

Discover the characteristics that make certain wines immediately appealing to you.

Why do you respond that way?

Explore the sensory differences that help explain your reactions to contrasting wine styles.

How can you use that knowledge?

Learn to recognize the qualities you prefer and use them to navigate unfamiliar bottles.

The Science Behind Your Taste

This class draws on more than a decade of sensory research, including work conducted at Philadelphia’s Monell Chemical Senses Center. We’ve translated complex ideas about taste perception and individual preferences into an accessible, hands-on wine experience.

You won’t need a scientific background or a working knowledge of wine. Instead, you’ll learn to recognize patterns in your own tasting experiences and understand why your preferences can differ from those of friends, critics, or even professional sommeliers.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

Stop Guessing. Start Enjoying.

Imagine walking into a wine shop or opening a restaurant wine list with a clearer sense of exactly what you’re looking for. That’s the goal of this class: not to tell you which wines you should love, but to help you understand the wines you already do.

About the Wine School of Philadelphia

Founded in 2001 by winemaker and author Keith Wallace, the Wine School of Philadelphia offers public tasting classes and professional wine education in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse neighborhood. The school has earned two Best of Philly awards, including recognition for adult education, and a 2026 Philadelphia Inquirer Philly Favorites Silver award in the Trade School category. Classes take place at 109 S. 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.