• Master of Wine
• Managing Director, Wine Stream

How would you like to explore all the great wine types of the world?

Learn all about the 11 great wine varietals from Rob Geddes, Master of Wine, while you drive, exercise or while at home.

A literalist might say that wine is a fermented liquid we drink, but that’s like saying that Pride and Prejudice or Leaves of Grass are piles of pulp with ink on them: True in a sadly crude way, perhaps, but at the same time as far as can be from the real heart of the matter.

In fact every bottle of wine, as International Master of Wine Rob Geddes explains, is a book that tells three stories: About where it comes from, about who made it, and about what it’s made of.

But—and here’s the rub—each of the stories comes in coded form, and you are wise to seek an experienced guide who can help teach you to read them.

Your Key to the Ancient Language of Fine Wine

Rob put these talks together to give you a key to decipher one—and perhaps the most influential—of the codes, the one that tells you what the wine is made of. This code is the language of the “varietals,” the types of grapes which more than any other single factor affect the flavor, feel, and other qualities of a fine wine.

It’s impossible to cover all the many types of wine grapes in a reasonable-sized series, of course (humans have been at viniculture for 5,000 years, after all). Thus Rob has chosen to focus your attention on a cross-section of nine of the world’s most important varietals (see the “Topics” list below) plus two unique regional wine styles (the fortified wine from the Douro Valley of Portugal known as port and the incomparably brilliant sparkling wine from northern France known as champagne).

Glasses, Cellars, Tasting: Miniature Master Classes

Along the way, you’ll not only hear about the finer points of climate, soil, and viniculture that shape the various wines, but will also benefit from insightful advice that will help vastly to enrich your encounters with wine. This includes incisive sections (each one a bit like a small master class) on:

• How to assess the qualities of any glass of wine by using not only your senses of sight, smell, and taste but also a simple sheet of paper.
• How to develop a descriptive vocabulary to help you be the best you can be at expressing the aromas and flavors of various wines.
• How to shop for, handle, and clean really good wine glasses (not all glasses are created equal!—learn what sets the best ones apart.
• How to create and maintain your own wine cellar, whether large or small or kept with drinking or collecting foremost in mind.

Rob discusses each type of grape in considerable depth, explaining how it can contribute character, structure, flavor, finish, complexity, and balance to a finished wine. He suggests some specific wines to sample as companions to each lecture, so that the series becomes in effect your personal guided tour of tastes from around the globe.