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Wine Appreciation

Taught by Amelia Singer

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Course Description

Think you know your Nebbiolo from your Counoise grape variety? What year would be the best Riesling to sip on? Making the right choice in a supermarket aisle or looking at a wine menu during a date can be a daunting experience.

For many of us, ordering wine in a restaurant is like shooting darts with our eyes closed. We set the bar quite low for ourselves when it comes to defining success, and often we’re content just to hit the board. We may aim for a delicious wine (and strive not to embarrass ourselves in the process), but how can we expect to consistently nail our target when we’re shooting blind?

In this unique introductory online course, Amelia Singer combines a rigorously thorough understanding of wine with a witty and charming ambience – you will finish the course energized and confident about your own abilities to order wine in restaurants.

If you choose the expert version of the course, Amelia will advise you personally to meet your own objectives for the course. You will come away with the confidence to choose the right wine for you, for the right occasion.

The course is filmed in the esteemed London based winery ‘London Cru’ alongside winemaker Alex Hurley. Alex is a Master of Enology and Viticulture, and a key member of the London Cru Winery team. Alex worked as a Geologist through Australia and Asia before deciding to follow his passion for wine. Having previously made wines in Australia, Burgundy, and Barolo, the seduction of working with quality English grapes brought him to the UK

Since their launch, London Cru’s wines have won prestigious IWC awards and are listed in numerous Michelin star restaurants in London and beyond. Alex’s insights into the industry are invaluable, and will ensure that you really appreciate what it is that you’re drinking - from grape to glass.

We will also explore how to pair wine with food, with Leith’s School of Food and Drink’s resident chef, Dan Cameron.

The course will cover wines from California, Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Argentina and many more. If you wish to buy any of the wines featured, to accompany this course (recommended) you can do so from http://londoncru.co.uk/wine

Course outline

  • How to taste

    Join Amelia and Rebecca in an interactive tasting and learn which kinds of wines match your palate and how you can get the most out of your glass.

    In this lesson you will be guided through a variety of styles of wine in an esteemed London based winery. You will be encouraged to understand your own palate, enabling you to choose consistently satisfying wine.

    You will be introduced to the ‘Coffee test’ experiment’, master wine tasting techniques and decode wine tasting terms to ensure that you can talk the talk in any wine situation.

    By the end of this lesson you will be able to decode, analyse and know how to pick the kind of wines you and your friends will most enjoy.

    Bottles suggested: An off dry gewurtztraminer or muscat, Unoaked fresh Pinot Grigio, An opulent Viognier or fleshy Pinot Blanc, Oaked Chardonnay.

  • Important grapes and fundamental wine styles

    Even the same grape can express itself drastically differently depending on where it has grown and what the winemaker does with it. With Amelia’s characteristic enthusiasm you will be guided around the 10 most significant grapes and appreciate their different expressions around the world. Wine making techniques and a region’s physical factors will all be explored and tips on how to get the best value for each grape will also be included.

    Bottles suggested: A new world and old world version for the following grapes: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Viognier. Reds: Pinot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Sangiovese.

  • The world of wine

    The world of wine like the world around us, is rapidly evolving and changing. Join Amelia in an in depth discussion with London Cru’s winemaker Alex as they discuss the most ‘famous’ regions of the wine world, how you can get best value and how things are changing.

    In this multi layered discussion traditional categories used in the world of wine will be examined in relation to today’s current climate - culturally as well as geographically. You will understand how certain terroir and regions have dictated styles and trends in the past but why does not necessarily indicate the future of wine.

    Bottles suggested: English Pinot noir and a 2018 English Bacchus

  • Having more fun with your food

    This class is filmed at Leiths Cookery school where Amelia pairs up with one of the school’s chefs to work out how best wine and food can complement and enhance each other.

    Under Amelia’s guidance you will come to understand the wording and layout of a restaurant wine list, be able find a wine based on your budget and have confidence choosing a wine depending on the occasion.

    Bottles suggested: Sauvignon Blanc from the loire, Creamy rich chardonnay, Lambrusco. These will be opened and tasted.

Choose how you want to learn

  • The Expert option

    Recommended

    Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition from Amelia Singer

    • Start course whenever you like
    • 4 weeks tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
    • 4 assignments marked by Amelia Singer
    • Certificate of completion from Amelia Singer
    • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
    • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
    • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
    • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
    Learn more
    $299.00

  • The Peer option

    Discover the benefits of group learning in an online interactive classroom of no more than 20 people. Get the most from shared knowledge and community study

    • Start course whenever you like
    • Practise what you learn with your peers
    • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
    • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
    • 4 course assignments
    • Group chat & direct message classmates
    • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
    Learn more
    $99.00
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How it works

Learn better together

  • Online classroom

    Start anytime and join a class of no more than 20 students

    Start anytime and join a class of no more than 20 students

  • Test yourself

    Practice what you learn with assignments after each lesson

    Practice what you learn with assignments after each lesson

  • Personal tuition

    Exclusive assignment feedback from Expert Tutors

    Exclusive assignment feedback from Expert Tutors

  • Share

    Share ideas with classmates from around the world

    Share ideas with classmates from around the world

About Amelia Singer

Amelia Singer is a TV presenter on The Wine Show, Wine Writer for Waitrose Food Magazine, UK Ambassador for the California Wine Institute and Founder of Amelia’s Wine – an event business which offers a range of authentic, fun, helpful and ultimately accessible wine tastings.

Her diverse range of skills and services means that Amelia was recently shortlisted for the IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year Award. This is the most prestigious, international award that one can be awarded for Wine Education and Communication.

Amelia is a new young, female voice in wine and she has made it her aim to demystify the snobbery around wine and empower people when it comes to making wine decisions – either in a supermarket aisle or when the wine list is handed to you on a first date.  Wine can be extremely serious and intellectual but she is adamant it is meant to be fun. Quietly confident and yet elegantly understated, Amelia is part of a new generation of women in food & drink making wine fun and accessible.

Amelia has been in the wine industry for the last nine years and has completed the prestigious WSET Wine Diploma. She studied at Trinity College in Dublin, was brought up in England but has lived and worked in Europe and South America.  Having worked in wineries all around the world (Bordeaux, Rioja and Chile) as well as with well known retailers, importers, online Fine Wine merchants and exciting new wine start ups, she has gained a holistic appreciation of the wine industry.

Amelia also hosts monthly wine supper clubs in her own home in Notting Hill as well as regular tastings with restaurants, bars, corporate entertainment and inside private homes. Her keen interest in pairing music with wine has seen her co-host wine and music events with the City Of London Sinfonia, Garsington Opera, Omnibus Performing Arts Centre in Clapham, Jazz wine nights with the singer Lucinda Belle and even sing herself at the O2 Academy Islington for the wine trade’s annual charity event SKIN CONTACT Live.

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