Invite Sietze for
a Tasting course
our flagship course at your location
Book Sietze to give a full-day course on aroma compounds and wine faults. Here is what it involves for you as a host.
What participants will experience
Each session, participants taste 11 glasses of the same base wine. Ten glasses each contain a single flavour compound, while one glass serves as an unchanged reference wine.
Each flavour is accompanied by an explanation of its origins during viticulture or winemaking. Participants then put their skills to the test in a blind tasting exercise before finishing with a blending activity, recreating common wine styles.
Who this course is for
This course gives you the language to describe what is actually in the glass, whether you are studying, pouring, producing or selling.
- Wine students; who want a framework to build on and a solid base for exams
- Sommeliers; looking to sharpen their palate and describe wine more convincingly on the floor
- Winemakers; who want to taste their own work with a critical, trained palate
- Other wine professionals such as retailers, importers and educators who need a shared vocabulary for customers, buyers and students
Course fee
The course costs €2,100 excluding VAT for up to 30 participants. That fee is paid by the host and covers the flavour compounds, as well as Sietze's preparation and teaching on the day.
Hosts deciding to offer the course to the public set their own ticket prices. For reference, here is what other wine schools charge: London £210, Atlanta $490, Athens €300.
Host requirements
Alongside the course fee, the host arranges the practical side of the course.
Venue: a classroom with a projector
Wine: 44 bottles of a neutral white, for example Veneto Pinot Grigio, and 22 bottles of a neutral red, for example Chilean Merlot
Wine, continued: four commercial wines of contrasting styles, two bottles each, so eight in total. Gewürztraminer and Rioja are good examples
Glassware: 11 glasses per participant. Glasses do not need to be replaced between sessions
Other items: pens, drinking water and spittoons
Printing: the course handout, placemats, tasting forms and certificates.
Our teaching method
We add aroma compounds to wine, to create benchmark teaching samples.
During our courses, you will taste 11 glasses of the same neutral wine. 1 of those is kept unchanged as a reference, the remaining 10 each have a single aroma compound added.
This allows practicing identification of common wine aromas and faults one by one.
+ one compound of Lychee
Course programme
White Wine Flavours
View flavours:
Wine Faults
View flavours:
Lunch
Red Wine Flavours
View flavours:
Blind Tasting of Four Wines
During the final session, participants put their skills into practice by identifying aromas in four ‘real’ wines (wines without added flavour compounds). These wines are presented blind.
Swééét experiences
The story behind The Art of Tasting
Sietze Wijma is a wine educator and founder of The Art of Tasting, delivering tasting courses using wines with added flavour compounds. His flavouring vials are used by wine educators and students worldwide. He holds an MSc in Sensory Science, the WSET Diploma and is an Advanced Cicerone®.
