One of the most popular services of Twin Cities Wine Education are private wine tastings and classes, conducted in the privacy of your home or office, or arranged at wonderful restaurants in town.  These classes are incredibly flexible … from ‘Wine 101’ through vertical presentations of Grand Cru Burgundy or 1982 Bordeaux, Twin Cities Wine has presented it all.

We organize every detail and have been doing this long enough to anticipate all situations, questions, or issues. We’ll take care of all details: from arrangement for the purchase of the wine, handouts, maps, commentary, high quality Riedel stemware for the evening, and suggestions for cheese trays or private chefs to cater the event.

To arrange for a private wine event, it’s best to establish a date first, which you can do with no obligation.   Feel free to email us to discuss open dates and further ideas for topics.  Most tastings are arranged four to ten weeks in advance, but please contact us if you have an event coming up soon … we may have the date available!

A few examples of events we have conducted:

• 6-20 friends gather for a social evening of wine tasting and education (by far the most popular private tasting I do).  The topic possibilities are endless, from Wine 101 through Barolo verticals, and everything in-between.  For many people, these tastings have become a yearly highlight of the holiday season or to mark special occasions.
• 500 executives and lawyers in a seminar called ‘How not to look like an idiot when you’re handed the wine list’.  An email three weeks later thanks Twin Cities Wine for “saving my skin last night in NYC … I was able to order the wine confidently and I think that helped close the deal with the new client.”
• A newly married couple on the basics of wine … given as a gift from the bride’s father.  Over the course of three sessions, we cover all the basics of wine appreciation for their new life together.
• “Wine Comparisons” for 24 new employees of a local well known corporation, who had to get to know each-other very well, quickly.  We arranged a tasting that encouraged discussion and interaction, which quickly led to many new friendships and thus, a tighter work relationship.
• A group of six friends are going to travel together to Tuscany.  We arrange a tasting of great Tuscan wines, with detailed maps they can use on the trip, along with restaurant suggestions and wineries to visit.
• The topic of “Organic, Sustainable, and Bio-dynamic Wine … how to discuss with your customers” for a well known national ‘green’ grocer.

… and hundreds of other examples.  Customization is the key, and we’ll work with you to present exactly what you are looking for.

Some details on pricing and arranging tastings

All tastings are different, so please use this as a guide only… email us for a detailed cost of a particular tasting.

Billing for a typical event starts at $250 and goes up depending on the size and work involved (if we need to hire extra servers, obtain more stemware, hunt nationally for wines, etc.). Included in this cost is our time (usually about two to three hours for the event), transportation (Twin Cities area), handouts, stemware usage, and great commentary and education. We are available for tastings outside of the metro area — please email for details.

In addition to the billing for our time is the cost of the wine. For a basic tasting (i.e. not “The wines of Barolo”, etc.) we like to keep the per bottle average at $15 minimum. This price point gives us the best chance to get wines of distinction without busting a budget. For most tastings, I like to present six to nine wines (depending on the topic), and one bottle is required per every ten guests for an educational tasting.  We will help to arrange your purchase of the wine through a local retailer.

Obviously, there are many factors involved, so please use the above budget only as a rough idea. Discounts may be possible with multiple tastings being booked (i.e. private in home classes, one every week for three weeks). Please email me with any questions or ideas!