Wine Bootcamp
This is the class that started it all! The day we announced it 1700 people signed up! Then they said what’s next? Our wine ed classes have kept us surviving for over13 years! This class is all the things nobody else tells you except Carl - how to choose a bottle in a wine shop, how to achieve aeration perfection, how white wine is made, how red wine is made, why you should be loving rosés and how to find the good ones, how to behave in a restaurant. Not so basic training - “Wine 301”.
15 Rules of Food & Wine
The “that’s a lot of food nibblers” class. Our winemaker, Donna, leads a tasting full of whites, rosés, reds and sweet wines. Along the way exquisite citrusy, savory, spicy, salty, bitter, umami and sweet food nibblers are added to the class in order to demonstrate in the 15 rules of perfect food & wine pairing. You’ll be amazed what can happen to your palate with a perfectly matched pairing and what can go absolutely incredibly wrong when you put conflicting food and/or wine in your mouth at the same time
Anatomy of an Epic Board
The Board is a culinary adventure that wine enthusiasts love! Lots of Savory goodies consist of an array of cured meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, pickled things, jams, sauces and culinary wild cards to be paired with beer or wine. BUT — What’s wrong with this picture? Some of your favorite nosh foods are definitely ruining your wine! Learn how to upgrade your board adventure to an epic “NOSH” board that tantalizes your taste buds with every bite. We’ll narrow in on which foods do and do not belong on a charcuterie board
The Blue Ridge Wine Retreat
This is the ultimate 2 day Blue Ridge Wine education adventure complete with a free room at the winemakers house! Wine Retreat is bookable on our calendar every month + lucky enophiles that have weekdays available for fun can request their own weekday dates with a private group of minimum 8 maximum 10. Blue Ridge Wine Retreat delves into five wine and food education classes, an evening winemakers dinner filled with laughter, learning and fun, and the infamous Choco-Vino Challenge final exam.
Triple Threat
This is the class we said we would never attempt all at once! Then we caved for our enthusiastically convincing crew member who thought up the idea! In this tasting we taste all of our favorite vices in one sitting … cheese and chocolate and wine … together to see what it does to our palate. Somebody's got to do it right? If you get the right wine and the right cheese or chocolate it can be a match made in heaven! Learn how to appreciate these picky flavors!
Vintners Table Learning Lunch
This guided wine and food pairing happens at lunch time using five categories of wine and tapas sized food pairings to take you all the way through a lunchtime meal, including three entrees, three cheeses, three desserts and three chocolate delicacies. You’ll learn how to get perfect pairings every time. Learn what happens when you go a little too far with a wine. Experience the “aha” moment that could save your life at parties. Come hungry — this is a guided learning lunch.
Virginia VS The World™
Thomas Jefferson had a vision … of vineyards lacing the Virginia landscape. We now know Virginia is ready to go head-to-head with any other world class wine! Don’t believe us - Be the judge in an exciting blind tasting as Virginia wines are tasted side-by-side with their international counterparts.
How to Pair Dessert & Wine
Impossible pairing! Experts say dessert and wine cannot possibly be put into your palate at the same time. Technically they are right - some of these flavors are in definite conflict! Wine enhances taste, creating an entirely new flavor profile. Desserts are no different. Making the perfect dessert and wine pairing can be an incredible way to end a memorable evening. You may be hard pressed to find anyone upset with the wrong wine & dessert pairing (it IS wine and it IS dessert after all). This tasting will show you how to get a perfect pairing every time!
Cheeseology
We will break down that daunting grocery store cheese aisle experience for you. No, there are not six million cheeses - there are six. Every cheese in a store fits into one of six categories. We’ll start by taking a personality test, then build on your own preferences for wine pairing the 6 categories of cheese with the 6 categories of wine. We’ll make it easy peasy for you shop for cheese and come out of the cheese aisle with a perfect pairing every time.
Wine Mocktails
What’s better than a glass of wine? Wine mocktails! Turns out you don’t need hard alcohol to make delicious cocktails. Grab a bottle of wine for some of the best mixed drinks out there. Mocktails are a delicious and low alcohol alternative made with red, white, rosé or sparkling wine instead of liquor! We’ll experiment with some tasty ways to mix up each varietal into a flavorful, refreshing drink as we play with mixology!
Located in the foothills of Shenandoah National Park about an hour west of Washington DC. Join Little Washington Winery owners Carl & Donna for an intimate winemakers pairing Dinner. Winemakers dinners come around on a whim through the calendar, typically when a certain pairing food we love is in season or a special day happens to fall on a weekend or harvest is finally finished or holidays come around to share with friends and always on the evening of wine retreat!
Wine Blending Lab
BLENDING LAB
Be the winemaker for a day! We’ll take the personality test to learn what your palate prefers, teach you all about making a wine that is better than the sum of it’s parts, and what each varietal brings to the equation. We’ll load you up with varietals in test tubes and a sip of our own masterpiece "George". Then we will turn you loose to create your own masterpiece of wine. If you hit on the perfect wine you will need to remember what’s in it. Take copious notes. Your recipe can be added to our lockbox so that you can come and make a batch of your own wine!
Aromas Matter
Can you describe the taste of a peach without saying it tastes like something else? Have you ever wondered why wineries describe each of their wines as tasting like something totally unrelated to a grape? Apples, blackberries, leather, earthy?? Wine smells (and tastes) like virtually every fruit in the book! Our olfactory system allows us to discern the sheer variety of flavors that are offered up in a sip of wine. Aroma refers to the smells unique to the grape variety - the lychee aromas of Gewürztraminer, the petroleum essence of Riesling, the barnyardy smell in a French Pinot Noir.
Everyday OR Splurge?
Everyone has their own price range on wine – what’s yours? Everyday $-$?, Premium $-$?, Splurge $? to $? Can you identify the price bracket of a wine in a blind tasting? In this class we’ll explore wines with food elements in a blind tasting to see if we can identify the expensive splurge wine and if it’s worth splurging! We’ll also reveal some wines to consider if you are going for the splurge. Walk out of this class knowing when to splurge and what to splurge on when you need a mind blowing wine!
The American Masterpiece
BOOK MERITAGE
Meritage is a made-up American word that means more than one grape varietal in the bottle. Learn how Meritage was created, what grapes can be used, and how to pronounce it. By the 1980s, American winemakers could lay claim to some high quality, high value wines. American Winemakers doing pretty much exactly what they do in Bordeaux: blending wines from a variety of grapes. By the late 80s, American winemakers were tired of naming their best wines “table wine” (a government regulation).
Holiday Prep Pop-Up Classes
This class is our excuse for talking about anything we want to in class! All we can say about the pop-up class is watch the calendar for special dates — we might be staging a pop-up! We love to recreate favorite holiday meals before the holiday to help you prepare for your most special events of the year -- complete with recipes! Pop-up classes might come around a few weeks before New Years, Easter, 4th of July, Harvest, Thanksgiving, Christmas to play with incredible twists on traditions and gatherings.
Iconic Masterpieces of Wine
Wine has been produced for thousands of years, with evidence of ancient wine production from 6000 BC (the earliest known traces of wine). Wine production and consumption increased, burgeoning from the 15th century onwards as part of European expansion. Despite the devastating 1887 phylloxera infestation, modern science and technology adapted. In this class Carl will talk about history as we taste through the world’s most famous wines that have achieved cult standing as Iconic Masterpiece wines of the World.
80 Minutes Around the World
Get to know the famous wine regions in the world and why they are where they are. Our winemaker, Carl, takes you on an incredible tasting journey of wine without ever needing to apply for a visa! Learn to tell your volcanic ash terroir from your sea salt and sand terroir, your steens from your pinotages, your left bank from your right, the healthiest wines on the planet (where 1 glass of wine equals an hour and a half workout in the gym) and more in this 80 minute wine geography lesson.
Alsace is in France (for now)
The history of Alsace wine has been influenced by the repeated changes of nationality of the Alsace region, which has passed from France to Germany and vice versa several times throughout history. Post World War II wine styles in Alsace and Germany diverged, as Alsace wines remained fully fermented, that is dry, intended to be paired with food. In recent decades, German wines have become drier and more powerful, while some Alsace wines have become sweeter as late harvest and dessert style wines have been "rediscovered".
Guess the $100 Bordeaux
The Bordeaux region of France is the most famous and highly coveted wine region in the world. The Gironde estuary cuts through the center of the region creating two banks: a left bank and a right bank. Discover why the left bank wine style is completely opposite from the right bank style and when to choose which for perfect pairings, and all about petit chateaus with Carl as you taste wines blindly with a flight of Bordeauxs. Guess the $100 bottle and your next class is free!
South Africa Wine
South Africa’s time to shine on the world wine stage has definitely arrived. To find the world's hottest new wine region, look for the place that has gone through turmoil. A significant proportion of the best South African wines today were not being made in 2000. Our winemakers are taking a survey of wines and varietals from this land of stunning beauty; Learn your steens from your pinotages, sample some surprising styles of your favorite varietals coming out of South Africa, oh and hear all about our favorite Zimbabwean winemaker as as explore the world of emerging South African wines.
Elusive & Iconic ITALY
With over 350 native grapes in Italy, without question, Italy provides a staggering percentage of the world's most distinctive and exalted wines. In addition, the sheer breadth of styles they produce is equally impressive. Italy grows the largest array of grape varietals in the world, and is home to many classic wine regions and wine styles. We’ll taste rare grape varietals from Italy like Ruche, LaGrein, Zibbibo, Romato, Gaglioppo. We’ll taste the famous varietals coming out of major Italian wine regions. Barolo, Orvieto, Amorone Valpolicella, Super Tuscan, Sagrantino, Primativo, Nero d’Avola, Montepulciano, Etna, Suave!
Discover Austrian Wine
Austria wine regions are now highly prized both by wine experts and wine lovers all around the world. Internationally successful varieties such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gelber Muskateller, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet all ripen in Austria’s vineyards, producing distinctive wines with finesse and regional typicity. Family-run estates dominate the Austrian viticulture scene, which is why the industry’s focus is on producing incredible small batch handcrafted wine. There’s a distinctive tension to Austrian wines which should be emphasized. Let’s taste & discuss the distinctiveness of Austrian wine.
Dirt Road Wine Club Vetting Taste-Off — MEMBERS ONLY
Andrew comes home to bring us his favorite recent wine finds several times per year!! Come and Judge a professional drinkers favorite wines from around the world! He always tries to trick us with something we know nothing about. Find the most incredible wines we’ll never find without us. He tastes hundreds of wines so we don’t have to and knocks them down to the best 20. We need a focus group of Dirt Road Wine Club members to judge each new batch and knock his 20 down to 3 that move forward to the next level of our gauntlet as club wines of the month.
The Malbecians are Coming! (+ the rest of S. America too!)
South America has been making wine since the 1500’s. Plantings of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere gave South America the leg-up it needed to make some exceptional vino. Once every decade or so a wine grape comes along that transcends region, winery, or even common sense to become a brand unto itself. Malbec has joined that illustrious club as Americas current darling of wine. Let’s taste it and a few other grapes from South America.
Bubbles Bubbles Bubbles
There are bubbles and then there are “come quick, I’m tasting the stars” bubbles. Learn how specific grapes and production techniques influence sparkling wines. Learn why Prosecco is a great choice for mimosas, the reason Champagne is so expensive and all about alternative bubblies from around the world. Did you know that Prosecco is made differently than Champagne? Learn what method is the best for the longest lasting Champagne bubbles.We’ll taste bubblies and munch on a few fun sparkling wine pairings too!
Slovenia Wine Country Location, Location, Location
Holy ScMoli — Let’s go — just look at this trip right here! Slovenia is right next to Austria, Italy, Hungary, Croatia — what a wine tour! Most Slovenian wine production falls under the classification of premium. Viticulture and winemaking has existed in this region since the time of the Celt and Illyrian tribes, long before the Romans introduced winemaking to France, Spain and Germany. A 2016 DNA study showed that two red grape varietals, Blaufränkisch and Blauer Portugieser, originated in Slovenia.
Iberias Hidden Playground
2-2-2 Countries for the price of 1! Which wine regions to visit on a vacation to Spain & Portugal? Even the locals wouldn’t know where to begin. Well, here’s a secret: No matter where you are on the Iberian Peninsula, you’re never far from a vineyard—so don’t overthink it. Barcelona is a commuter train away from the historic cava houses of Penedès. Bierzo, the region wine geeks can’t stop fawning over, is a pleasant drive from León. And the “Sherry Triangle,” can be explored on a day-trip from Seville. Let’s Go!
Destination 65 Clark Lane Washington Virginia
Foodie-U Wine School Happens at Little Washington Winery 65 Clark Lane, Washington Virginia
We’re located 60 miles west of Washington DC. Take I-66 to Gainesville/Warrenton exit 43A. Through Warrenton follow signs to Shenandoah National Park and Route 211. In about 20 miles on Route 211, between the villages of Washington & Sperryville, watch for the blue highway sign that says Skyline Vineyard, right by the Quickie Mart Gas Station and the Farm Home Store.
Pass the Farm Home store. At the store exit sign turn right onto Clark Lane. Proceed up the mountain to our giant Boulders with a big sign that says Little Washington Winery. You’ll see our OPEN flag straight ahead (if we remember to put it out). Come straight through to the big house — 65 Clark Lane.