Discover Wine & Spirits Academy

I took the WSET level 2 class at Discover Wine and Spirits this past week and am still on a learning high from it. From the moment I registered I got a lot of personal attention from the owner who was immensely helpful in getting me organized and set up for the class. The teacher, Deborah Parker Wong, blew me away with her professionalism, knowledge and courtesy with students, while always being very firm about what we need to know. For anyone interested in wine, I highly recommend this class. You’ll walk away with a world of knowledge, a sharper palate and likely some new connections.

I have attended a couple of courses delivered by Discover Wine and Spirits most recently attending the WSET II course. I found the organization very professional and the instructors well versed on the material. Another plus for me is the San Francisco location at the Jewish Community Center. Based on my experience I have registered in both Wines of Italy and WSET III.

WSET is great for people who are either wine enthusiasts, or wine industry professionals (usually not restaurant-centered)…people in the service industry might be better served and trained more rigorously through a Sommelier program. For the connoisseur, or someone in the tasting room, retail, or import/​export trades I’d recommend this course. The classes are 2 weekend seminars covering the world’s best known wine regions, and also delves into production, marketing, and factors affecting quality and price. Be advised that having this qualification on your resume is a nice feather in your cap, but won’t guarantee you get a job in the wine industry. The educators are professional and well-​versed. All are in the wine industry so they can also provide insights and knowledge that apply to Bay Area/​California wine specific topics. Be prepared, as this class is demanding, and the textbook is chock full of information. I’ve gone through Level 2 and Level 3, and feel the classes greatly broadened my horizon in the world of wine.

Although I am a long-​time wine enthusiast and collector, I recently registered for the Wine 101 class as a simple review, and brought along my girlfriend who is an upscale restaurant mgr. The nearly 3 hour course on ⁰⁶⁄₂₀ was fun, interesting, and covered a broad range of topics for the novice. The instructor Joanne had a depth of professional experience and a quirky sense of humor to involve the students. The course materials provided for home reference were very comprehensive, and the 12 wines we tasted were each excellent and well-​balanced examples of their varietal character. I would highly recommend this class to anyone interested in gaining more knowledge about the world of wine. I am also registered for one of the more advanced WSET level courses with Discovery Wine & Spirits Academy.

I think it’s important for me to write this review. First this is for the WSET level 2 class that I took in Napa with Michael. When I was researching WSET classes, I saw the negative reviews and didn’t think this would be my choice. However, I noticed they really aren’t for the WSET classes so I decided to call them. The owner was super nice and gave me a lot of information. The price was right, the location couldn’t have been better (who doesn’t want to learn about wines in Napa?!) and the instructor was amazing. He really took the time for us to ask any questions we wanted, he was very patient, and very knowledgeable. I also enjoyed meeting the other students who all seemed to be at the same level as me. I’m just glad I gave them a chance– great experience!

Part of me feels like it’s unfair writing this review when I’ve never been to a class, but the fact of the matter is that this is one of the most poorly run businesses I’ve ever encountered so here we go! My first exposure to Discover was my birthday weekend– my husband had purchased a Daily Deal for me to attend the French Wine Program. He had purchased the deal and signed me up for a birthday treat, and it wasn’t until a few days before when he called to confirm that he found out the class would not be running due to lack of enrollment. It left him scrambling to put something else together for me, but I had a lovely weekend and only learned later of the Discover fiasco.
Then a friend got me a Groupon for a wine class here, and once again it’s been a disaster. The first time we tried to redeem it we enrolled and then the class was, last minute again, cancelled due to lack of enrollment. We tried again last month and sent an email requesting to enroll in the Pinot Class. After my friend wrote to confirm it would still be running yesterday they responded to say that the class was full, in no way acknowledging that they had TOTALLY dropped the ball by not enrolling us when we sent an email last month to get in.
Bottom line– any business that is run this POORLY is not worth the daily deal price, let alone paying full price! I strongly recommend 18 Reasons for wine classes. I just finished a 3 part series there with Oliver McCrum (Italian wine importer). It was wonderful and I’m already enrolled for another in a couple of weeks. Their classes are thoughtful, well organized, and enlightening, which is everything you would expect from an extension of Bi-​Rite Market. Do yourself a favor and avoid Discover, opting instead for a business that takes itself and its customers seriously.

«How to Taste Wine like a Pro» with Gretchen.
Overall the class was OK. I was hoping for a lecture-​style class with more structure, science, and facts/​info on how things are done in the world of wine, but it was an good experience with the Living Social deal ($ 59 for 2 people).
We tasted 4 whites and 4 reds. I believe most of the wines were within the $ 12-​$ 30 range. It was a fun social experience. Gretchen knew her stuff, but you had to pay attention to pick out the information you wanted. My girlfriend and I chatted with her after class about vineyard farming techniques. The class was more like a QA with a general agenda.
They also distributed that evening’s wine list as well as a packet with more information. I definitely liked the packet. I would not take a class from this company again, especially not at full price since I was not wowed at the discounted price.
Update: I received a call from the company about this Unilocal review. They were a bit defensive about this review and tried to explain that attendees preferred a less structured class, and then proceeded to solicit me to take more classes from them at full price. I understand the sentiment, but it came off as mostly unprofessional and creepy.

I’ve recently spoken to Christina, the owner at Discover, and she has been incredibly responsive to my concerns. She has offered a replacement class for my guest and I which I look forward to taking in the near future. Happy to give this venue another try.

I went to the Learn to taste like a Pro class last night with my girlfriend for her birthday and we had a great time! Michael was very informative and kept people engaged and laughing the entire time. I kept it as a surprise to my girlfriend until we got there and she was definitely happy with the surprise!
I loved how the class had a lot of great information but was also very interactive and everyone was having a great time. Everyone had a lot of questions and Michael made sure to answer them all.
I would recommend this to people of any age. There was a very diverse mix of ages in the class and I would say everyone left happy.
I definitely feel more educated about wine and would love to hear about the next event that I could be a part of!

THIS PLACE IS AWFUL! Avoid at all costs!!!
I know the one star rating is dramatic, but it was necessary. I signed up through the groupon deal and had an awful. insulting, and disrespectful experience.
The person at the front was extremely disorganized — she didn’t sign my friends up at all after they contacted her, signed me up late, and got all of that information mixed up so none of us knew what was up.
After cancelling the class due to travel issues, I re-​signed up. The day before the class, she emailed me saying I can’t attend, then called me saying I broke some sort of policy beforehand. Not only that, after explaining my situation to her, she started yelling, lost control, said «do you know who I am!!!»
It was a ridiculous experience. My friends who were gonna sign up all decided on a Napa trip instead, and I suggest you should too!
EDIT: the owner, Christina Mirable, left me a voice mail threatening to sue me for slander because of my review! LOL! This place is absolutely nuts, not only incompetent and rude, but insane and inappropriately indignant!

I took my friend to a class here for his birthday because we both love wine. I was a sommelier for many years so typically I’m weary of these kinds of organizations. Like bartending schools that teach you how to bartend in two weeks — can’t happen. Anyway, we go to the class and a guy named Michael is the teacher. He’s very casual but well informed.
We tasted through 4 whites and 4 reds and they were all reasonably priced and quite good. He teaching style was inviting with good background information. I figured he was going to pitch this bogus certificate that they offer and he didn’t! He offered some great ways to learn more about wine and to take more classes there also — a nice group of people getting together to learn more about a wonderful subject.
I could potentially give him a star off for saying he knows more about wine than anybody or most people, but — who cares, I’ve seen too many of these wine teachers teach scientific information that has no basis of truth, and that this guy was friendly and not pushing B.S. — I was absolutely thrilled. If you talk to anyone that really knows a ton about wine — like some of the wine greats — they never claim to know everything because you never will — besides it’s alcohol we’re here to have fun.
Highly Recommended!