There are lots of hosted wine tastings around town - seminars and courses that improve your wine knowledge and are fun and informal too. There is a course that's also fun, but not so informal: Level 1 of the Independent Wine Education Guild.

Affiliated with and overseen by the Wine and Spirits Education Trust of London, England, IWEG was established in 1977 and follows the WSET program and is internationally recognized. The introductory course is a one-day blitz that will give you a great foundation as well as put you on the path to more detailed wine knowledge with an accreditation that's recognized in the hospitality industry around the world.

It's mainly aimed at professionals, but a solid number of wine enthusiasts take the program too. Courses are offered at several locations in Ontario. Perhaps the single most useful thing you'll learn is the "systematic approach to tasting", which encourages you to analyze the component parts of a wine and place them against a broader spectrum - colour, body, acidity levels, tannins, fruit characteristics, etc. This can help you narrow down the type of grape and whether it is a typical example - and also whether it's objectively "good" (even if it's not a style you particularly like).

Foundation course summary:
    1.    WSET Level I Systematic Approach To Tasting

    2.    The main styles of wine

    3.    Key grape varieties

    4.    Service of wine

    5.    Matching food with wine


To earn your certificate, you must complete the training seminar, a portfolio of tasting notes, and then pass a multiple choice examination.

If you're in the foodservice business you should definitely take it, but if you're an enthusiast who wants to know more about wine, it's also a great option.

And a key benefit of this course is that it's a recognized part of the program that leads all the way to the coveted Master of Wine designation... one held by fewer than 300 people in the world.

The one-day course costs $300 and the next session is:

Sunday, February 26, 10am to 4:30pm
Humber College, North Toronto campus

For more information, visit the Independent Wine Education Guild website.