WineEducate

🥂 Moscato d’Asti isn’t just sweet and bubbly. When it’s made well by small producers in Piedmont, it’s actually delicious.

The Asti method uses one tank and one fermentation. Juice is chilled and stored until needed, then fermented in a sealed tank and stopped at 7% alcohol. This keeps the wine fresh and fruity with those beautiful Muscat grape aromatics.

Asti vs Moscato d’Asti? Both use the same method, but Moscato d’Asti uses superior grapes and has gentler bubbles. That’s the one you want.

At 7% alcohol, it’s perfect for brunch or pairing with dessert. Low alcohol, lightly sweet, refreshing. Look for small producers like Bera.

Episode 99 covers the Asti method, why this wine tastes like fresh grapes, and what to look for when shopping. Link in bio.

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Nearly 500 million bottles of Prosecco are produced every year. That’s more than Champagne and Cava combined.

You’ll learn why the grape was renamed from Prosecco to Glera in 2009, how the tank method creates those fresh, fruity bubbles, and why “Extra Dry” Prosecco isn’t actually dry.

Plus, the premium DOCG zone with a name so difficult to pronounce that a local wine shop owner uses it as a sobriety test.

Link in bio to listen.

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🥂 The Cava quality revolution is happening!!

Small producers broke away from mass-market dominance to create Clàssic Penedès and Corpinnat - movements focused on organic farming, longer aging, and estate bottling.

🎧 Episode 97 breaks it all down. Link in bio.

🥂 Champagne is not JUST about bubbles!

It is about climate, latitude, blending, and a region that sits right at the edge of where grapes can even ripen.

🎧 In Episode 95 of the Wine Educate Podcast, I break down Champagne from the ground up. Where it is, why it tastes the way it does, which grapes matter, and why non vintage Champagne is the norm, not the exception.

📘 This episode is especially helpful for WSET Level 2 students, but it is just as relevant for anyone who wants to understand Champagne beyond the label.

Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch with slides on YouTube. 🍾📚

🍾 Before bubbles were celebrated, they were considered a fault.

Before Champagne became Champagne, it was making still wines. And before anyone fully understood secondary fermentation, bottles were exploding in cellars.

🎧 Wine Educate Podcast Episode 94 is all about the history of sparkling wine and how a mix of monks, scientists, merchants, and sheer trial and error shaped the wines we know today.

In this episode, I cover:
✔️ The first written record of sparkling wine in Limoux (1531)
✔️ Why Champagne was originally focused on still wines
✔️ England’s role in thicker glass, corks, and sugar
✔️ Christopher Merret’s early documentation of bottle fermentation
✔️ How figures like Dom Pérignon and V***e Clicquot improved quality and consistency

If you work in hospitality or you’re studying for WSET, understanding why sparkling wine evolved the way it did makes the styles, methods, and service decisions click into place.

🎧 Listen to Wine Educate Podcast Episode 94 now.
Available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Most people know they love sparkling wine long before they know how it’s made. ✨

🍾 The Traditional Method is the bottle fermentation process behind Champagne, Cava, and many iconic sparkling wines worldwide. This episode was created specifically with WSET Level 2 students in mind, to explain a process that can feel confusing at first, but becomes much clearer once you see the steps laid out in order.

🎧 You can watch the episode on YouTube, or listen on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

🎓🥂If you’re studying wine, curious about certification, or enjoy learning how winemakers actually do the work, save this post. And if you know a fellow wine student who would benefit from this breakdown, forward it to them.

Are you ready to learn more about wine this year? 🍷
Not just sip it, but understand it, how it’s made, how to taste it, how to talk about it, and how to pair it with food?

WSET Level 1 with Wine Educate is your Launchpad into smarter tasting and stronger wine confidence. Over four weeks, you’ll taste 10 wines with me live on Zoom, learning the industry’s gold standard tasting method, the Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT). No gatekeeping, no intimidation, just real skills you can use from the very first glass.

Tuesdays, Feb 24 – Mar 17, 2026
⏰ 7:00–8:30 PM Central
📝 Registration Deadline: Feb 10, 2026
👩‍🏫 Instructor: Joanne Close, DipWSET

You’ll learn:
🍇 The grapes behind the classics
🥂 The difference between still, sparkling, fortified
🌡 How temperature changes everything
🕵️ How to spot wine faults
🍽 How flavors like sweet, salty, acidic, and umami affect pairing
📚 The study and tasting habits that make Level 2 feel within reach

If you can’t join live, recordings are shared the next day so you never miss a thing. And when you’re ready for your exam, you choose the date and time that works for you through remote invigilation. 🗓📝

Wine knowledge is empowering. It opens doors, sparks connection, builds curiosity, and gives you a new way to experience the world, one glass at a time. 🌍✨

🎯 If 2026 is the year you’re saying yes to learning more about wine, I’d love to guide you.

Tap the link in bio to join us!

Comment a 🍇 if you’re claiming your wine era this year!

🥂 Sparkling Wine Series kicks off in Episode 92 of the Wine Educate Podcast 🎧 now on YouTube too!

🍇 What you’ll learn in this opener episode:
✔️ What makes a wine sparkling (CO₂ dissolved under pressure until the cork is removed)
✔️ Mousse = the feel of the bubbles on the palate
✔️ Mousse has 3 levels: delicate, creamy, aggressive
✔️ Sparkling wines can be white, rosé, or red
✔️ Producers choose bubble methods based on style, quality, price, and bubble mouthfeel
✔️ Regions often use their own signature grapes for sparkling styles

💬 You don’t memorize bubbles, you taste them and it sticks.

If you want to learn more about sparkling wine, check out the episode.

🎧 Watch now on YouTube or listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

🏆 This week, we’re talking about what is often considered the Mount Everest of wine education: the Master of Wine.

What does it actually take to pursue the MW? Who is it for? And how does it fit into the broader world of wine certifications and lifelong learning? In this episode, I break it down with context, realism, and perspective—especially for those mapping out their own wine education journey.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
📺 Or now watch on YouTube, with slides included for extra clarity

However you prefer to learn, this episode is for anyone curious about what’s possible in wine education—and what the path can really look like.

🍇 Beaujolais is so much more than Beaujolais Nouveau.

🎧 In Episode 87 of the Wine Educate Podcast (also on YouTube), I walk through the full Beaujolais region, from its lesser-known appellations to the 10 crus, plus a bit of history and where the region is heading next. We also talk about how Beaujolais fits into your WSET studies and why it deserves more attention beyond one week in November.

📚 If you’re a student, educator, or just someone who loves Gamay, this one will help you better understand the region, the styles, and how to talk about it with more confidence.

🎬 Watch or listen now — link in bio.

🍷 It’s Beaujolais Nouveau Day!!!

Every third Thursday of November, the world releases the same wine on the same day. That alone makes Beaujolais Nouveau worth understanding.

It’s made from Gamay using carbonic maceration, which gives it that signature banana, bubblegum, and kirsch character with soft tannins and bright, fresh fruit. No aging, no cellaring. Just pour, slightly chill it, and enjoy it.

In Episode 86 of the Wine Educate Podcast, I break down the history, the rules, and the science behind Beaujolais Nouveau, so you’re not just drinking it, you actually understand it.

🎧 Wine Educate Podcast Episode 86
Now also on YouTube

What bottle did you find this year? Tag or send me a photo. I want to see what’s on your table 🍷 🍇