Workshops
Exploring and connecting with the stories that wine offers, outside the liquid inside the glass
Connect with the world of wine in many different ways.
In the Workshops, we explore the world of wine as a connection tool.
We can learn the basics of explaining and understanding wines with unconventional methods like LEGO Serious Play, or we can explore with “Art&Wine Connections” those hidden personal connections we make with a particular wine, that go beyond what we taste (or we can see) and more into what we feel, the same we do at a museum when contemplating, patiently, a painting.
With storytelling in the “Human side of Terroir”, we open a window into the human stories of the people creating the wine, not only on the style, grape or origin of the wine. We dive into their struggles, challenges, and life decisions, in order to find similarities and resonance with our own lives. See if we match the wines to their creators, tasting them blind!
We solve one of the strongest pain points I hear about wine. How to identify common faults in wines. We learn to confidently reject wines that should not be drunk or should be returned.
We can have fun travelling around France or Switzerland with a wine and cheese experience or we can learn Juan to One, follow your own wine journey of learning and discoveries, designed only for you.
Wherever you are in your wine path. I would love to hear from you.
There are many opportunities for us to discover the many stories that wine can offer, outside the liquid inside your glass.
Identifying Wine Faults
When wines go bad
For wine professionals and wine consumers alike you are invited to learn how to identify and distinguish between the most common faults in wines.
Regular wine drinkers, even trained professionals, have experienced that moment of doubt when smelling a glass that does not convey an immediate sense of cleanness.
Is it us? Is it the wine? Is the wine supposed to smell like this? Since I’ve never tasted the wine before, it might smell this way, isn’t it?
As a wine educator, I have a personal quest to ensure students and consumers are 100% sure when a wine is not right, and the bottle should be returned or changed.
With targeted, concise and basic training in wine faults, you can avoid that awkward moment of doubt with the wine waiter arguing about a particular bottle of wine that you believe is not smelling or tasting as it should.
The intensity of pleasant aromas and flavours in wine should fit their price tag!
On the other hand, colleagues and wine professionals could also benefit from this workshop since we taste faults in isolation, for example, Oxidation without the compounded effect of Volatile Acidity. So you learn to distinguish which is which in a bottle of wine.
We cover the most common faults in wine: Reduction, Oxidation, Brettanomyces, Volatile Acidity and Cork Taint. We will also learn how intense heat and UV light affect the flavours in wines.
Contact me to register and secure your place in the next Workshop.
Duration: 3 - 4 hours
Group Size: Minimum 6 people - Maximum 12
Price: based on a group of 6 - Contact me for pricing
Workshop days and starting times: Fridays at 18:00, Saturdays at 10:00, and Mondays at 17:00.
I will confirm the next available dates via email after your registration.
LEGOs and Wine
LEGOs and Wine
Co-host: Reiner Müller (Certified LEGOs Serious Play facilitator)
Have you ever felt - I can taste wines and know what I like, but cannot explain it -? This workshop is for you!
In the LEGOs and Wine Workshop, Reiner and I introduce you to the method LEGOS Serious Play. The method was created in mid-1990 at the IMD in Lausanne with the goal to improve communication and creative thinking.
We use it to discover new things about wine.
You will discover how to explain, communicate and appreciate wines without technical knowledge, without the wine lingo, just using your hands, the blocks and your creativity. It is serious fun!
Also if you are still suffering the consequences of Covid or have been exposed to treatments affecting your sense of taste and smell, it will be wonderful for you to see wine again in a new light, with colours, shapes and textures.
Duration: 3 hours
Group Size: Minimum 6 people - Maximum 12
Price: based on a group of 6 - Contact me for pricing
Workshop days and starting times: Fridays at 18:00 and Saturdays at 10:00.
We are tasting around 6 - 7 wines, with small nibbles - small food - LEGO “Exploratory bag” provided as a gift.
Join us for this new way to learn about wine. I will confirm the next available dates via email after your registration.
Art & Wine Connections
Art & Wine connections
I am extremely lucky to share my atelier with a museum guide (thanks for the inspiration Jasmin!) and to be located very close to the Kunstmuseum Basel, which houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland.
We have discussed many times how the world of art and wines shared elements in common. It’s creative energy. The impulse to share a voice, a thought or an idea. The ability to visualise the end product and the talent to deliver it. As well as the aspiration to create a simple or lasting emotional connection with the people who consume it.
We will visit the Kunstmuseum together and then follow up with a session of wine conversation and tasting in our atelier.
We have curated a few paintings and works of art in the Museum that we will visit at leisure and I have selected some unusual wines that I consider closer to pieces of art rather than alcoholic beverages.
We will visit the museum first and then return to the atelier for the wine session part.
We will discuss the pieces of art and learn about the wines. We will share a conversation, reflect, have an open debate or simply let the art and wines do the talking. All the sessions are different, open and convivial.
Luis Fernando Olaverri, writer and founder in 1979 of the first wine shop in Navarra, once wrote: "Wine is the only work of art that can be drunk"…
…and we couldn’t agree more.
Join us for this unique workshop and let’s explore together the common attributes between art and wines.
Duration: 4 hours
Group Size: Minimum 4 people - Maximum 12
Price: based on a group of 4 - Contact me for pricing
Workshop days and starting times: Wednesdays from 17:00 - 21:00 (Alternative days potential)
We are tasting around 4 to 6 wines, with small nibbles - small food is also provided.
I will confirm the next available dates via email after your registration.
Contact us for special sessions during Art Basel 15 - 18 June 2023
Wine and Cheese
Wine and Cheese
This workshop gives you the chance to taste and discover the origins of the most famous Swiss cheeses and the unique local grape varieties grown in this alpine country.
Switzerland has a small wine production if we compare it with its neighbours in France, Germany and Italy. Wines are rarely exported. This makes Swiss local grapes one of the best-kept secrets in the wine world.
We will also learn the fundamentals of how different flavours interact with wines. A key learning that you can take with you to apply to all types of food.
The battle of Switzerland vs France in wine and cheese is also available as an experience.
Duration: 3 - 4 hours
Group Size: Minimum 6 people - Maximum 12
Price: based on a group of 6 - Contact me for pricing
Workshop days and starting times: Flexible to your times.
We are tasting around 6 - 7 wines, with a minimum of 4 different kinds of cheese to match- bread, grisinis and other gluten-free crackers provided.
In my location or in your own house, contact me to organise.
Say cheese!
Juan to One
Juan to One
Personalised wine education.
Same as a tutor who provides tailor-made support to speed up your knowledge about a foreign language, I organise personalised wine sessions for you to advance (or launch) your wine journey.
I only need your wine curiosity. No previous knowledge of wine is required.
We can cover the differences and influences of climate in wines. How the style changes. Vinification and grape growing. How to taste and properly assess quality. Key grape varieties or we focus on your favourite wine region.
You can become more confident, comfortable and independent around wines, fast and easily.
Individual or small group sessions. One to One. Me, wines and you.
Contact me or register to organise. Salud!
The Human Side of Terroir
The human side of Terroir
Co-host: Bart de Vries (Wine writer and Dipl. WSET level 4)
Storytelling and wines.
Wines are artistic creations. They portray the life, philosophy, ideas and emotion of the winemaker and vigneron.
In this workshop, you are invited to taste six wines blind.
We will reveal the creators and open a window into their human stories. We dive into their struggles, challenges, and life decisions, in order to find similarities and resonance with our own lives. We discover together the sometimes forgotten human side of terroir.
Wines are tasted in pairs, both created under the same growing area, with the same grapes, in the same year, but...will they taste the same?
Will they be more easily identifiable with the creator and his story than the terroir?
Let's find out together.
Duration: 4 hours
Group Size: Minimum 6 people - Maximum 12
Price: based on a group of 6 - Contact me for pricing
Workshop days and starting times: Fridays at 18:00 and Saturdays at 10:00.
We are tasting 6 wines blind. With small nibbles - neutral food is provided.
For more information about the next workshop contact me or register your interest.
“Juan came to our home to provide a Swiss Cheese and Wine experience. It was absolutely amazing and very insightful. Juan set the table professionally and brought all of his own equipment.
Not only did we learn a lot about Swiss wine and cheese, we also had a lot of fun. I would recommend Juan highly and we will be using his services again!”
