Wine Between the Lines: Drinking the Mediterranean

For thousands of years before Burgundy, Champagne, Rioja, Napa cab, you name it — wine lived on the Mediterranean. It spread from Phoenician trading cities like Tyre in present-day Lebanon all the way to the gates of Hercules. It aged in clay, was preserved with olive oil or cut with saltwater or dried on straw mats until golden. It was made from grapes like malvasia and muscat, grenache and carignan, vermentino or trebbiano.

But how does that history shape what's in our glass today? What about a landscape or a climate affects how something tastes? And who is growing the future, right now, in wine's ancient home?

In one sense, color is really just a way to talk about the different ways people have thought a "good" wine should be. And in a shoulder season like spring, wines that slip between categories can be the most rewarding answer to unpredictable weather and unstable vibes.

Our class is hosted by sommelier James Sligh, founder of the Children's Atlas of Wine, an art and education project that maps the people and places growing wine's futures and puts them in context. Tickets include five tastes of colorful wines and an hour and a half class with an interactive component.