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Specialist of Texas Wine

About this Class

  • Regions: United States
  • Class Type: Certified Class

CS (Plan to take exam)

$ 325

AS (Don't plan to take exam)

$ 250

The Specialist of Texas Wine program, founded by Dr. Russ Kane, was the first of its kind, offering a comprehensive series of classes dedicated to the unique wines and wine regions of Texas. This program stands out as the only one with classes exclusively focused on Texas wines.

The course is currently taught by Denise Clarke, a wine educator in Austin, Texas, who also teaches the WSET Level 1 courses through the Texas Wine School. Denise has been studying, writing about and sharing wine knowledge – with a focus on the Texas wine industry – for more than 15 years. She has earned several wine certifications including Certified Wine Educator, Certified Sommelier, WSET 3 and Specialist of Texas Wine Advanced. One of Texas’ top wine ambassadors, she is eager to educate and cultivate the next generation of Texas wine enthusiasts.

Students will receive a copy of Dr. Russ Kane’s book, “The Wineslinger Chronicles: Texas on the Vine”, that was made part of The Grover E. Murray Culture in the American Southwest book series.  The class will also feature guest presenters actively involved in Texas wineries.

The program exposes students to unique landscapes of the major wine regions in Texas: Texas High Plains, Texas Hill Country, Texoma, Escondido Valley, and Davis Mountains AVAs, as well as non-AVA regions of East Texas and Gulf Coast. This learning and tasting intensive program features important topics critical to the success of today’s wine professionals and savvy consumers that are looking for the best wines and wine values that Texas has to offer.

This course will cover:

  • Details of each wine region, including location, geologic history, soils, climate and leading grape varieties grown in the region
  • The evolution of Texas winemaking from its early Spanish and immigrant European period (1600-1800) and early post-Prohibition (1940-1990) and modern period (1990-present), with a focus on winemaking techniques and grape varieties
  • The links and contrasts between Texas wines and their old & new world counterparts through lectures and guided and blind tastings with benchmark wines.

Classes will feature representatives selected from the Texas wine industry’s grape growing, winemaking or winery owner communities in Texas that will be available to provide first-hand knowledge, Q&A, and guided tasting. Tastings will include a range of grape varieties and blends originating from northern Europe (France & Germany), Mediterranean (Italy, S. France, Spain, Portugal) and hybrid wines from Texas and other American appellations. These tastings will help students understand the distinctions of wines from selected Texas regions and grape varieties and their attributes versus their counterparts in the American and global wine world.

The program concludes with an opportunity to test your knowledge of the wines, regions, and laws on an exam. The credential will be awarded to those that pass the rigorous exam at the end of the series with a score of 80% or higher.

Course Outline

  • Lecture 1 – Introduction to the industry, geology and soils, climate, and comparison to other wine regions
  • Lecture 2 – Texas AVA details and labeling of Texas wine
  • Lecture 3 – History and evolution of Texas wine industry and wine styles

These three lectures will be given over two to three classes depending on the class venue and dates indicated.

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