OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW ~~~ 8 NEW WINE ED CLASSES START NOW -- CHECK IT OUT!

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OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW ~~~ 8 NEW WINE ED CLASSES START NOW -- CHECK IT OUT! 〰️

welcome to DIRT ROAD WINE ACADEMY

Dirt Road Wine Academy emphasizes a hands-on, experiential approach to wine on three tiered levels

Level 1: Gateway Classes

Level 2: Discovery Classes

Level 3: Signature Experiences

— **CLICK ON THIS CALENDAR — BOOK YOUR FAV CLASS — COME PLAY!**

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LEVEL 1: GATEway wine and food series

Dirt Road Wine Academy Gateway classes are your entry ramp to wine. Low-friction. Low-commitment. High-conversion. For people dipping a toe into wine education or just looking for a fun Saturday out with friends. The Gateway series includes Friendly, welcoming, “I can do this” classes that build comfort, confidence, and connection while leaving you feeling smarter, not overwhelmed.

**Wine Bootcamp**
The spark that lit the fuse. The legend. The original class that blew the doors off the barn. When Wine Bootcamp first launched, **1,700 people signed up in a single day**.
And when it was over, they looked around, glasses in hand, and asked the question that’s fueled us for 15+ years of sold-out wine education: “What’s next?”
This isn’t a polite introduction to wine. This is where you get the decoder ring — the things nobody else tells you — delivered with Carl’s signature mix of clarity, honesty, and just enough rebel energy.
**In bootcamp you’ll learn how to: 1-**Walk into a wine shop and know exactly what to buy. 2-Aerate wine the right way (yes, it matters). 3-Understand how white, red, and rosé wines really work 4-Navigate restaurant wine lists with confidence — and without overpaying. 4-Taste molecules so perfectly matched the wine becomes the liquid version of food!
This isn’t Basic Training. It’s *Wine 301 in disguise.* A confidence builder. A “where has this been all my life?” afternoon. If you’ve ever wished wine made more sense… this is where it clicks. 🍷
**BOOK IT**

**How to Pair Dessert & Wine**
This class is the ultimate impossible wine and food pairing! All wine experts and all dessert experts agree - pairing dessert with wine can never be done! Even chefs recommend switching over to coffee to enjoy your dessert.
Technically, the “experts” are correct. If you don’t know the secret to pairing dessert, everything in your mouth is about to go crazily awry. Let’s test that theory shall we? That’s the only way we’ll know, right? Remember, even a bad pairing is a lesson!
Here’s why the combination of wine and dessert misses the good pairing mark. Sugar. A sip of dry red wine without any perceptible sweetness will turn bitter and sour when paired with sweet foods. So, unless you’re munching on plain roasted cocoa nibs, back away from the Cabernet, please.
Pairing wine and dessert isn’t hard — 3 simple and basic rules will set you on your way to a good pairing of wine with dessert.
Don’t worry, you’re with the pros now! We have proven, once and for all, that wine and dessert can be a match made in heaven — if you do it right!
**BOOK IT**

**15 Rules of Food & Wine**
The “That’s a Lot of Food Nibblers” Class!
Welcome to the tasting that feels like a culinary treasure hunt — where every sip has a sidekick, every flavor has an accomplice, and the table slowly fills with so many little bites you start to wonder if this is technically still a class or a secret banquet.
Our winemaker, Donna, takes the lead. She pours a spectrum of whites, rosés, reds, and sweet wines like she’s dealing tarot cards, and with each pour comes another edible clue: citrusy sparks, savory anchors, spicy curveballs, salty jolts, bitter edges, umami swells, and sweet little miracles. These aren’t snacks — they’re instruments, and you’re learning how to play them.
One moment the combination on your tongue is so harmonious it feels like the room got brighter; the next, you hit a clash so spectacularly wrong it becomes unforgettable… and useful. Because sometimes the best lessons are the ones that blow up a little.
Come curious, come hungry, leave with a palate that’s been recalibrated for glory. This class isn’t just a tasting — it’s a map.
**BOOK IT**

**Cheeseology:** The Class That Tames the Cheese Aisle!
Step into the tasting lab where dairy becomes destiny. We’re taking that overwhelming grocery store cheese aisle — the one that feels like a labyrinth of wedges, wheels, and intimidating labels — and reducing it to something gloriously manageable. Not six million cheeses. **Six.** That’s it. Six archetypes. Six personalities. Six keys to the kingdom.
We’ll kick things off with a personality test, because cheese has a vibe and so do you. From there, we connect the dots between your wine style and the six cheese categories, until pairing becomes more like a party trick you can deploy at will.
We’ll turn hesitation into swagger. Every aisle becomes your playground. Every wedge becomes a strategy. Every bottle has a soulmate. You’ll leave knowing:
* The six cheeses that anchor the entire universe of dairy
* Which wines adore them, tolerate them, or run screaming * How to shop like someone who shows up to parties with fanfare
Walk in curious. Walk out armed.
The cheese aisle no longer looms — it bows.
**BOOK IT**

**Vintners Table Learning Lunch**
Vintner’s Table: The Lunch That Teaches You How to Taste.
This is where wine meets the real world — not in theory, but on a plate, fork in hand. A guided lunch that trains your palate like a compass, using five foundational wine styles and a parade of tapas-sized pairings that build into a full, rolling midday meal.
It’s education disguised as indulgence. You’ll sail through **three entrées, three cheeses, three desserts, and a flight of chocolate temptations** that feel like they were choreographed by fate.
Each course becomes a laboratory. Each sip becomes a clue. Suddenly, pairing isn’t guesswork; it’s muscle memory. And yes, we’ll push things on purpose.
You’ll feel what happens when a pairing goes too far, when sweetness bulldozes tannin, when acidity steamrolls a delicate dish. It’s the controlled burn that makes the lesson stick. The moment your brain hums that party-saving mantra: *Now I get it.*
Come hungry. Leave dangerous — in the best way.
**BOOK IT**

**The Gauntlet Vetting Taste-Off**
**We have a secret weapon** - Andrew. He is a wine whisperer! His job is to always be gone ... tasting hundreds of wines so we don’t have too! He narrows the hundreds he finds on his ventures down to the top 20 that are crazy amazing and turns them over to our fiercely critical focus group.
**It's Hard work - but some body's got to do it!** A quorum of 80-100 judge a professional drinkers favorite 20 with a mission to knock them down to 3 that move to the last level of our gauntlet competing for a spot on our famous Dirt Road Wine Rack. The top 3 wines that win go out to our club member for the last leg of the gauntlet. After club members enjoy dinner with a club wine they vote (just like that show “Survivor”). Wines that survive all the way through our gauntlet win a spot on our **Dirt Road Wine Rack!**
**Soooo … from hundreds might come 1** that makes it all the way to our famous **Dirt Road Wine Rack**. Shop the rack & rest assured every wine there will be awesome because it has survived our gauntlet! We're drinking great wine and we're saving farmland!
**BOOK IT**

**Triple Threat:** Titans of Pairing
Triple Threat is a rotating exploration of wine’s three favorite vices, a bold and indulgent deep dive into the flavors that most seductively orbit the glass. Cheese and chocolate anchor the experience, joined by a wild-card indulgence selected entirely at the winemaker’s whim. Might be savory, sweet, or delightfully indulgent. No fixed menu.
Each gathering is shaped by what’s happening in the cellar, what the season offers, and whatever curiosity or obsession happens to strike that week. Some pairings will feel inevitable. Others will surprise you into rethinking everything you thought you knew about food and wine. This is not a scripted class. It’s a conversation between wine, food, and instinct.
Triple Threat is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get! The plate might include a Cheeseology lesson to tame that daunting Cheese Aisle! It might take on the Choco-Vino Challenge to disprove the “experts” who say chocolate is one of five foods on the planet that will not go with any wine. To those skeptics we say -- "wanna bet"?Come curious. Leave converted.
**BOOK IT**

**Blue Ridge Wine Retreat**
***The Ultimate Agritourism Food & Wine Retreat!*** Join us for a full weekend of laughter, learning and fun!
Wine Retreat starts at 6pm on Friday for Guess the $100 Bordeaux Happy Hour, followed by Winemakers Dinner as we explore how to choose a wine for occasions and enjoy virtual journeys through famous regions with wine and food.. You’ll be staying at the winemakers house for 2 nights while we **learn-nap-reteat** in wine retreat!
**FRIDAY - 6pm** — Guess the $100 Bordeaux Happy Hour **7pm** — Winemakers Dinner where we explore occasions. Which occasions call for a “Value” wine? Which occasions need a “premier” wine? And which occasions are so epic they are worthy of a “Splurge” wine?
**SATURDAY — 11am** — Wine Class
**SUNDAY — 11am** — Vintners Table Learning Lunch
Choco-Vino Challenge Final Exam
By the end of Retreat you will know how to get perfect wine + food pairings every time!
**BOOK IT**

LEVEL 2: discovery series

Exploration with intention. Dirt Road Wine Academy Discovery Series is where curiosity turns into taste identity for guests who want to learn something uncommon, travel by glass, and taste outside the usual suspects. This elevated series with nibblers reveals the world beyond Cabernet & Chardonnay, and plant the seed for collector mindset. We guarantee to create new wine “a-ha” moments for you!

**The Alpine Outliers**
Crisp. Elevated. Illuminating.

Taste the peaks of the wine world with Kerner, Timorasso, and Petite Arvine — wines defined by altitude, clarity, and bright aromatic lift. Each sip carries the air of high valleys, the energy of steep slopes, and the precision of grapes that thrive where few dare to grow.

Perfect for:
• Adventurous palates seeking freshness and finesse
• Lovers of aromatic whites with personality and punch
• Anyone ready to explore wines that rise above the ordinary

Reach the summit of flavor. Elevate your tasting.
**BOOK IT**

**Wines Built Like Castles**
Strong. Enduring. Architected in the vineyard like a fortress.

Step into a tasting of the wines vying for the title of healthiest grape on the planet. Explore Madiran, Irouléguy, Cahors, and Uruguay as you uncover bottles built on structure, power, and tannins — wines that age like stone softened by wind, sun, and time. Each sip is a fortress of flavor, a monument to patience and precision.

This class is perfect for:
• Lovers of the big bold reds
• Curious tasters ready to understand how structure and tannin tell a story
• Wines that leave an impression long after the glass is empty.
**BOOK IT**

**Where the Slate Speaks First**
Mineral. Smoky. Timeless.

Explore the terroir that talks before the grape does.
Taste the Dirt of Priorat through Garnacha, Carignan, and the iconic llicorella soils — wines that carry the flavor of mineral smoke and memory. Learn to distinguish volcanic ash from sea salt and sandy soils, and discover how the ground beneath your feet shapes every sip.

Perfect for:
• Curious tasters who want to understand terroir in action
• Adventurers eager to taste soil,
• Anyone ready to let their palate read the land. Taste deeply.
**BOOK IT**

**The Volcano Project**
Islands That Breathe Fire.

The earth is restless and the wines are electric. We’re chasing flavor across four volcanic islands: Etna, Santorini, the Azores, and the Canary Islands — places where lava fields, sea wind, and ancient ash shape bottles that feel alive.

Expect wines with edges of smoke and salt, crackling tension, and that “how is this even real?” moment when volcanic soil shows up in the glass.
Winemakers everywhere are hoping for a volcanic patch of grapes where the soil is this nutritious. If you’ve ever wanted to taste geology, this is your ticket.
Sip where ocean meets the crater.
**BOOK IT**

LEVEL 3: SIGNATURE SERIES

Dirt Road Wine Academy Signature Series dissects Old World Icons: Grand Cru, Barolo, the Rioja Gran Reserva Vertical. This Winemaker’s Table does Pairings by Course — Four Countries, Four Terroirs, One Passport. Sometimes we open The Vault for Rare & Cellar-Only Pours. Limited seats. Elevated pours. Story-rich. The room goes quiet when the corks come out. This is where the winery becomes a stage to Establish prestige. Get Access, privilege, and transformation without pretense. This entire wine and nibbler series is a memory you wear like perfume.

**Old World Icons**
Grand Cru, Barolo, Rioja Gran Reserva Vertical and more! For the taster who wants not just to drink history, but to understand it. The Signature Series is our deep dive into the world’s iconic bottles:
Barolo with its ancient patience,
Grand Cru that grew up among legends,
Rioja Gran Reservas that feel like time capsules with corks.
No snobbery, no stuffiness—just great wines, stories, and the realization that knowledge tastes even better in a glass.
**BOOK IT**

**The Lost Kingdoms of France**

Hidden provinces. Ancient traditions. Wines that never bent the knee.
Discover the forgotten corners of France: Jura, Savoie, Gaillac, and Fronton. These aren’t the postcard-famous regions; they’re the ones that kept their soul. Expect smoky alpine whites, peppery vineyard relics, and reds shaped by mountains, monasteries, and monarchies long gone. It’s a tasting that feels like rummaging through an old castle and finding the cellar key still in the lock.

Taste history. Sip the forgotten.
**BOOK IT**

**4 Countries 4 Terroirs 1 Passport**
Pack light. We’re traveling by glass.
From the alpine clarity of Northern Italy to the basalt-dark vineyards of the Canary Islands, from Portuguese cliffside Atlantic aromatics to France’s quiet valleys where slate and limestone write their own dialects in the wine.
Each pour is a border crossing. Each terroir stamps the passport.
No airport lines, no customs agents. Just a flight of wines that taste like geography having a conversation with itself. Do you sip? Or do you depart?
**BOOK IT**

**The Vault: Rare Pours**
Behind this door, the lights get softer and the bottles get older.
These are the wines that don’t live on shelves, the ones that only appear when the stars, the calendar, and our courage align. Library releases, quietly cellared bottles, vintages that never went to distribution. Some pours arrive with only a few ounces left in the world. Some feel like tasting a rumor that turned out to be true.

Not every bottle comes out. The ones that do are poured with intention. When The Vault opens, step in. What’s inside won’t wait.
**BOOK IT**

Take a gorgeous drive through Virginia Wine Country to the Blue Ridge Mountains, an hour west of Washington DC. We’re located at the base of Shenandoah National Park near the Thornton Gap entrance.