WINE AND BEVERAGE    
       
  Bring your curiosity and learn about and sample the world's finest potables in our Wine Cellar classes, which encompass a full range of wine, beer and spirits instruction.    
       
  The Wine program at The Institute for Culinary Education includes a mix of one-session, two-session and six-session classes. The most in-depth wine class at The Institute is Wine Essentials, which meets once a week for six weeks, with each session dedicated to a particular topic, such as Bordeaux or sparkling and dessert wines. The school's Wine and Food Workshops teach students to enjoy wines in combination with food. There are also classes on the wines of France, Italy and the west coast of the United States, and the ever-popular Really Great Wines for Under $15, an apt choice for the budget-minded wine consumer. In short, whatever your wine tastes and needs, there is a class at The Institute to fulfill them.

Our wine tasting room is a 900 square-foot facility with full ventilation (so cooking odors from the pastry kitchens don't intrude), bright incandescent light and white tabletops (for accurate wine viewing). The classes are taught by a range of the city's most competent wine, spirit and beer instructors.


Ron Ciavalino is our Director of Wine Studies. He began his career at the Gritti Palace Hotel in Venice, Italy, where he studied Italian wine with the then sommelier, Dino Lapucci. In New York, he studied wine with Kevin Zraly at the famous Windows on the World Wine School and at the International Wine Center. He is holder of the Higher Certificate awarded by the Wine and Spirit Educational Trust of Great Britain, and completed the course of studeis offered by the Sommelier Society of America. Ciavolino served as a staff member at Sherry-Lehmann, one of the finest wine shops in the country.
 

Wine Tasting Class



Ron Ciavolino, Director of Wine Studies

 

 

 

 


Ron Ciavolino

       
  Other Instructors Include:

• Garrett Oliver is the Brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the foremost authority in the U.S. on traditional beer. His most recent book, The Brewmaster's Table, was the winner of the 2004 IACP Book Award and a James Beard Award finalist.

• Robin Kelley O'Connor is the Bordeaux Wine Council's Trade Liaison. Mr. O'Connor sits on several magazine tasting panels and is member of the Society of Wine Educators' Board of Directors, and The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Wine & Food's Board of Directors. He has been inducted into the prestigious Commanderie du Bontemps de Medoc, des Graves et de Sauternes-Barsac and the 800-year-old Jurade de Saint-Emilion.

• Willie Gluckstern is a restaurant consultant and wine importer, and author of The Wine Avenger.

• W.R. Tisch, known in the wine trade simply as Tish, has been writing and speaking about wine and food for more than a decade. As editor of Wine Enthusiast Magazine from 1988 to 1998, he re-worked the publication to position it as a spunkier alternative to other wine magazines. Tish also has written on wine and food for publications including In Style, Details, Private Clubs, Beverage Media and Williams-Sonoma Taste, and a number of websites. In addition to teaching at ICE®, he is also auctioneer for the annual Hudson Valley Wine Showcase & Auction.

• Anthony Giglio is a sommelier and award-winning writer whose columns include the weekly "VinoFile" in AM New York, "Liquids" in Boston magazine, and "Nightlife" in Wine & Spirits magazine. By night he reviews restaurants for the New York Sun and is the Dining Critic for New Jersey Monthly.

• Nick Mautone is formerly General Manager of Danny Meyer's Gramercy Tavern and author of "Raising the Bar." He specializes in wines from Spain, Italy and the United States.

...and check our course schedule often for more master sommeliers and mixologists teaching at ICE®.

To view a complete list of current wine course offerings click here.