A San Francisco Wine Society

LEARN WINE × LOVE WINE × DRINK WINE

When I was a college student, I used to pour for organized wine tastings at Acker Merrall & Condit in New York City. Tastings were limited to about 15 - 20 people, and each person paid anywhere from $50 to $100 per person, which opened up a pretty spectacular flight of wines. The wine selection was focused, the teaching was lead by a knowledgable sommelier, and the tone of the session was unpretentious. People just wanted to learn about wine.

The year is 2015, I've been in the Bay Area for nearly seven years and each year a sporadic search on the Googs for organized, killer wine tastings in San Francisco turns up uninspiring results. Most events cater to tourists or have a commercial agenda--free, walk-up tastings with a limited selection of wines, organized mostly to get customers in the store to buy stuff. 

Save for sommelier certification courses (which I'd love to do) or an occasional bi-yearly paid tasting put on by K&L, I couldn't find a forum for learning about wines in a more structured and thoughtful way. I started Thyrsus to be.