If you’re a wine lover on Instagram, you’re likely familiar with the name Cristie Norman. And if you’re not – you should be. She’s a Certified Sommelier (currently working at the famed Spago in Beverly Hills), a WSET Level 3 holder, and creator of the wine series “Adulting with Alcohol” on YouTube. And last year, she debuted a wine apparel line with fabulous taglines like “Vote for Pedro Ximénez” or “Run DRC.”
Recently, Cristie added to her list of accomplishments with the launch of the Online Wine Course. She asked various members of the wine community to take the course and give her an honest review and feedback. You can read my review here. However, I was so impressed by the course, I decided to dedicate a blog post to reviewing it in a bit more detail . . .
The Online Wine Course is designed for wine newbies – Cristie refers to it as “a Driver’s Ed Course in Wine.” It covers a wide range of wine topics in a fun and easy to understand way. The course consists of over 60 short videos – the majority of which are under 2 minutes, which is perfect in keeping with today’s Twitter and Instagram attention spans. You can go at your own pace, doing one video or several at a time. Another plus: these videos flow into each other – so you can binge watch with minimal effort!
There are handouts corresponding to each video that you can download and/or print out to follow along. And if you know me, you know how much I love handouts. 🙂 You’re much more likely to remember something if you write it down! For anyone doing the course, I highly recommend printing these out and completing them alongside the videos. They’re helpful for completing the quizzes at the end of each section and, if you’re a super wine geek like me, they would be great to keep in a notebook for future reference.
Yes, there are quizzes. They’re timed (10 minutes) and either multiple choice or True/False. But don’t stress – you can take them as many times as you’d like if you miss any questions. And I might have had to do that . . .
While her website provides an overview as to what’s included in the course – here’s a little more detail – and in outline form of course!
I. Intro to Wine
II. How to Taste Wine
A. Structure – Acidity, Tannin & Sugar
B. Aromas/Flavors
III. Sparkling Wine
A. Methods of Production & Styles
B. Styles (Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, Crémant)
C. How to Open a Bottle of Sparkling Wine. (Hint: it doesn’t look anything like these). 
IV. Important White Grapes & Red Grapes. Thankfully she includes the correct pronunciation of the Willamette Valley here. Never ceases to amaze me how many people say it incorrectly.
V. Why is Wine so Expensive?
A. Use of Oak. Cristie includes mention of oak chips here – which (impressively) she doesn’t shame. She just sticks to the facts like “yep, some bulk producers use them” and doesn’t give her personal opinion. And believe me, we wine folk have TONS of opinions!
B. Winemaking Decisions
C. Marketing. She does briefly mention influencers here – as she should – she is one!
VI. How to Open and Serve Wine.
A. This includes a detailed demonstration – which, of course, she makes look so damn easy. Even after watching this several times AND being shown in person by a Master Sommelier – I still cannot get the knife right!
B. Like many things these days, there is some product placement during this section. However, unlike Game of Thrones and Starbucks, both products Cristie mentions make sense. And as someone who Hubs often refers to as “Jane Q Public” – I found myself interested in both. (Albeit a bit skeptical that one claims to keep a wine fresh after being opened for weeks or months . . . )
VII. Terroir
A. One of the most controversial words in the wine world (this and influencer). Cristie gives the big picture of how soils, climate, etc. all factor into a wine. She also does a particularly excellent job of describing the differences between Old World and New World here.
B. Note: I see this word misspelled constantly. Usually the vowels are mixed up and it looks like Terrior. Here’s how I remember it: “how do you spell Terroir?” “oh, I don’t know” Get it? O I. You’re welcome. (Hubs Note: Nerd.)
VIII. France
A. Great introductory explanation of more complicated topics like the 1855 Classification, Napoleonic Code and Burgundy pyramid. Something even more advanced wine aficionados struggle with!
B. The quiz questions definitely start to get tougher here – I highly recommend using her worksheets!
IX. Italy
A. Somewhat ironically, this was the only section where this Italian Wine Scholar got a question incorrect. 
B. As someone who has studied this region in depth, I truly admire her ability to cut through the minutiae and get right to the important facts. Not easy to do for a country with over 350 native grapes! 
X. The United States (with a brief discussion of my beloved Washington state!)
XI. Spain & Portugal (including mentions of Sherry & Port)
XII. South America
XIII. Germany (she admirably tackles the complicated topic of sweetness levels in German wines – something I STILL need to reconfirm on occasion!)
XIV. Other Southern Hemisphere Countries: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
XV. Food & Wine Pairing. I’ve taken several classes on this topic, yet Cristie manages to explain concepts in a unique way that I’ve never seen before.
To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing else out there like the Online Wine Course. Sure, there are plenty of books – Wine Folly and The Wine Bible are two of my top recommendations for people who are newer to wine. There are also classes like the WSET Level 1 or the Introductory Sommelier Course if you’d prefer to go the certification route. However, there’s a certain degree of formality with these types of classes and you’re at the mercy of their schedule. There’s little, if any, flexibility – and unfortunately, attending in your PJs is frowned upon.
On her site, Cristie mentions that “reaching millennials is the key.” And unless you’ve been avoiding all forms of social media, you’re probably well aware of the wine industry’s efforts (or lack thereof) of doing just that. However, I can see someone of an, ahem, “older generation” (present company included!) enjoying this course just as much. The Online Wine Course would be a great gift for someone just starting out in wine – whatever their age.
Outwines 