My husband and I, both members of Houston’s Italian Cultural & Community Center (ICCC) and frequent guests at their wine tastings (read about past events here and here), were thrilled to attend their first ever Italian wine seminar in four two-hour classes over the course of four weeks, led by Master Sommelier Craig Collins (Meet the Sommelier at the bottom).  

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a wine drinker, not a collector, and certainly not an expert.  So rather than regurgitating sommelier speak, wine terms I may or may not need to google, and tasting notes that include something more profound than smiley faces and hearts, I’d like to simply share some general guidelines from the seminar that I found particularly interesting, key points learned from each class, surprising stigmas I’ve abandoned after attending this seminar, and a few profound (I’m not exaggerating) words of wisdom from Master Sommelier Craig Collins.