Vitis House — Local services in Raleigh

Update for WSET Level 3 November 2023: I just completed the WSET Level 3 course with the Vitis House Wine School in Raleigh, NC. In keeping with my prior experience with the Vitis House Wine School for the WSET Level 2 course, this experience was every bit as exceptional and even more so! My instructor for both the Level 2 and Level 3 courses was Sarah Malik. I do not believe that there could be a more knowledgeable, enthusiastic, encouraging, personable and helpful instructor than Sarah! Learning about wine is in itself a fun and rewarding experience, however given Sarah's expertise from advanced certifications (WSET Diploma, among others) and her first hand knowledge of the world's wine regions and wines through her extensive travel, we had an educational experience that likely could not be exceeded! Doreen Colondres, the Vitis House founder and chef extraordinaire, regrettably was unable to participate in person for this course as she had done for the Level 2 course, because she was hosting a Vitis House food and wine travel group to Spain. She did however check in frequently with us and kept us updated on the great experience that the travel group was having. We certainly missed her fun personality and the gourmet meal that she had prepared for us during the Level 2 course! In summary, if anyone has an interest in pursuing wine education at most any level, I would highly recommend doing so with the Vitis House Wine School in Raleigh, NC. And certainly, if your objective is the WSET Level 2 and/or Level 3 courses, you can rest assured that you will be well prepared for the respective certifying examinations and have a very enjoyable experience to boot!

Previous Post for WSET Level 2 June 2022: The course for the WSET Level 2 with the Vitis House this past weekend, far exceeded my expectations! The preparation and educational experience was well worth the tuition price. However, the very personal attention and support that all the participants received was above and beyond and made us feel welcomed, encouraged and well-prepared. The course, along with our own personal study of the course materials, prepared us very well for the Level 2 exam, yet we learned so much more about the world of wine from our expert instructor Sara Malik. Sara shared so much insight and interesting anecdotes from the perspective of an expert wine educator. Doreen Colondres organized the course, and treated us to a gourmet meal that paired perfectly with the Spanish wines that we were tasting. We found nothing lacking. I would highly recommend the Vitis House for anyone considering the WSET Level 2 course and I plan to pursue the Level 3 course with them in the...

Stay healthy. My wife purchased a couple spots for the "Whiskey or Bourbon?" class for Christmas and we were both really looking forward to it. Flash forward to this past Saturday and we were both getting over a bad cold. Not wanting to risk infecting anyone, my wife called and emailed asking if we could possibly transfer the tickets to the next available class in April.

We were told all sales were final and they can't transfer our seats to the next event because the food had already been purchased. Their solution was for us to find a couple friends who could book spots for the April class, give those tickets to us, and they use our tickets for the night we were unable to attend.

We didn't want a refund, which is what we assumed "all sales are final" actually meant. We simply wanted to move the tickets to a different day. Some of the other classes look really interesting and if the "Bourbon or Whiskey?" class went well, we likely would have explored taking additional classes. There is zero chance of us looking into any classes there in the future if there is zero chance of working with the customers when faced with an unfortunate situation. The food cost for the even couldn't be more than $10 or so per person. Not sure why that would be a reason for a company not to work with a customer.

I never thought I'd find another business with the same event policy as Ticketmaster, but...

I had an outstanding experience at Vitis House when I took the French Wine Scholar Course. It was held in an easily accessible classroom with more than adequate distance between desks. The instructor was terrific, very knowledgeable about all French wine regions. She was more than willing to Answer questions and share some of her personal experiences in the wine business. The pace of the course was intense because of the volume of material that had to be covered. Our instructor also held 2 two hour ZOOM review sessions as we prepared for the exam.As for the course itself, I would recommend it for someone who is seeking a broad understanding of French wine. Though students taste wine, the course is not a tasting class. The course focuses on such things as the geography,climate and soils that enable winemakers in France to produce their wines. Heartedly...