Online wine education • Coming soon
The Wine Consulting
Firm Academy
Make better wine. Build better wineries. Transform wine businesses.
Learn with Sébastien Marquet through practical lessons, real cellar decisions, and structured mentorship—from grape to bottle and from idea to winery.
Programs are in development. Launch dates, final tuition, and enrollment details will be announced.
Choose your starting point
Three paths to better winemaking
01 • Foundations
Winemaking Fundamentals
Understand how wine is made, from vineyard and harvest through fermentation, aging, blending, and bottling. Learn what each decision changes in the glass.
View the curriculum02 • Professional practice
Professional Winemaking
Move from following instructions to making informed commercial winemaking decisions. Work through harvest plans, lab reports, fermentation problems, and blending trials.
View the curriculum03 • Personal guidance
Winemaker Mentorship
Bring your own wine, vineyard, or winery project. Develop your judgment with private sessions, group masterclasses, and review of your production decisions.
Apply for mentorshipFrom grape to bottle
What you will learn
Each program connects the science to the wine, the decision, and the result. Explore the planned curriculum below.
Winemaking Fundamentals — 8 modules
- From vineyard to bottle: the winemaker’s role
- Grapes, terroir, and harvest decisions
- Fruit processing and winery operations
- Fermentation: turning grapes into wine
- Wine chemistry made simple
- Aging, barrels, and building style
- Blending, wine faults, and bottling preparation
- The Winemaker’s Table: a complete vintage case study
Your outcome: Understand the production cycle, interpret basic wine information, and explain how winemaking choices shape wine style.
Ask about FundamentalsProfessional Winemaking — 12 modules + live sessions
- Vineyard assessment and harvest decisions
- Harvest planning and winery preparation
- Fruit processing and must management
- Alcoholic fermentation and monitoring
- Red wine production and extraction
- White, rosé, and alternative styles
- Professional wine chemistry and lab interpretation
- Malolactic fermentation and microbiology
- Barrel aging and cellar management
- Troubleshooting and corrective winemaking
- Blending, sensory evaluation, and house style
- Stabilization, filtration, and bottling
Six planned live workshops: Harvest decisions; fermentation troubleshooting; wine chemistry and laboratory analysis; barrel programs; blending; and Ask the Consulting Winemaker.
Practical work: Harvest plans, fermentation logs, lot tracking, bench trials, blending worksheets, and a final “You Are the Winemaker” vintage simulation.
Ask about Professional WinemakingWinemaker Mentorship — your project, with guidance
Begin with a private diagnostic consultation and an individual development plan. Then work through six themes: wine and vineyard assessment; harvest strategy; fermentation; élevage and barrels; blending and style; and bottling and commercial readiness.
Planned support: One private 60-minute session each month, monthly group masterclasses, review of laboratory results and production protocols, and structured questions between sessions. The schedule will be adapted to your project and production season.
Your outcome: A documented plan and a stronger process for making decisions about your own wine or winery project.
Discuss your mentorship projectOur teaching approach
Think like a winemaker.
Here are the numbers. Here is what we are tasting. What would you do?
Lessons use real-world situations: deciding when to pick, investigating a slowing fermentation, choosing barrels, or assembling a blend. You make the decision, then Sébastien explains his approach and the tradeoffs.
The science → The wine → The decision → The result
Taste. Measure. Understand. Trial. Decide. Follow.
Technical references support the science. Practical exercises, case studies, and professional judgment bring it into the cellar.
Your instructor
Sébastien Marquet
Rooted in Burgundy and shaped by more than 35 years in the wine industry, Sébastien brings experience across France and the United States to every lesson.
Through The Wine Consulting Firm, he has helped producers improve their wines, guided future winery owners from concept to operation, and supported existing wineries as they develop their brands and businesses.
The Academy brings that experience into an accessible online format, with a focus on the decisions people face in actual vineyards, cellars, and winery projects.
Meet The Wine Consulting FirmMake. Build. Transform.
Learning that grows with your ambitions
Make better wine
Build your technical understanding, strengthen your palate, and develop confidence in production decisions.
Build your winery
Future Academy programs will explore fruit sourcing, facilities, equipment, production planning, costs, and opening a winery.
Transform your business
Future programs will address wine quality, portfolio, positioning, rebranding, tasting-room performance, and business improvement.
Build and Transform education programs are planned for a later phase. Winery development and improvement consulting is available through The Wine Consulting Firm.
Discuss a consulting project