Beyond the Label: Decoding Great Wine
Old World vs. New World: A Blind Comparison

Register for education but sign up for access to incredible wines:

- rare wines
- comparative tastings
- blind formats
- insider frameworks

Instructor: Len Tolstunov (Calistoga Wine Society)

Price: $65

Member Price: $48.75 - $58.50, depending on membership level (click here to learn more about membership)

Saturday, May 2 from 12-3pm: International white wines of Germany, France, and California: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. Wine seminar and blind tasting.

A focused exploration of the world’s great white wines—featuring benchmark expressions from Germany, France, and California. Precision, minerality, and age-worthiness are revealed in the glass. From the tension of German Riesling to the depth of white Burgundy and the energy of California’s finest—an in-depth look at how place shapes the world’s most compelling white wines.

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MEET THE INSTRUCTOR

Since graduation from UCSF, Len Tolstunov has been working as an oral surgeon in San Francisco for the last 30 years, as well teaching and doing research. He wrote three books in his medical specialty and had always been a passionate teacher. Len and Marina have been coming to Calistoga for the last 25 years. After taking a WSET wine education course, level 3 with honors in 2016, they started to spend more time in Napa and eventually bought a house in Calistoga. In 2022, Len started Calistoga Wine Society for our town as a unifying force for those who loved wine and wanted to meet and learn more about wine. In 2025, CWS celebrated its 3-year anniversary. From a small passionate wine-loving group to a 300-member strong society, this organization became an intimate part of the local community with social and educational wine events. For the last two years, Len has become a writer-contributor for the Calistoga Tribune newspaper publishing wine articles in the “Conversations Uncorked” column as well as “Winemaker interviews” with local Calistoga-based winemakers. “Understanding Wine: from Vine to Glass” wine class is the natural continuation of many private wine seminars, now in a brand-new beautiful facility – Brannan Center of Calistoga.

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