Food & DrinkThe ProfessorBeginner
Tasting French Wine, a free food & drink course on Tomo

Tasting French Wine

Like Duolingo, but for Tasting French Wine. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

24 levels across 4 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Sensory Foundation, Decoding the French System, Judging Structure and Quality, and The Professional's Toolkit. It starts from scratch.

24 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Benoit the Bear, the guide who teaches the Tasting French Wine course
Tasting French Wine
with Benoit the Bear
24
Levels
4
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Tasting French Wine

  • White wines darken and red wines lighten/brown as they age
  • Viscous streaks on the glass indicate higher alcohol or sugar levels
  • Swirling increases the surface area of the wine exposed to air
  • Oxygen helps 'open up' the wine, making the smells easier to detect
  • Interpreting visual cues in the glass
  • Understanding the purpose of swirling
  • Drawing air over the wine helps vaporize the aromas
  • The tongue only detects basic tastes like sweet, sour, and bitter
  • Air carries the wine's scents from the back of the mouth up into the nose
  • Complex flavors like specific fruits or spices are actually perceived by the nose
  • Distinguishing between tongue-tastes and nose-aromas
  • A 'long finish' means the flavor lingers for several seconds after swallowing
  • Applying the aerated sipping technique
  • High-quality wines have a persistent finish, while cheaper wines often 'disappear' quickly
  • Using the finish to judge quality
  • Primary aromas are the natural scents of the grape itself
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Tasting French Wine the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Visual Cues and Aeration

If you notice thick, slow-moving 'legs' on the side of your wine glass, what does this tell you about the wine?

Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.

Course map

Where Tasting French Wine takes you

Develop a professional palate by mastering the systematic tasting method and decoding the complex world of French appellations. This course provides the foundational sensory skills and regional knowledge required for a career in the wine industry.

  1. 1

    The Sensory Foundation

    • The Four-Step Tasting Ritual
    • Identifying French Aromas
  2. 2

    Decoding the French System

    • The Logic of the AOC Label
    • The Major Grapes and Regions
  3. 3

    Judging Structure and Quality

    • Feeling the Wine's Structure
    • Assessing Aging and Potential
  4. 4

    The Professional's Toolkit

    • Service and Glassware Science
    • French Food Pairing Logic

4 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Tasting French Wine is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Start free

Start Tasting French Wine today.

Download Tomo, search Tasting French Wine, and play your first lesson in under a minute.