Sydney Wine Centre

I went to one of Sydney Wine Centre's French wine and cheese pairing classes and had the best time! Jim is incredibly knowledgable, warm and charismatic. As a novice I felt I came away with a better understanding of how to taste wine. The cheeses from Simon Johnson were delicious, and in very generous serving sizes too. A great experience, highly recommend!

Such a great experience! I booked a class as a gift for my partner and they reached out to offer a personalised gift certificate and made it with my exact message. The attention to detail was fantastic :) I'm sure he's going to love the class

Fantastic evening...tasted beautiful Italian wines whilst getting to know the origins of the wine and the regions. Jim has the ability to pass on his knowledge in a friendly and fun manner. The accompanying food was as good as the wines. Highly recommend the experience. I am looking forward to attending another wine tasting evening soon.

I was given tickets to a tasting at the Sydney Wine Centre as a gift. I went to a Discover Spanish Wine Tasting not knowing what to expect but had a brilliant time.

The staff were extremely friendly, made everyone feel at ease and ensured we all enjoyed ourselves. The presenter was extremely knowledgable and answered everyone's questions and gave me some great tips on places to visit.

We got to taste 10 different wines and the food they served was amazing. They warned us that they were not a restaurant and the food was only meant to show examples of food and wine matching but both the quality and quantity were amazing.

My new go to present for all my friends who enjoy wine.

The Sydney Wine Centre courses are a really good way to increase your wine knowledge and taste some delicious wines. I had a fantastic experience here recently and would recommend to anyone who likes wine. Our host, Jim, was incredibly knowledgeable and made a lasting impression. I'll definitely be going back.

A mate and I went to a French wine and cheese matching at the wine society a few weeks ago. It was absolutely brilliant! I must admit I didn't know too much about either of these French delicacies before arriving, however by the end of the evening I felt like I really had a grasp on what went with what and why. Not to mention a new appreciation of French wines.

Jim, the host, was absolutely wonderful. He is an encyclopaedia of all things wine. He took us on a journey through the French wine regions, from Bordeaux to Burgundy and everywhere in between. He had personal anecdotes for each stop on the map and was an all round personable guy. I thoroughly enjoyed his approach to teaching.

I would highly recommend spending an evening at the wine society, as it is a fun, light hearted and very educational way to enjoy the finer things in life!

Five stars from me.

Riedel Glassware Masterclass was definitely an eyeopener and very educational. The very point of this educational workshop was to demonstrate the difference the shape, depth and quality of the wine glass can make to the taste of the wine. We had absolutely no idea that great wine can turn into 'not-so' great wine and it had us starting to question every bottle of wine we have finished to date. To prove the effectiveness, we were asked several times to transfer the wine between different glasses and notice the difference. In most cases, the acidic features of the wine were brought forward, causing a very un-enjoyable experience that you simply wanted to spit out. Yet when transferring back to the correct glass, pure harmony is achieved once again.

These guys have been brilliant to me and I can't thank them enough. I wasn't able to attend an event my wife had booked but they came up with a generous offer to attend another event and I had a great time learning about wine and cheese. I then asked them to organise a tasting for my company and all of our team and clients can't stop talking about what a great time they had. Would definitely recommend.

Rob, Clara and Tim, thankyou... what an experience. The wine, the knowledge, the service, the passion, the history. We were taken on a journey around our own backyard and the globe. I will now actively promote our local wineries and the Semillon grape! You will not regret participating in this wonderful course. Bring your passion, your brain and a good sense of humour.

Excellent service all-round. Great friendly people who really understand the needs of their customers.

Knowledgeable staff. Great wine selection

So informative. A great experience.

An interesting evening tasting Pinto Noir from the old and new world. Just about the right amount of time. WM was definitely a personality and engaged well with the room. Only negative was the fluorescent lighting (maybe needed to properly see the wine colour?)

Do not waste your money at the Sydney Wine Centre.

My uni student sister saved up her money to purchase me a one day wine appreciation course for my birthday. I was so excited to go but was deeply disappointed!

The material was not engaging. The day consisted of sitting around a table while the course facilitator gave his opinion, in long stream-of-conscious fashion. There was no opportunity to talk among our fellow classmates about the wine, talk about what we wanted to get out of the session or even speak about our initial reactions to the wine. By and large, it was not interactive or participatory. While people ventured questions/ comments, these were more respite from his lecture than the substantive part of the session.

More seriously, the facilitator was leering and made inappropriate remarks to me. It was so uncomfortable. This inappropriateness only served to reinforce the ‘old boys club’ vibe of the centre. There was an apology but the mood was marred.

Lastly, there seemed to be tension between the centre owner and the course facilitator. Customers had to witness their clipped tones, rolling eyes and competition for conversational space throughout the day. It was distracting and weird.

If you want to witness some grade A unprofessionalism and be ranted at by a sexist man trying to relive his glory days, go to the Sydney Wine Centre. If you want to learn something about wine and enjoy yourself, check out cooler places like Cake Wines in Redfern.