Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathon Alsop.
Jonathon, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started life as a corporate speech writer, and that’s where I got my first opportunity to write about wine and food in 1988. After about ten years of writing freelance about wine and the wine world, I taught my first wine class for Brookline Adult & Continuing Education, and I was hooked. I taught classes around town for a few years, then I started doing classes in my own wine cellar – aka our basement. In 2007, the Boston Wine School opened on Comm Ave. in Allston, and this May is our tenth birthday.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road, but the ride has been delightful! Of course, at the beginning, everyone said it couldn’t be done, that wine lovers wouldn’t pay good money for great wine education, but they were wrong. The Great Recession years were a challenge – our private wine party and corporate event business went for 50% of our business to 0% overnight – but we doubled down on our public wine education curriculum because we had to, and we survived.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Boston Wine School story. Tell us more about the business.
Boston Wine School is a guaranteed 100% snob-free zone where you can come to learn about wine no matter who you are, how much you know, or how new you are to wine. Most wine education focuses on the wine industry side of the business – importers, sommeliers, restaurants and retailers – but that’s only 1% of the wine world, and our focus is on the other 99% of wine lovers who have no place else to learn about wine. I’m most proud that our style of teaching isn’t hierarchical – we don’t sit in a big tall chair and transfer knowledge down from us to you. We meet people where they are in their wine lives, we respect people’s taste in wine, and we open doors to help people love and understand wine even more than they thought possible. What sets us apart is that we’re a bridge in a wine world that’s built mostly out of walls.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I believe we’ll continue to see even more deregulation in the wine industry itself in the next 5-10 years. Most of the laws on the books come from the 1930s when Prohibition ended, and they don’t apply anymore. We’ve been teaching wine in China for the last three or four years, and that side of the business will continue to be explosive and transformative for us.
Pricing:
- 2-hour classes are $59-$69 a person
- 4-week in-depth classes are $250-$500 a person
- Class + dinner classes are $129
Contact Info:
- Address: Boston Wine School
@ Boston Public Market
@ Solera Wines in Roslindale Village
@ Busa Wines in Burlington
@ Cellar Door in Ipswich - Website: http://BostonWineSchool.com
- Phone: 844-WINE-SCHOOL (946-3724)
- Email: info@BostonWineSchool.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/bostonwineschool
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/bostonwineschool
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/boswineschool
- Yelp: http://yelp.com/biz/boston-wine-school-boston
- Other: WeChat: BostonWineSchool
Image Credit:
Boston Wine School
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