You can rent our beautiful Education and Event Center located on the top floor of South San Francisco's historic Fraternal Hall for your next meeting, reception, or private dining experience. Themes can be selected from packages below or completely customized.
Virtual and Hybrid experiences are also an option with custom wine tasting kits & glassware delivery available for online attendees to almost any state in the US. Learn more about our how hybrid classes and events work.
We can also come to YOU! We've hosted countless offsite events in homes, offices, hotels, and restaurants, even aboard busses and boats around the globe!
Rent Our Venue
Our gorgeous sunlight-filled Education & Event Center boasts 16-ft high coved ceilings, eight 12-ft tall windows, and gorgeous 180 degree views of the San Bruno Mountains, City Hall and the San Francisco Bay. Two sets of moveable acoustic walls allow us to configure our 4,000 sq ft venue in a variety of ways - from three private rooms to one grand event space. Modular furniture allows table seating for 130 and walk-around gatherings of up to 400. Our state-of-the-art AV system with multiple mobile 80" monitors puts your content in just the right place and is capable of providing the highest quality hybrid event experience around. Catering options are endless. All guests must be 21 or older. See our latest COVID-19 Information
Our Virtual Tour
What type of events do we offer?
- corporate off-site meetings
- mini-conferences
- private dining experiences
- celebratory & networking receptions
- team-building experiences
- private wine education
- walk around tastings
- masterclasses
- certification classes & exams
- competitions
- educational seminars
- industry talks, panels and demos
- mini conferences
Private Experience Packages
All Private Experience Packages include Wine, Instructor & Gratuity. Additional venue fees and taxes may apply depending on selected experience. Virtual Experiennces are available for most themes. Additional planning and travel fees apply to offsite events. Customized experiences are always an option. Min Onsite / Offsite Event Fee = $1,500 / $2000 excluding food.
Seated Educational Experiences
(In-person & Virtual Available)
THE perfect foundational class for wine lovers of all experience levels! You and your guests will have a blast learning professional blind wine tasting techniques at San Francisco Wine School! Let one of our industry leading instructors teach you how to talk about wine using a common language and identify varietals, region, and age based on sight, smell and taste alone. Discover what characteristics you like and don’t and become a more savvy consumer. Once you’ve got the hang of the techniques, test your new skills with a friendly competition if time allows. Add some welcome bubbles and bites or stay for a private dining experience after your event. This makes a fantastic social event or team building exercise and will surely be a hit with your group!
Learn about what it takes to make a great blend in this fun and competitive team setting! Your group will explore 4 different varietals, how they interact together when combined, and how to read and create a wine label. Then we’ll set them loose to create their own custom blends, name their wines, design their own labels and even create and perform their own commercials when time allows. Judging can be done by your instructor or by panel. Awards may be given for Best Blend, Best Label, and Best Commercial. Teams can enjoy the rest of the wine after class for happy hour as they share their team experiences with each other - a great time to add in some hors d'oeuvres.
In 1976, Steven Spurrier's world famous Judgment of Paris brought California into the forefront of the wine scene when a 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won the blind French competition. In this fun and engaging tasting, our instructors will guide guests through a series of wine flights comparing the same varietals from California & France noticing differences in fruit, earth, wood & other aromas as well as other differentiating characteristics such as sugar, acid, tannin & alcohol. Blind tasting techniques will be discussed throughout the session and your group will have a blast judging which wine is which. Kick your event off right with some bubbles and bites when you arrive or stay for a private dining experience after your event. This makes a fantastic social event or team building exercise and will surely be a hit with your group!
We can help you host an engaging and interactive Judgment of Paris style Battle of the Grapes using many different varieties and regions! Compare the same varietal wine from different places. How about Italy vs California where you can choose from Pinot Grigio, Vermentino, Sangiovese, Barbera and others. The possibilities are endless! Your instructor will guide you through the history of the grapes and winemaking in those regions. Which wine is which? Which is the favorite? This is a very fun, hands-on way to enjoy tasting and learning together as a group!
Our 2020 Special Virtual Sips with Soul Charity Event featuring 23 Black Sommeliers and Black Owned Wineries was a huge hit! You too can experience this fun and engaging guided tasting experience! Let one of San Francisco Wine School Instructors lead you through a flight of wines featured in the event, while sharing the history and stories of each along with excerpted sommelier / winery owner presentations from the event itself! A portion your event fee will be donated to San Francisco's Museum of African Diaspora.
Bubbles are never wrong according to Master Sommelier David Glancy! In this fun and educational session, our Industry Leading Instructors will guide you through a flight of sparkling wines from around the world. You'll learn about the history of sparkling wine, various production methods, as well as common regions, grapes and styles. This experience is a must for sparkling wine lovers and those seeking to improve their wine tasting skills and knowledge. This makes a perfect celebratory event for your group!
Not all Napa Cabernet is the same! With this Napa Elevations Edu-tasting, our instructors will provide you with an in-depth tour and guided tasting of the world-famous Napa Valley, exploring the diversity of soils, exposures, and elevations that contribute to the wide diversity of wine styles in this region. Your guests will love the guided blind tasting of four carefully selected Cabernets of similar vintage and blend from four different elevations and sub-AVAs of the valley. With this eye opening experience, you'll begin to decode the impact that elevation and other factors can have on the finished wine!
Our industry leading instructors will guide the audience through 16-36 different combinations of flavors and wine while discussing the fundamentals of food & wine pairing theory. The audience will discover some heavenly delights and horrific train wrecks and leave knowing first hand what works and doesn’t at the dinner table.
Do you buy wines by the numbers? With all of the information available at our fingertips these days, many people do! Have you ever stopped to think about how those ratings are actually determined and what they really say about the wine in the bottle? In this eye opening discussion, we'll explain the methodologies and differences in today’s wine awards, rating systems, and competing critics' palates and styles. Then you'll taste highly rated wine against low/no rating wine. Can you tell the difference? Which wine do YOU like best? Is it the same as your fellow guests? How aligned is your palate with the critics and how might your future wine selection habits change as a result?
Any of our 100+ public classes can be conducted privately for your group and customized for your preferences. Browse our wide array of Public Workshops for inspiration...
Reception Style Experiences
(our location or yours)
Private Dining Experiences
(our location or yours)
Enjoy the beautiful views of City Hall, The San Bruno Mountains and the San Francisco Bay from your own private room where one of San Francisco Wine School’s industry leading instructors will be dedicated to your service and lead your guests through an engaging an engaging private dining experience prepared by Resident Chef Cynthia Bloebaum and Master Sommelier David Glancy. Explore and savor a flight of distinctly different wines designed to illuminate food and wine pairing theory as you mix and match the combinations throughout your meal. Discover your perfect bite and those of your peers as you engage in lively discussions during this special evening and take home new knowledge and an appreciation for food and wine "playing.”
Let one of San Francisco Wine School’s industry-leading instructors guide your guests through a private dining experience you'll never forget! Enjoy a multi-course tasting menu prepared by Resident Chef Cynthia Bloebaum with pairings designed by Master Sommelier David Glancy. He’ll select two wines for each course designed to compare and contrast with the flavor components of each dish and illuminate various aspects of food & wine pairing theory. You may select your theme of California vs France, Northern vs Southern Italy, Spain vs Portugal, Red vs White, or dream up your own! Which pairing will be the crowd favorite?
Don't miss our one of a kind Virtual & Hybrid Events!
We love bringing people together from all over the world for private virtual and hybrid edu-tastings and events! The theme possibilities are endless! We'll select from thousands of wines across the globe to create custom wine tasting kits exclusively for your experience and deliver to almost any state in the US. We'll even include Riedel glassware when desired. Read about one client's virtual experience.
Events Gallery
Exquisite Catered Events
From simple bites and platters to family style buffets and multi-course tasting menus, we offer a wide arrange of catering services at to round out your experience at San Francisco Wine School
Testimonials
I couldn't have asked for a better experience planning, then pulling off a fantastic surprise private dinner for my wife’s birthday. The SFWS team asked thoughtful questions about the evening's goals and her tastes, then worked with me to put together a wonderful menu with excellent wine pairings that also fit within my budget. Their team was extremely knowledgeable, fun and enthusiastic about not only the delicious food and wine, but also about making sure the guests had a wonderful evening. Our group was very curious and enjoyed the time David spent explaining the food, wine and rationale behind each pairing. The team also knew just when to "be invisible” during our toasts and stories. The event ran long, but the team continued to support us with good cheer until the last guest departed. All in all, it was an extremely well executed and memorable evening. I couldn't more strongly recommend a private event at SFWS.
Google
I received lots of compliments from the guests saying they really loved the innovative social engagement and educational component of the virtual event. David’s energy also kept the experience lively and fun!
SF Council of Dist Merchants Assoc
Our instructor had lots of experience regarding the world of wine, i.e.: talking and explaining about wine, telling stories, he knows where to put the focus, where to move on, how to run the event smoothly and most important he didn't make us feel clueless about wine. he was waking us hand by hand and showed us few wine secrets we will use from now on. He was funny and i was surprised he did not hard stop after 1.5 hours but gave us 10-15 min extra for q&a. i would recommend him to every event!
Intel
We had an incredible event, with many thanks to the pre-planning process. The day of was seamlessly executed by your entire team. The feedback on all the tasting staff was great - knowledgeable, passionate about wine and their work, and approachable (very important). Thank you to David for being actively involved, sharing about the SFWS and the wine/bites pairings (going above and beyond to customize it), and the waitstaff. Many kudos to the chef for her incredible skill and selection of items (the artichoke "mock" cake was brilliant and favorite of many). And even down to the end, Wilbert who helped us load items downstairs. We look forward to many more events together, and hopefully a partnership.
Watermark
Our Clients
