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!
What type of events do we offer?
We host a wide range of events for any occasion. Take our Virtual Tour and view our Private Experience Packages below.
Corporate Events & Private Parties
- corporate off-site meetings
- mini-conferences
- private dining experiences
- celebratory & networking receptions
- team-building experiences
- private wine education
Wine Industry Events
- 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 and Hybrid 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.
Popular Theme Ideas
View our tried and true wine event theme ideas that your guests rave about! We're also happy to brainstorm anytime. Contact us today.
Seated Educational Experiences
Our Location, Yours, Online, or Hybrid with custom tasting kits delivered across the US!
Taste Like A Pro - Blind Wine Tasting Workshop
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!
Wine Maker For A Day Blending Sessions
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.
Judgement of Paris - California vs France
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!
This theme can easily adapted to feature any regions. Italy vs Spain? California vs Oregon? You name it!
Napa Elevations
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!
Do Points Matter? A Look at Today's Rating Systems
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?
Choose Your Own Adventure
Any of our individual classes can be conducted privately for your group and customized for your preferences. Choose from Wine 101, Food Pairing Lab, Champagne, Natural Wines, or a favorite region, or select your own topic and let Master Sommelier David Glancy create a one of a kind event for YOU!
Reception Style Experiences
Our Location or Yours
Perfect Flights Edu-Tasting Bar
Custom curated wine flights selected by Master Sommelier David Glancy and hosted by one of San Francisco Wine School’s industry leading instructors who will guide your guests through the stories behind each wine selected including producer history, wine characteristics, regional influences, climate, soils and primary grape profiles. Select your own theme or let us suggest one for you. This is a great way to kickoff a seated educational or private dining experience. This theme can be easily adapted for guests who prefer beer, sake, and non-alcoholic beverages!
Perfect Pairings Beverages & Bites Edu-Tasting Reception
Find your perfect bite! Enjoy custom curated food & wine pairings selected by Master Sommelier David Glancy and prepared by our Resident Chef or your own caterer. Your event will be hosted by one of San Francisco Wine School’s industry leading instructors who will guide your guests through an engaging food & wine pairing experience as your guests explore several bites and sips discussing the unique wine and food combinations and why they work together.
Select your own theme or let us suggest one for you. This is a great way to kickoff a seated educational or private dining experience. This theme can be easily adapted for guests who prefer beer, sake, and non-alcoholic beverages!
Private Dining Experiences
Our Location or Yours
Classic Food "Playing" Experience
Enjoy the beautiful views of South San Francisco's City Hall, the San Bruno Mountains and the San Francisco Bay from your own top floor private room where one of San Francisco Wine School’s industry leading instructors will be dedicated to your service. They'll edu-tain your guests through an engaging private dining experience prepared by our Resident Chef or the caterer of your choice and Master Sommelier David Glancy.
You'll 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 enjoy lively discussions throughout this special evening and take home new knowledge and an appreciation for food and wine "playing.”
This theme can be easily adapted for guests who prefer beer, sake, and non-alcoholic beverages!
The Ultimate Food Pairing Experience
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 our Resident Chef or the caterer of your choice 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?
This theme can be easily adapted for guests who prefer beer, sake, and non-alcoholic beverages!
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.
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 and AI cameras with Zoom Room capabilities 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.
Our Virtual Tour
Exquisite Catered Events
Testimonials
Jon Hazard, Google
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.
Erin Tselenchuk, Watermark
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.
Anat Waxman, Intel
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!
Adriana Hemzacek, Commuter Rail Coalition
I received such amazing feedback all day yesterday. Your team was so professional and everyone called the night, elegant and well-thought out.
Vas Kiniris, SF Council of Dist Merchants Assoc
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!