Virtual Class Series with James Sligh!

When James Sligh reached out to us at Chambers Street to partner up for an interactive virtual wine class series, we knew it would be a great fit! James has been a frequent customer and friend of the shop for quite some time now, and his experience in the industry, not to mention his time spent working alongside Pascaline Lepeltier at Rouge Tomate, helped align his philosophy on winegrowing with ours. James began, as many of us in this business do, as a 'cellar-rat' (an endearing term for someone who organizes and fetches wine bottles for a restaurant) at Pearl & Ash, before working his way up to the floor as a sommelier. Before this, however, James honed his skills as an educator of language and music (and what is wine, if not a beautiful language to learn?) which he carried on to the inventive classes being held for industry and amateurs alike over at Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels. Perhaps most encouraging, are his efforts this summer, alongside Jirka Jireh, to open up the often exclusive (read: excluding) world of wine to BIPOC beverage professionals,  together creating the series, 'Industry Sessions'.   Today we are thrilled to introduce James' newest educational series with wines from underrepresented regions and grape varieties!  

There are more great wines being made in more places in the world than a wine professional in my shoes thirty years ago could have dreamed of. 

This is more a question of rediscovery than of novelty. Growers on both sides of the world are reanimating the soils of regions with centuries of history that have been misunderstood, or sidelined. Often, they’re putting their wines into bottle and shipping them overseas for the first time. And in many places, all of this has happened within the last two decades.

On the one hand: farming the way your grandfather did, or reviving premodern winemaking traditions. On the other: people who tradition has locked out of winemaking, land ownership, and compensation for their labor, fighting for, and gaining, access.

I got into wine because I found you can see the entire world through it. What do you want to think about? Geology? History? Culture, chemistry, hedonism, ethical philosophy? It’s all in the glass.

A few years ago, I started hand-drawing maps to help me explain wine regions to people. How, if you just looked at where the ground changed and the water flowed — and if you knew what the weather was like, and where the money was — you could see how these places made sense. 

These days, that kind of travel has to be in large part virtual. I used to be able to do this behind a bar, on the floor, in a retail shop. But even through a screen, I love helping people drink in context, express their likes and dislikes more confidently, understand why the thing in their glass is doing what it’s doing, who made it, and what their story is. 

Some of these classes are deep dives and detailed regional explorations. Others are pitched to those of you who want to more casually explore new grape varieties or wine styles and have some wines to pair with dinner. 

Either way, I hope you’ll find something in each week’s slate of class topics that sparks curiosity, and looks delicious.

- James

**orders must be received by Sept. 14th to guarantee arrival in time**