France 44 Italian Wine Class ToDoTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Wine

France 44 Italian Wine Class

Date: May 5, 2026

4351 France Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55410

Phone: (612) 925-3252

www.france44.com

We enjoy learning about wines. We enjoy learning about wines from around the world. We usually take wine classes from Doug in the basement of North Loop Wine & Spirits on Washington across from Runyons. Doug runs a series called 6 oz pour. With a class from Doug you will leave knowing not only the wines from the region, but also the history and geographics of the region plus what makes the region special. We go to about one of Dougs classes a month.

But North Loop Wine & Spirits and Doug are not the only wine classes in town. We have taken classes from Ridgedale Haskels and though we have tasted there, these were our first classes at France 44, the other great wine shop in town. Interestingly Doug had an Italian wine class in Mid April, Haskels had less of a class more of a tasting of Italian Wines in Late April and France had an Italian Wine Class in early May, we took them all one week apart from each other. It was interesting to compare the three.

This was our First Class at France 44. People raved about the Facility and it is great. France 44 added a room above the entrance for classes. It has a fireplace, big screen TV, nice chairs and room for a 50 person tasting. It is without question the facilities are first rate.

After ten years of tasting, it amazes how much there is to learn. Three classes on Italian Wine we should know everything there is to know about Italian Wines. Except there are 400 wine grapes unique to Italy 300 DOCs or wine regions in the country the size of MN.

There is more to a wine tasting then just sipping wine. Is the tasting using the correct wine glasses. Wine glasses amaze me, and others. There are six different taste bud area on our tongues and certain wine glasses are engineered to put the wine in each of those areas to high light that wine. I called BS and others have too, but we have been proved wrong. Great wine in the wrong glass makes a huge difference. All the wine glasses at France 44 Class were generic wine glasses. Doug’s 6 oz classes pairs the wine with the glass it is to be drank in. We found it strange the difference.

The wines at the France 44 were not unique or exceptional. We found nothing interesting to buy. As opposed to learning about regions of Italy it was more about talking about the six wines they poured. The tasting started at 6PM which made it tough from us from the North Metro to make it to Edina during rush hour. 6:30 would have been better.

We looked at the upcoming classes and nothing sounds like it worth the rush hour trip. We’ll wait for the Dougs 6 Oz classes.