François Chartier has been on an aromatic quest since the late 1980s to understand the impact of aromas in our daily lives, more specifically in the world of gastronomy, wine and beverages. The Quebec native has been living in Barcelona since 2016, where he founded Chartier World LAB with his wife and partner, sommelière Isabelle Moren. Chartier world LAB is a multidisciplinary and inclusive Lab based on the aromatic science of molecular harmonies.

His exceptional track record places him in a class of his own, as no international gastronomy professional has ever achieved what this creator of harmonies has achieved to date: winner of the prestigious title of Best Sommelier in the World (Sopexa Grand Prix 1994), he also won the prize for Best Cookbook in the World, twice, in 2010 in Paris and 2016 in China, and Best Wine and Food Pairing Book in the World, in 2013 in Paris.

His passion led him to follow his own path by bypassing some of the rules of his profession. In 2004, he created a new science: that of "Molecular Harmonies", based on the potential for aromatic synergy between foods – which has redefined haute cuisine –, as well as between foods, wines and different beverages. 

Today, François Chartier is an advisor on the research committee for the new SONY AI: Artificial Intelligence & Gastronomy project in Tokyo, and "Master Blender" at one of the country's oldest sake breweries, Tanaka 1789; his first sake Tanaka 1789 X Chartier is available in more than 16 countries. 

Since then, he has never stopped developing his aromatic science and is considered a world expert in aromas. Famous American wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. describes François Chartier as "a pure genius". At the same time, renowned chef Ferran Adrià of elBulli (named the world's best restaurant five times) called him "the number one flavor expert".

In this webinar, Francois Chartier, the creator of the aromatic science of molecular harmonies, will discuss the importance of aging, how it influences the aromatic profile of a wine, and the role of these aromatics in food pairing.

This masterclass will focus on two aging regimens: oak barrels and amphoras. Their aromatic profiles seem to be very different, but in fact, they share many molecules in common! Discover how the aromatics associated with aging and be key to achieving harmony with food.

Francois Chartier, the molecular sommelier, will discuss his aromatic matching methodology by dissecting three Spanish grape varieties at a molecular level. In this presentation, he will analyze Tempranillo, Garnacha and Mencia. Their aromatic profiles will be used to create food synergies in augmented, multiplied and magnified matching: 1 + 1 = 3! Learn how food brings out the best in wine when there is an aromatic match.

Aroma specialist Francois Chartier will discuss four aromatic grape varieties, Gewürztraminer, Malvasia, Moschofilero, and Moscato which are famous for their expressive aromatic profiles but are challenging to match with food…usually because of the presence of residual sugar. In this seminar, you will learn how molecular harmonies can be used to bring you into your comfort zone when matching wine and food!

Gabriel Lepousez is a French neuroscientist and an international expert on sensory perception and brain plasticity. He received his doctorate in Neuroscience from the Paris Sorbonne University, and hold a research position at Institut Pasteur in the Perception and Memory Lab.

For more than fifteen years, Gabriel Lepousez has been exploring the function of brain circuits involved in sensory perception, memory and emotions, uncovering the key role of neuronal plasticity in olfactory learning and perception.

As a wine passionate, Gabriel also offers his scientific expertise to the world of wine education, sharing his extensive knowledge of the brain, this essential “tool” for wine tasting.

In addition to international lectures and contribution to wine education programs, he has co-founded in 2016 L’Ecole du Nez, a neuro-sensory training for wine professionals to understand how the brain works during wine tasting and how to improve our sensory performance.

Your brain —and all its sensory extensions in your eyes, nose and mouth— is your essential “tool” to perceive, remember and judge all the sensory components of wine. But do you really know how your wine tasting “tool” works?  Rather than merely deconstructing wine into its different sensory components, wine tasting is also an active process of reconstruction, involving selective attention and prediction based on prior knowledge. To illustrate this point, we will show to what extent our different senses can influence each other in the representation and description of wine attributes, emphasizing, for instance, how visual information can influence —and even mislead— other senses. Leveraging on the recent progress of brain imaging technics, we will also investigate the flow of information within the different brain regions during wine tasting and highlight the duality between emotional versus analytical processing. Based on these elements, we will discuss the different approaches to wine tasting and how combining those complementary “viewing angles” may enrich the language of wine.

Recent progress in molecular neuroscience has uncovered the nature, diversity and topography of gustatory receptors in our mouth, as well as the nature of the wine molecules which activate each of these taste receptors. In this webinar, we will focus on two gustatory dimensions: acidity and salinity. For each sensation, we will describe the nature of the wine compounds able to trigger those sensations and how to disambiguate the different forms that each of these sensations can take. We will discuss how umami in wine may contribute to a saline finish. We will also focus on the active process of salivation and show its decisive role in wine tasting, notably as our taste baseline. We will demonstrate how salivation can shape and enhance our gustatory perceptions and how the salivation reaction can be informative about wine composition in term of acidity and salinity.

When two people taste the same wine, how similar are their respective perceptions and descriptions of this wine? In this third webinar, we will tackle the key question of sensory variability in wine tasting and highlight to what extent the perception of a wine can differ from one person to another. Recent progress in human genetics has revealed some significant genetic variability in our sensory receptors, notably in olfactory and bitter receptors. In addition to this genetic factor, we will discuss the impact of cultural factors, tasting experience, as well as our physiological and mental states to better appreciate the robustness and reliability of our judgement. We will also discuss some methods and principles to try to overcome these individual differences and optimise the language we use to communicate and transmit meaningful information about wine.

Jamie Goode is a London-based wine writer, lecturer, wine judge and book author. With a PhD in plant biology, he worked as a science editor, before starting wineanorak.com, one of the world’s most popular wine websites.

He is columnist for UK national newspaper The Sunday Express, and writes regularly for a range of publications, including The World of Fine Wine, Meininger’s Wine Business International, Noble Rot, Wine & Spirits, Vine Pair and Drinks International.

He is in demand as a speaker/lecturer and also a wine judge, and is one of the co-chairs for the International Wine Challenge. He has been a regular overseas judge for the Top 10 Chenin Blanc competition in South Africa and WineAlign’s National Wine Awards of Canada.

He has recently been a keynote speaker for the Simple Wine (Moscow), Cool Climate Wine Symposium, the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Celebration, the Australian Wine Technical Conference, The Atlantic Wine Forum, the Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir Celebration, the Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium and Texsom.

He’s also prolific on Twitter (@jamiegoode) and Instagram (@drjamiegoode).

He has written four major books: Wine Science, Authentic Wine, I Taste Red and Flawless.

It is challenging to describe our sensory perceptions, yet, in the wine world we do this all the time. Unfortunately, this hardly makes the task less difficult. Here, we will explore the language of wine and how it has evolved. We’ll explore the concept of linguistic relativity and draw on some interesting cross-cultural work. Do other cultures have the same difficulty in describing smells and tastes? Does our language shape our perception? And what are the best ways to describe wine in words?

Wine is made up of lots of different molecules and some of them have tastes and smells. In this lecture, we will look at the physiology, psychology, and neurobiology of flavour perception. There’s a lot that happens to the signals from the nose and mouth before we experience the flavour of wine, and this is highly relevant to the way that we assess wine. (When we taste wine, we aren’t acting like measuring devices!) We will also tackle the thorny issue of individual differences in taste and smell, and how this might affect the taste of wine.

This seminar looks at the science of wine expertise. Are some people naturally more gifted at tasting than others? Or is wine tasting about learning to taste and gaining experience? And, how do experts differ from novices when it comes to tasting? We will also look at the aesthetics of wine: how do we decide which wines are best? Finally, we will discuss subjectivity and objectivity in wine tasting.

Nick Jackson is a British Master of Wine and the author of Beyond Flavour, an influential study of wine tasting. He owns and operates The School of Taste, an online platform for wine tasting webinars. He became a Master of Wine in 2019, having passed all the exams at the first attempt.

Nick spent seven years at Sotheby’s in the UK and the US as a wine specialist, culminating in five years as the buyer for the New York retail business. In 2018, Nick left Sotheby’s to establish his own advisory business, Vintage Variation LLC, which advises private clients, retailers and other wine businesses on all aspects of fine wine. Nick lives in Florida.

Recent discussion in wine tasting about how best to understand and describe wines has moved beyond flavour and has focused on other constituent elements of a wine.  In these webinars, I discuss two important components of any wine: structure (tannin structure in red wines and acid structure in white wines) and 'construction.'  A wine's 'construction' is the way that elements such as fruit, acidity and tannins interact to create a distinctive taste impression.

In the first webinar, we will define the terms of the discussion and explore their application through a tasting of one white and one red grape variety. 

Wine list for session 1 : Assyrtiko from Greece; and Beaujolais (Villages or any cru)

In the second webinar, we will do a more thorough analysis of structure and construction relating to three white varieties.

Wine list for session 2: Soave; Grüner Veltliner from Austria; Viognier from France

The third webinar will be dedicated to exploring three red varieties.

Wine list for session 3: Pinot Noir from anywhere; Grenache from anywhere; Nebbiolo (Langhe Neb/Barolo/Barbaresco)