On Learning About Wine, Part I
Featuring the wonderful Marie Cheslik of Slik Wines!
Today, I’m sharing part one of (lengthy but so, so good) conversation with Marie Cheslik of Slik Wines. I first met Marie at BottlesUp, and I knew the moment she started teaching a bangin’ class on natural wine that this person was someone I wanted to follow. Approachable is a word that gets thrown around a lot in wine, and it’s rarely used honestly. But for Marie, who has developed a cult following on social media, approachable and fun are at the core of everything she does through Slik. From a background in nursing to serving as a sommelier for a Michelin-starred restaurant here in Chicago, Marie’s wide-ranging experience uniquely colors how she approaches wine education. Her online wine course is launching in May, and after this conversation, I’m even more jazzed to click “buy.”
We got so into the weeds during our conversation about education that I’ve decided to publish that as a separate piece. Look for it in a few weeks, and in the meantime, go follow Slik!
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Laura Scherb: Okay, so first of all, why an online wine class? And why now?
Marie Cheslik: Two great questions. So I'm gonna answer the why now first, because I think it answers the online question, or online wine portion question. I've been doing Slik now for two and a half years. It's changed a lot, right? I started in August of 2020 with a lot of virtual events. Then it changed, right?
I started doing in-person stuff, but it just wasn't as solid. So the first two years of Slik was really just trying to figure out: what does this business need to be that people need and want? Like, I know the product will always be wine, right? So how do I create a package or a service or a product that is wine-related, but serves the market in a way that I think is helpful.
But as I was answering questions, talking with more people, and doing a lot of private tastings, I would get sort of the same five or six questions. And I thought: I know the answers to these questions. And I think it's no coincidence that people keep asking me these questions. So maybe I need to create something that answers these questions.
Doing something online made the most sense. It's flexible for people's schedules. And I can create it and then build on it, so I send something out into the universe that's gonna be already very good. But then, after getting feedback, I can alter it and be like, okay, let's change this slide, let's change this language, right? So I really liked that aspect of it too — it can kind of grow as wine grows.
So this is what I've been spending the last six months solidly doing is thinking, like, how do I create this course? How do I figure out the content, but how do I deliver it in a way that is accessible, and feels like people are getting their values worth and their money’s worth when they put it into it?
LS: I love that. As a devoted follower of your Instagram/TikTok, I feel like you make wine very fun. And you're not afraid to do those videos where you go and buy wine at Target, you know? And that's so much more fun than just sitting and clicking through a slide deck. So how are you bringing that sort of approach to this online class?
MC: I've been making all those TikToks, Instagram Reels, and all of that. At first, it was a way just to advertise and maybe book more clients — very pragmatic, right?
But then as I started making more content, I realized, hey, this is a very good skill set for me to learn. I am taking on giant topics like wine, certain regions, certain grapes — things that you could talk about for way too long. But people don't have the attention span for that anymore. How do I take something giant and distill it into 60 seconds or less of a piece of content?
So I really use a lot of the skills that I've learned in the course. I really just got more comfortable talking in front of a microphone and talking in front of a camera. It’s so different than talking in person, and it allowed me to become more comfortable with my authentic self, which is, like, this is just how I talk. Sometimes I say “like;” sometimes I swear; I'm not perfect. It just feels a little more real that way.
I also come from the Midwest; I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I did not grow up drinking wine. So I really truly feel like I'm only a couple steps ahead of people who want to learn more about wine. And I'm like, literally, if I can do it, you can do it. And I can help you do it.
LS: Who in your mind is the target student for this course?
MC: Definitely. A lot of courses appeal to a professional, right? Like, they don't necessarily appeal towards hobbyists, or people who just are approached with wine situations in everyday life. Like it's so funny that you can grow up in Milwaukee and, if you go to a restaurant, you're presented with a wine list. People are like, “I don't know what to do with this.” People have a hard time grasping that, right?
So I would say it's for a person who wants to have more expertise with their wine skills. If a person just wants to go and drink the, you know, the $5 wines, the $10 wines at Target, I respect it 1,000,000%. But I would say that you should just follow my content, right? Like, I tried to provide those things for you.
There's a lot of accessible content on TikTok and Instagram right now. But if you want to up your game a little bit and have that confidence and that expertise, that's where I would say the course comes into play. Let me help you understand what's going on so you can buy a wine and know what it tastes like, even before you open it.
LS: Oh, that's so cool. So is the course broken down into modules that sort of align with those things, then?
MC: 100%. Each module is based on the most common questions I got just working within Slik and working within restaurants. And then each breakdown are subsets of those questions.
LS: I feel like that's just such a practical way to approach it. As opposed to starting with wine regions, grape types…that just feels so high level and, like, out there. When you come at it from a place of how are you actually going to use this knowledge in your everyday life?
MC: I mean, you bring up a good point. That's how most classes start is, like, what is wine? What is wine making? Here are the common grapes and regions. And to be fair, common grapes and regions is my second module because I do think it is important, but it's not as important as tasting the wine. So that's why the first module is how to taste and assess wine. You need to have context for these things before you go out and like, start making flashcards for Pinot Noir versus whatever versus whatever. And then you can put the pieces together, “Oh, that's a Cab. That makes sense now.”
LS: God yes. That’s so exciting. So when is the next opening? I should say the first opening because you've just been doing like a beta version, right?
MC: Yeah. So the first cohort is going through it now. They're on the sixth week. So they're almost done because there are seven weeks altogether. I like doing it as a group because I like people taking it all at the same time. So when people are talking about different modules, everyone's on the same page, you know, as opposed to having it open all the time.
But I'm shooting for an early May date for the next cohort to open. And that'll be open for about a week until we dive into the modules. And then I would like to do it four times a year — pretty much once every business quarter.
LS: And what's the best way for people to find out about what these drops are?
MC: Yeah, so that's all going to be on my newsletter. So if you go to slikwines.com, it should have a pop up for the newsletter, it should be pretty easy to find, just sign up. And then that's if you're part of the newsletter. That's how you're the first to know; it's just that easy!
LS: Can you talk about the book?
MC: Oh, yeah, sure. So I was going through creating this course. And I said, “wow, if I only could teach one thing about wine, this might be the thing. And I don't see this in the market anywhere.” It’s module three in the course: how to read a wine label.
Most people on this planet, 90% of them, I would say, buy wine based on the label. And really how cute the label is, right?
LS: Guilty! Yes.
MC: And these are good marketing plans because there's so much assumed knowledge with wine. And when some people see, like, for example, a European or French label, it's a wall of words, and people get so intimidated by it. Not only because it's in French, but it's in, like, wine French. So it's like a very different world.
But you can tell a lot about a wine just by reading the label. You don't even have to open it, and you can already partly even know what it tastes like, which is kind of amazing. So it's like, you don't even have to open the bottle to know if the bottle is for you.
The book will be a 40 page little Field Notes-sized book that people can put in their bag or in their pocket and just take to the store with them. Trying to read all wine labels is a little intimidating to start, so I'm going to break it off into a little series. The first one is going to be how to read a French wine label. But then I will move on to how to read an American wine label, how to read an Italian wine label. It’ll be a lot of examples. I equate it to like doing math problems: you do a math problem once and you're frustrated, right? But if you just do it over and over again and get practice, you will get better. And I’ll make it less painful than math, I promise. And you’ll be drinking, so it’ll be fun.
Learn more about Marie’s course here. Subscribe to this newsletter so you don’t miss the next part of this conversation — it’s a good one.
We’re back next week with the only cocktail recipe I drink at this point in my life, and later this month, I have a recipe for a snack mix that feels both very adult and very indulgent of your inner child all at once. Further down the line, there’s an interview with a food and beverage consumer packaged goods (CPG) founder who rode the wave of the SVB collapse and took away some incredible lessons. All. The. Things. Woo!