Hi, we are Mallory and Martin—

a Brit with way too many striped shirts (that’s Martin) and a girl from California’s central valley with an undying love for restaurant-style margaritas (that’s Mallory).

What’s our story?

We are two wine professionals who both fell in love with wine by accident.

Martin, while writing restaurant reviews of Michelin-star digs in London, repeatedly found himself thrilled by new wines and relatively disinterested in the food.

Mallory, who “didn’t care for wine” was lured into its orbit by a friend’s infectious and unpretentious passion. (Basically, he made her taste everything until she found something she liked, which soon became all of it).

As we pursued our own wine education we saw a huge disconnect.

Most education wasn’t celebrating wine’s fascinating and playful side. It was stuffy and boring, and took itself way too seriously. It wasn’t welcoming or inclusive, but full of hierarchies, in-crowds and impenetrable knowledge. Gross!

So, we decided to do something about it by offering wine education that was informative as well as accessible, that would provide joy and cultivate community.

We tested the waters with our first pop-up class in Portland in 2017. The response was overwhelming and we found that the desire for non-stuffy, fun wine education was greater than we had imagined. One class led to another, and Sunday School was born.

Since the early days, our desire was for Sunday School to find its way online and be accessible to the world beyond Portland—though we weren’t exactly sure how this would look. It took a pandemic to force us to explore this journey and its possibilities.

Out of this exploration, Sunday School Wine Society was born. The Society is an online education membership-based platform full of learning resources for members to navigate at their own pace. From scavenger hunt-like exercises to community-based forums to modules that include pre-recorded videos, fact sheets, quizzes, checklists, and more. This new digital platform finally allows us to share Sunday School-style wine education to the world beyond our backyard. Our dreams have come true!

In many ways, we have not created Sunday School, but Sunday School has created itself. It’s a much needed space where anyone and everyone can learn about and enjoy wine. No judgment. No needing to “say the right thing” or even like the “right thing.” Everyone—with any level of knowledge—is welcome.

We look forward to you joining this community and embarking on this journey of wine-discovery with us!

Digital hugs,
Mallory & Martin