Rosen wine tasting class pops off after gaining popularity through the grapevine | Life Leave a comment
Chef Jennifer Hostetter lectures in the exploring wines of the world class in the Anheuser-Busch Beer & Wine Lab. She had desserts paired with sweet wines for the lesson.
One of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management’s classes is aging like fine wine after becoming increasingly popular since a TikTok went viral in January showcasing it.
The wine tasting class is called exploring wines of the world, and students taste and discuss wines from around the world in Rosen’s Anheuser-Busch Beer & Wine Lab. They also learn how to pair different wines and foods together, how wine is made and about the different cultures of wines.
Dr. Robin Back said that he noticed more students were showing interest in the class in recent semesters and attributed it to the addition of a beverage management certificate. This certificate includes 10 beverage-related courses intended to help students develop an understanding of beer, wine and spirits.
Back said that he has taken strides to make sure as many students are able to take the class as possible with the increase in demand, but there are only 50 seats in the Beer & Wine Lab.
When there are not enough spaces available in the class, Back said he encourages students to sign up for the online version of the course instead, where he describes the flavors of wines.
“We try and open extra sections as necessary in order to fill the demand, but you can’t always do that,” Back said. “I’ve definitely noticed an increase in the popularity and in the certificate as well.”
The Anheuser-Busch Beer & Wine Lab has a wine cellar with wines from around the world, labeled to be used for teaching. Students not only learn to read foreign labels but learn about cultures of wines from the nation.
Back also said that he noticed that the number of non-Rosen students that are taking the course has grown a lot. He said he encourages students of all majors to take the course because it gives students more topics to talk about and can help boost self-confidence.
Senior psychology major Carli Brent said she decided to take the class as her final elective because she wanted to learn more about wine. She enjoyed the class so much that she made a TikTok about it, which ended up getting over 550,000 views, 76,000 likes and over 5,000 shares.
“I know for a fact that the video influenced people to take the class,” Brent said. “So many people have texted me or came up to me and were like ‘how did you take the class, like what do I have to do…’ and I know a few people who are actually taking it online over the summer.”
Back grew up in South Africa and was born into a family that has been producing wine for four generations. He said that he started teaching at Rosen because of the reputation it had in the hospitality industry and wanted to be a part of it.
When Back came to Rosen, he said exploring wines of the world was already a class, but he tweaked it and made it his own with the addition of more extensive food pairings and wines. Back has been teaching it since he first started at Rosen in 2015.
Back said he has experience of having set up distribution networks and the sales and marketing of his family’s wines within the industry.
“I grew up in a winery, so I grew up with wine in my blood both literally and figuratively,” Back said. “Before I became an academic, I worked in the beverage industry for most of my career, so I teach it very much from my experience.”
Senior film major Trinity Wright said that she appreciates working with a professor who is passionate about the subject of wine. Although she is not planning on working in the hospitality industry, she hopes to use what she has learned to entertain guests personally or professionally.
“He told us the very first class that if we were just looking for an easy A elective, this was not the course to be taking. And he’s right. You have to want to learn about wine,” Wright said.
Back said that he is happy that there has been so much popularity surrounding this course because everyone can benefit from knowing what kinds of wine to order at the dinner table and from having confidence in a topic that is perceived as sophisticated.
“I don’t want to create a whole bunch of wine snobs every semester,” Back said. “I just want to give you that knowledge and another string in your bow of topics to talk about when you need to make polite conversation.”
