Red, White and You
This popular wine-tasting workshop is more than drinking for college credit. Loaded on a chartered school bus, these students and instructors roll all over Ohio in search of a little refinement.

Story: Sarah Jones
Photos: Molly Corfman

It was just after 7 a.m. on a Friday morning and students were sleepwalking into McGilvrey Hall. Several rested their heads on the desk—some on pillows—as instructor Frank Erickson began a brief discussion of wine books.

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“Don’t take this class if you’re hung-over,” Michelle Snyder, senior organizational communication major, whispered.

The pillows are necessary for the bus ride shuttling the group to local wine venues, she explained.

On the last day of the Environment of Wineries and Vineyards in Northern Ohio workshop, the students have figured out how to get through it.

The 2-credit pass-fail wine tasting workshop is one of Kent State’s most popular offerings. But many students find that it’s more than just an accredited drinking binge—it’s an important preparatory course for entering the professional world, as well as a study on a slice of culture typically overlooked in American society.

Erickson, a geography professor, began the class 10 years ago with his colleague, Thomas Schmidlin, who left the workshop when he was named chair of the geography department.

Since the beginning, the class filled up almost immediately and spawned an extensive waiting list, Erickson said.

“I knew it would be a popular topic,” he said. “It seems like almost everyone on campus has heard of it or knows someone who has taken it.”

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Many students often cite word-of-mouth as their introduction to the class. Kristy Kalnitzky, senior marketing major, said she heard about it through friends when she was a freshman, and looked forward to taking it when she was of age.

“My friend took it and said it was a really good time,” she said. “He was right. It’s a fun way to get credits without having to take a test.”

That’s not to say that students don’t have to put time in to the class. The workshop consists of three days of class that run from around 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., with much of that time spent on a chartered Kent State bus.

The group travels to various wineries, restaurants and wholesalers in the region. “I wouldn’t suggest going hung-over,” said Kalnitzky, who took the first session of the class.

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