Students are making steps towards becoming wine experts in French House — by taking FRENLANG 60D: French Viticulture.

Course instructor AJ Ferrari, who works at Michael Mina Restaurant in San Francisco, said the focus of the one-unit class is on providing a foundational knowledge for budding wine tasters and enthusiasts.

“That entails in a broader stroke, how to describe flavors, how to take in the nuances of wines, what to expect, what the different vocabulary terms are, maybe how to go to a restaurant, how to talk to a sommelier, how to go to a wine shop, how to start negotiating that relationship,” Ferrari said.

Ferrari, who has 20 years of professional experience in the field, began teaching the introductory viticulture class nine years ago. He responded to a Craigslist advertisement which had been posted by the course’s original founder, a graduating student whose family had ties to a winery. Ferrari has taught the class since then.

He also offers an advanced version of the class called FRENLANG 60P: Advanced Viticulture, which covers the same principles of wine tasting at a higher level. Unlike 60D, which offered fall, winter and spring quarters, 60P is offered every winter and spring quarters.

“One thing that was surprising to me is that he really teaches the class on track and [it’s] really about the education,” said Dhruv Tarang Amin ’14 who took the class last year. “It’s not just about having a good time, it’s a lot about how much you can learn about wine tasting and about wine in general.”

Course spots are consistently in high demand. Previously, a unique strategy was necessary to sign up for this class.

“To get into the class, you had to show up at the Quad — you couldn’t just sign up on Axess,” Ferrari said. “So the students had to show up and they started to camp out, so they started this twenty-four hour overnight camp-out to sign up for the class.”

Ferrari has also helped students in viticulture-related efforts outside of class; last year, he helped Rachel Sasaki Seeman ’14 orchestrate a wine-tasting trip for Xanadu house.

“AJ’s one of the most knowledgeable people, not just on wine, but on wine and spirits in general,” Seeman said.

“He is very fun to be around, he has a very outgoing, fun-loving personality and he’s willing to bend over backwards to help you with things besides just the things you’re discussing in class,” she added.

Two of Seeman’s favorite experiences were a blind tasting guided by Ferrari at the end of the advanced course, and a visit to the Testarossa winery in Los Gatos.

“Going to the winery is an experience,” Seeman said, “but going to the winery with people [who] are so knowledgeable about what you’re tasting and history of the place where you’re going makes the experience even richer.”

In addition to acknowledging an increased understanding of wines, Amin found that the class also helped as a conversational topic.

“I was a computer science major at Stanford and you know there’s a handful of people in the world that are willing and want to discuss computer science, but there’s just a lot more people who are willing and ready to discuss wine,” Amin said.

Every Monday, The Stanford Daily will be spotlighting a unique, popular or otherwise interesting course for a recurring series called Classy Classes.

Contact Skylar Cohen at skylarc ‘at’ stanford.edu.