Florida International University - School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

Courses Offered and Course Description

HFT 3866
Wine Technology
Wine technology, merchandising, and marketing is a 3-credit course offered by the nationally recognized School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University. Its purpose is to instruct future hotel, resort, and restaurant managers in the finer points of appreciating wine, its history and culture, and expose students to the many popular varieties coming from the great vineyards of the world. In each class, students learn to taste and evaluate selected wines. They learn the ways to procure, store, serve, and merchandise wine. This course enables future managers to train their staff in order to develop a feeling of confidence about presenting wine as well as learning the language of wine.

HFT3873
A course in oenology learning to appreciate the earliest stages of viticultural history and prehistory, while learning the beginnings of this consequential beverage. To learn the domesticating of the Eurasian vine; how wine was made and preserved 7,000 years ago. To learn how this viticulture affected early cultures of the developing world and laid the foundation of civilization and hospitality itself.
To follow this viticultural development to the advent of the bottle and the cork.

FIU provides two classes in wine merchandising: the entry level course is a 3 credit course offered during the day in the spring and fall semesters in Broward county, during the day in the summer semester in Dade county only, and on Wednesday evening in the spring and fall semesters in Dade county. The advanced class in the economics of wine is offered on the Dade campus only during the spring semester. Students must have successfully completed the entrance level class in order to continue on to this second class.

Biography

William Hebrank graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor’s Degree in History. He began his wine career as a retail salesman at Flanigan’s, Big Daddy’s and then Crown Wine and Spirits. He comes to the classroom from the halls of industry, where for the last 18 years he has worked for TransAtlantic Wine, the fine wine division arm of Southern Wines and Spirits, the largest beverage wholesaler in the country.

His non-teaching days are spent on the road where he visits restaurants and retail outlets meeting his clients. He has learned to plan and research a wine selling campaign – where and when to visit, whom to see, what to propose, and how to assure success. Each visit is dependent on his creating a rapport with a potential client. He talks about wine as part of the meal experience, about its capabilities at making a meal a social occasion, about its enhancement of food and the prime importance wine plays in contributing to the success of a restaurant.

He conducts seminars throughout South Florida in all facets of wine, wine service and how to best create an atmosphere that will make a restaurant successful in today’s crowded restaurant environment. He is also responsible for planning and conducting educational seminars for his work staff at TransAtlantic Wines.

In the classroom for the last 20 years at FIU he has had the opportunity to train new chefs, restaurateurs and hotel managers about the joys of wine; to influence new choices on restaurant wine lists. He has desired to promote wine in moderation as a healthy and inclusive beverage as opposed to an exclusive mystery. He has also contributed to the Wine Certificate program offered to professionals already working in the hospitality field.

| Curriculum Vita |