San Diego State University, with a history as a top-ranked party school including Playboy magazine citations, is offering a wine tour. But it’s well away from campus.
SDSU’s College of Extended Studies has announced what it calls a Professional Wine and Cuisine Immersion in the Catalonia, Rioja and Basque regions of Spain.
The trip is the first in the new Wine Education Abroad division of SDSU’s College of Extended Studies professional certificate program in the Business of Wine — which is 10 years old.
The program is set for Oct. 9-17, but the first trip deposit is due March 2.
“If you ever wanted to explore the wine and food of Spain, have someone take you to places you cannot get to on your own, and experience the essence and heart of three Spanish areas, this trip is for you,” said Deborah Lazear, a certified Spanish wine educator who will provide 12 hours of instruction during the excursion.
Trip highlights include:
- Eating lunch at an old-century wine cave.
- A Cava tasting course along with lunch and guided tour at a small, private winery.
- Crushing grapes underfoot, tasting wine straight from a barrel and walking through vineyards by the sea.
- And discovering the best-kept Basque secrets of producing and serving cider.
The tour is led by Spanish guide Ana Gabriela Serra, and Lazear says: “This trip is very exclusive. Our tour guide has relationships with wineries that are not open to the public but will be open to us.”
Students will travel by private transportation, enjoy private sommelier-level tours, experience private tours of vineyards and museums, and have private daily wine classes. Their instruction time will count toward one elective or intensive course in the Business of Wine program.
“Spain is not new world; it’s old world,” Lazear said. “Students will get a first-hand experience of how history has molded wine in Spain and influenced the world.”
The tour is limited to 16 people, but anyone can apply. Cost per person is $4,227 (double occupancy) or $5,117 (single occupancy). Price is based on 12 participants and will decrease if more than 12 register, SDSU says.
Airfare is not included.
For more information, email wine@mail.sdsu.edu or visit neverstoplearning.net/winetravel.
It’s not the first time SDSU has capitalized on drinking interest and business.
In 2013, the school launched a craft-beer certificate program.
“This is a booming industry and there’s a lot of positions out there,” Giana Rodriguez of the College of Extended Studies told U-T San Diego. “Ten or 15 years ago, it might have been different. But when we proposed a program on craft beer, we didn’t have much resistance.”
