The University of Delaware's Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management and Marnie Old, a leading sommelier and wine educator from Philadelphia, have joined forces to offer a new online course covering the fundamentals of wine.

The new course is well-timed, with interest in wine on the rise following the release of the award-winning movie Sideways.

With funding provided by the E. & J. Gallo Winery of California, the course is designed to enhance understanding of wine tasting, worldwide wine production and the selection of wines to fit various menus and foods, according to Fred J. DeMicco, ARAMARK Chair in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management at UD.

DeMicco added that the course dovetails with the Copeland Vinotek and the Darden Bistro, both located within UD's Vita Nova restaurant in the Trabant University Center.

In addition to informing UD students, DeMicco said the course “will also be beneficial to servers in restaurants and will prove an effective and affordable online and computer-based training tool for the restaurant and food service industry.”

Old said she came by her interest in wine while a college student in the early 1990s, when she took a job as a waitress to pay the bills. Despite her youth, Old was among the most knowledgeable people on the subject of wine on the staff at Chanterelles, one of Philadelphia's top chef-owned restaurants.

Within six years, Old was the top fine wine buyer in Pennsylvania, the founding education chair of the American Sommelier Association and Philadelphia's highest profile sommelier. She now has her own company, specializing in wine education, corporate events and restaurant consultation.

To learn more about the course and for a demonstration by Old, visit www.continuingstudies.udel.edu/udonline/wine/description.html.