Photo\DAN PELTON DEBRA VANI inspects a white wine that was presented as part of a continuing education wine appreciation course offered by Humber College at the Train Station Restaurant.) Tuesday night at the Train Station Restaurant, a gathering of wine lovers became better acquainted with the nectar of the vine, thanks to Humber College's Orangeville 2007 Workshop Series.

The Wine Series is one of 12 workshops being presented as part of a diverse program of classes and/or lectures that range from wine appreciation to garden maintenance to quilting to the Orangeville Lecture Series, described as "a lunchtime fix on a variety of intellectually stimulating topics."

Joe Andrews, director of Humber College's Orangeville campus, says the objective "is to provide educational options that otherwise wouldn't be available in the area. We are pooling academic experts in areas that the community would normally not have access to"

Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of hotel and restaurant management at Humber, is conducting the Wine Series courses.

Tuesday night's presentation involved white wines, which tend not to have the complexity or romance of red wines.

For example, they are usually drunk within two years of being made. Red wines, on the other hand, can be aged due to the tannin on the surface of the red grape; thus the mystique of that bottle that spends years in the cellar and waits for just the right time to be uncorked.

Nevertheless, after Mr. Srinivasan's presentation, white wine found its way into the participants' favour.

"I never liked white wine," admitted Veronica Roach, "but I like it now. I felt it didn't have the sophistication of red wine, but now I have a totally different outlook on it."

Their next forays into wine appreciation will be a study of "Big Bold Reds" and dessert wines.

While some of the workshops are already under way, many have yet to begin and Mr. Andrews says there is still time to register for them.

The line-up includes: Rescuing the Past: Why our Stories Matter, a marketing workshop called Take a Big Bite, Getting Your Garden Ready for the Winter, Home Staging, and Career Confidence - You and Your Personal Brand.

"They are part of our continuing education offering," explains Mr. Andrews. "It's a response to the community, who gave us input as they would like to have taught."

For more information, call 1-877-675-3111 or look up www.orangeville.humber.ca/ workshop.php.