Just a few days ago, hundreds of Stanford students waited for midnight to strike with restless anticipation. They were not waiting to uncork the champagne and kiss their significant others: they were eager, rather, to learn about champagne, with or without significant others.

The one-unit activity, Wine Tasting, which opened for registration at 11:59 pm last Wednesday, drew 450 applicants this quarter, all vying for 65 spots.

The odds were not in students’ favor.

“I had no idea that 450 people were going to sign up. I thought I was in pretty good shape. Whoops!” said senior Ken Jung, who was shut out of the class. “The web server crashed at about 12:01 am, so I spent the better part of an hour monotonously hitting ‘reload’ and hoping that I could get a signup in.”

A select few fared better.

“I knew that when I turned 21 that this was a class I wanted to take,” said Kyle Bruck, a senior who is eager to start his second quarter of Wine Tasting this Thursday. “It has been one of my favorite classes at Stanford. It only gets around by word of mouth.”

Although Stanford is hardly known for its outspoken wine enthusiasts, the class has caused a significant stir among those interested in wine and wine culture.

“My family has always been into wine, so I was introduced at a pretty young age,” Jung said. “For my 21st birthday I went to Sonoma and went wine tasting with my family. I was hoping that I could take this class just to develop my wine knowledge more.”

Instructor Sunaina Sinha, class of 2003, who founded the course as a French House theme associate in 2001, is surprised at the success of her own class.

“I’ll never forget the first class,” she said. “I was so nervous that no one would show up! I arranged for a speaker from Napa and I called everyone I knew and begged them to come. To my surprise, 55 came.”

This is the ninth quarter that Wine Tasting will be offered at Stanford.

The class meets every Thursday night from 7 to 8 in the French House lounge. Each week there is a different speaker from the wine industry, ranging from winery owners and glass manufacturers to Sinha herself.

“It’s a great opportunity for the speakers, because they get to speak to a young and impressionable audience, and they introduce wines that are in the price range of students,” Sinha said.

Each class, the students are offered five or six different types of wine to taste. At the beginning of the quarter each student is required to pay a fee of $85 that covers the cost of the wine in addition to a weekend-long field trip to Napa Valley.

“The great thing about the class is that it’s very low-key,” Bruck noted. “There’s no presumption about it. You bring your own glass, they serve the wine, and at the first class they show you how to smell it, taste it and appreciate it.”

Sinha herself comes from a rich background of wine culture. Born and raised in South Africa, she was exposed to an area that is one of the major wine producers of the world. She even devotes one class to South African wines, which are well-known throughout Europe but practically unheard of in California.

“I want to make the wine world more accessible to students,” said Sinha, who has received immense positive feedback from her former pupils. “Wine tasting and wine knowledge is a valuable social skill. It’s a big part of human culture and human society.”

Beyond introductory information on the wine industry itself, there was also one session during fall quarter that focused on champagnes and another on matching wine and cheeses.

“If someone really wants to learn something, [Sunaina] will make it happen,” Bruck said.

There is no other class out there at Stanford that even remotely has to do with wine tasting, according to Sinha. Preference is given to French House residents, and in the spring quarter preference is also given to seniors. Graduate students, who ordinarily comprise about 15 percent of the class, are welcome as well. The class fills up on a first-come, first-served basis. This quarter, the class was filled after two-and-a-half minutes.