AUBURN - Wine, wine tasting and which wine goes with which foods - all of these things can seem like a mystery to most.

But for 10 years, three friends and fellow wine lovers have been working to peel back that veil of mystery that seems to have enshrouded wine and make it more accessible.

More than a decade ago, Bob Wojnar, now national sales manager for Dr. Konstantin Frank Wine Cellars, walked into Pepper's Discount Liquor, which at the time was owned by William (Bill) Prosser and his father.

“I went in there one night,” Wojnar said. “And he (Prosser) was drinking beer. I said to him ‘you own a store full of wines, why are you drinking beer?' That is really how it all started. From there we got a Friday night wine club started, and it has all grown from there.”

Prosser, who has since gone on to become an assistant professor of economics at Cayuga Community College, passed the torch to Nate Vitale at Pepper's, and Vitale has since gone on to become a sales representative for Southern Wine and Spirits of New York.

Collectively the group has a great deal of wine experience and knowledge to offer.

“I've been in the wine business for 28 years,” Wojnar said. “Nate, for only being 30, he has the pallet of a 50-year-old wine expert, and Bill has great taste and knowledge of wines as well.”

Together the three have created a class, which they have offered each spring for the past decade, called Exploring Wine. Much as the name suggests, it explores the history of wine and grapes to the rich and often overlooked history of wine in the Finger Lakes region to the business today. Students taste a wide variety of wines as well.

Thursday evening marked the second week of the class, hosted at the Holiday Inn and gave Wojnar an opportunity to share some of his encyclopedic knowledge of wines in New York and the rest of the world.

This included a number of interesting facts many might not be aware of.

While the Finger Lakes wine trails may be well known, Wojnar pointed out that it is the second largest draw for tourist dollars in the state, and this tourist attraction continues to grow.

While there are now wineries in all 50 states, totaling more than 3,600 wineries, 240 of those are located in New York state, predominantly in the Finger Lakes region.

“We're in what is called the big four - California, New York, Oregon and Washington,” Wojnar listed. “Those are the big four wine producers here in the United States.”

Often California is considered the birth place of American wine making or at any rate as the finest producer of wines in America, a fact that Wojnar contests.

Going back to pre-Revolutionary War years, Wojnar said native tribes were growing all varieties of fruits, particularly grapes in this region and even after the Civil War, Washington paid his troops in land that they went on to use to grow grapes.

In 1830, records show that grapes were used in Hammondsport, location of Dr. Konstantin Frank, to help truly establish the wine business in New York. With the introduction of the Erie Canal, the business began to boom, both grape growing and wine making.

Wojnar said after Prohibition there were only three wineries left in New York, but that has since changed and business, just like the wine trail, is booming.

“CCC has received a grant for exploration of a wine institute,” he added. “The Stradust Foundation has been working to establish Auburn as an eastern gateway to the wine trail. There is a lot happening, and we couldn't be happier.”

But it wasn't all just history; Thursday Wojnar explored a number of topics with the class.

One of the things that makes New York unique is the variety of grapes grown. Wojnar said these include vinifera, a European grape; labrusca, a hybrid of native America grapes, and vinifera, a French-American hybrid.

All of this knowledge and history combined is intended to bring a synthesis of ideas together to help give tasters a deeper appreciation of wine, but also to take away some of the common confusion often associated with this sophisticated beverage.

“First and foremost, drink what you like,” Wojnar explained. “Don't worry about what is supposed to go together; you will find it. Really what we want to do here is demystify wine.”

This approach has worked.

“I enjoy wines,” said Steve Rich of Auburn. “I enjoy all different varieties. This class helps re-enforce the things I knew before and has helped me expand on what I know about wines.”