A ‘Flagship’ Event for ɫ Hospitality Management Program
The Queen Mary was lit up, donning the Long Beach State Flag for the Spring 2025 Beach Culinary & Wine Excellence Series, which took place on Friday, April 25.
“This is an event we look forward to all year,” said Steve Caloca, The Queen Mary Managing Director.
Showing their Beach pride were countless ɫ alums who came to support the Hospitality Management students from the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). The students have been working on putting together the “wine event” since the beginning of the semester.
“I’m very excited,” said one Hospitality Management Student Jonathan Guillen, before the event. “I have been very interested in learning about the tastes and flavor profiles of these wines, and learning about their background.”
Earlier in the semester, Dr. Anna Ortiz, Dean of the College of Education, hosted a guest lecture in the HM 473 Beverage Management class taught by Dr. Nohema Garcia-Castaneda.
Dr. Anna Ortiz teaches the Beverage Management class
“I really like the expert insight we’ve been given about all these wines and the wine pairings,” said another Hospitality Management student, Ethan Oliver. “I have some frame of reference about wine because I work at an Olive Garden; but I’ve learned so much more while assisting with putting together the wine event.”
For this installment of the event, the Beverage Management students were teamed up with the students taking the HM 475 class - Managing Events in the Hospitality Industry. The students worked in tandem with each other and with The Queen Mary staff to put together an evening that would pay homage to some of the ship’s favorite international voyages from time's past, including Spain, Italy and Portugal.
“We are tying it all back to The Queen Mary,” said Prof. Stephanie Martinez, who teaches the events class, and whose students worked on the food portion of the event with The Queen Mary staff.
"This is our third year putting on the wine event and it gets better every year," said CHHS Interim Dean Grace Reynolds-Fisher.
Within the College of Health and Human Services at Long Beach State, the Hospitality Management Program is housed under the Department of Family Consumer Sciences.
"What stands out to me about this event is looking at the expertise of our faculty and them helping facilitate that experiential learning compenent for our students. It is very exciting," said Department of Family and Consumer Sciences Chair Virginia Gray.
The evening started out with students greeting guests with wine and appetizers. It was a sold-out crowd which was comprised of ɫ faculty, staff, university friends and donors, and college alums. Councilmember Mary Zendejas was on hand for the evening and received a special shoutout from The Queen Mary’s Steve Caloca. Students greeted guests upon entering The Queen Salon banquet hall and were treated with the evening’s first wine sampling – a light bubbly bottle from Spain’s Mount Marcal Winery, paired with prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe served on a knotted skewer.
Guests were entertained between courses from student musicians from the and later in the evening, Hospitality Management students gave presentations about the fare being plated, such as Braised Beef, mashed potatoes and crispy fried leeks paired with the Muga Reserva Rioja 2020, also a wine from Spain.
“I’ve been bartending for 7 years, and you don’t often get to see these types of wines,” said Hospitality Management student Rebecca Tannheimer. “We learned about the old world compared to the new world [in winemaking] and you won’t see these wines we’re serving tonight at the average restaurant. I’m a fan of drier wines with big flavor, so I really like the Muga.”
Dr. Anna Ortiz, who served as the sommelier for the evening said, “It is my pleasure to be here tonight; I got to be in a classroom this semester with the wonderful Hospitality Management students. I worked with them on learning about wine, which has probably been one of the most fun classes I’ve taught in a long time.”
The evening continued with red and white wine pairings with an exquisite menu. The highlight of the night for most was the Tilapia Piccata, which was paired with the Pietradolce Archineri Etna Bianco, 2022, from the vineyards of Sicily, Italy.
“I really liked learning about the geographic regions and how they form and grow the grapes,” said one Hospitality Management student, Asher Straton, who gave guests a tutorial on some of the featured wines.
“We want to turn this into an informational event for the guests,” said Prof. Stephanie Martinez. “It’s all about the guest experience from the time they walk into the door to the time they leave. Hopefully this will be an event we can partner with The Queen Mary to put on for years to come.”
