Tasting Rooms, Wine Bars & Wine Events
Great wine is to be drunk, with generosity, with subjectivity, with love.
Oz Clarke, Red and White
Throughout the United States, and to a lesser extent across Europe, wineries have a dedicated space for visitors to taste their wines, buy wines, and maybe even get a baseball cap with the wineries’ logo on it. However, the more expensive and exclusive the winery the less chance baseball caps will be available. The more exclusive the wine, the less swag on display. The more expensive the tasting, the better the chance for the people pouring the wine to be rude and condescending. It doesn’t matter how much you know about wine, unless you have a personal connection with a particular worker in the tasting room, there are times when you will be greeted with suspicion and distrust. Unfortunately, in some areas in the United States and across Europe there are probably some good reasons for these attitudes.
To begin, tasting room employees will greet you politely, but they are suspicious from the get-go. Their distrust will be hidden behind a façade of smiles and “happy-to-see-yous” but… they are pretty confident they know more about wine than you do. And, they are just waiting for a chance to show you how much you don’t know. Of course, it is not always true they know more than you since in many tasting rooms the people working there might be college kids that needed a summer job, or an attractive someone with little to no experience in wine that has simply memorized a script about the particular wines for sale.
However, one Saturday afternoon spent at Domaine Carneros, or some other wildly popular winery, watching bachelorette parties stumble by reeking of perfume and spending the bulk of their time filling their cell phones with selfies rather than attending to the wines in their glasses is enough to make you run for the exit. You could fill up a hard drive with photos of these less-discerning consumers walking around in short leather skirts and stilettos or tasteless Hawaiian shirts. The air is full of cheap perfume and Axe Body Spray. It has a vibe similar to New Year’s Eve or the Bird’s Nest at the Phoenix Open.
The challenge for the true wine enthusiast is trying to figure a way to get on the inside track, to stand out in a positive way in a tasting room, to say something that indicates you are part of the world of wine or a knowledgeable wine drinker, and that it is worth the tasting room employee’s effort to spend some time talking with you and sharing information in a polite way about their wines. There are many pitfalls that must be navigated along the way if you are to turn this adventure to your advantage.
Say something incorrectly, for example using the term malolactic fermentation when you mean carbonic maceration, and the tasting room employees’ eyebrows may furrow. Hard to recover from that faux pas in the limited time you have left to taste their wines. If you mispronounce a word, say Puligny Montrachet, their defenses go up. If you use a word that has suddenly become contentious or passé, say minerality, your knowledge is suddenly suspect and unless you pull out your wallet and buy a shitload of wine, you may be dismissed as a poser.
Of course, there are also many tasting rooms that provide a wonderful atmosphere, great views of the neighboring vineyards, pleasant, knowledgeable people sharing their passion about the wines they sell, and excellent wines worth tasting, sharing, and talking about. I have traveled to many wine regions and tasted some of the most delightful wines from passionate winemakers and their employees. In fact, I have purchased a specially designed suitcase to transport a case of wine back from these wonderful places. I have also learned enough about wine and winemaking to hopefully speak intelligently and have learned how to behave in tasting rooms in order to be treated with a modicum of respect. Basically. I have learned the discourse of wine!
If you are heading to a tasting room and you want to come across as a knowledgeable wine taster, here are some questions you can ask at any tasting room that will improve your social standing as a wine enthusiast. And, there are a few questions listed here that will expose you as a wine dunce, you will just have to figure out which is which:
1. What percentage of new oak was used on this wine?
2. What was the approximate brix at harvest?
3. Can we get any free tastings because we came here, like, six years ago?
4. Were there any challenges with the harvest this year?
5. Do you make your rose by direct press or the saignee process?
6. Do you harvest by machine or utilize underpaid migrant workers?
7. Can I taste one of the grapes from the vineyard?
8. Where do you keep the good shit?
9. How many cases of this wonderful wine were made compared to last year’s plonk?
10. Don’t you hate Rombauer chardonnay?
11. Was budbreak earlier this year or later than usual?
12. Were the grapes destemmed before fermentation of do you use whole clusters?
13. Have you ever tried (insert name of cult wine here)?
Remember, it is just as important to be able to talk like a real wine enthusiast as it is to actually know the difference between a French white burgundy and an over-oaked bottle of California chardonnay. That’s the true power of the discourse of wine!
Types of Tasting Room Experiences
It is important to distinguish what type of tasting room experience you want to have before you go wine tasting. Will your focus be the social comradery, the witty banter, the view, the architecture of the room itself, or will you and your group focus on the wine in the glass? Let me explain a bit further these distinctions. A focus on the wine means when you go to a tasting room you are most interested in the types of wine that are being sampled. Wines are poured, smelled, sampled, considered, and comments are shared. These discussions focus on each taster’s subjective experiences and preferences. It is a fairly intense focus and the primary purpose is to select particular wines to purchase. Most of the wines tasted will be spit out to keep all tasters alert and sober as they move from winery to winery and tasting room to tasting room. Though this may sound a bit stuffy, but if you are planning on visiting 10 wineries in one day, be able to drive yourself around, and keep your focus on the wines, spitting is the only option.
The second type of visit focuses more on enjoying the destination, sampling some wines, and maybe a cheese platter, at three or four wineries in a day. No spitting is involved in this experience. The occasional wine club membership is purchased, some wine is bought at each winery out of respect for the employee’s time and patience, and no one is too drunk to miss out on dinner in town.
The third type of tasting is more like a fraternity party. People often hire a bus or limousine to cart them around as they drink as much wine as possible. These people don’t usually purchase any wine or join any clubs, in fact they are just there for the buzz. Dinner is probably pizza delivered to the shitty hotel they booked at the last minute. Someone will throw up and someone will suck face in the back of the bus before the day is done, which may cause some tension for the plane ride home. No one remembers the names of any particular wines and prefers beer or vodka when at home drinking. It is this group, these obnoxious consumers that make the tasting room employees drink any leftover wines at the end of their shifts.
So What?
The best chance to have an enjoyable wine tasting is to decide what type of wine experience you are interested in and invite other fun people that want similar experiences. Or, do some homework on what tasting rooms deliver the types of experiences you are interested in and simply go by yourself. People who visit wineries by themselves are usually given better treatment because it seems obvious these lone tasters are not just here for the party, but to experience the wine. But you may have to spit some wine out so you don’t look like a loser trying to drink away your troubles in a dark corner of the room.
When I go with my wife and another couple to Napa and Sonoma, we generally stop at one winery in the morning before lunch, then grab a bite to eat somewhere, and then visit two, sometimes three wineries in the afternoon. For us, we can spit some, and drink some, and still taste the wines by the third stop. By the fourth stop, things often get a bit blurry. Then a quick nap, and off to dinner. It’s a lovely day.
I have never taken a bus tour around wine country, nor have I ever taken a Carnival cruise somewhere. Both of these experiences require interactions with way too many people. Nothing sparks a frown from a tasting room employee like seeing 15 drunken bachelorettes stumble off a party bus and head into their winery. Some tasting rooms are designed for these groups, but many of them are not. I try and avoid these types of “party tasting rooms” because they do not support the kinds of experiences with wine I desire. I am sure there is room for both types of groups in Napa. But as a wine enthusiast, quiet tasting rooms with knowledgeable employees and great wines beats out a party bus every time.
Eric Asimov has offered some rules for visiting tasting rooms. I will end this chapter with my adaptation of his list of Dos and Don’ts:
1. Don’t Wear Fragrances – wearing strong perfumes or colognes can ruin the tasting experience for others by interfering with the aromas and flavors of the wines presented. Smelling like an old Grandma or a teenage boy isn’t as cool as you think anyways.
2. Do Be Open-Minded – don’t go in with preconceived notions about what you like and don’t like or what the tasting room look likes. Sometimes the best wines are served in a barn, and the worst wines are served on a beautiful patio.
3. Don’t Be a Know-it-All – avoid too much technical jargon. Try not to sound like a snob, or idiot too quickly. The tasting room employees have many levels of knowledge and the goal is not to shame them or beat them up with what you know.
4. Don't Pretend to Be in the Industry – I always say that I am “industry adjacent” as a non-working sommelier, advanced enthusiast, and wine writer. If you are not in the industry, then don’t use the term just to get discounts. If you are in the industry, act like it!
5. Spit or Don’t Spit – it’s okay to drink a bit and lighten up. Most wine makers hate to see all their work head down the drain. But, if it is a long day of tasting, you’d better spit some of it out to remain attentive.
6. Don’t Ask for the “Good Stuff” – It is okay to inquire about library or reserve wines, but don’t be an ass. The winery is pouring what it wants to sell. If you don’t like it, move on.
7. Do Revisit Wines with a Purpose – don’t ask for more of a particular wine just to get drunk. Wines you taste more of should be purchased to show your true interests.
8. Do Buy Wine – this is the sole reason for the tasting room, to sell wines. Join a club or two, take some home or for dinner that night. It is the best way to show how much you like the wines.
9. Do Tip – tasting room employees usually work for low wages and a tip for excellent service is usually welcome. They will tell you if they aren't allowed to accept tips, so give it a try. It shows you appreciate their wines and the service.
10. Do Enjoy a Snack – one of my favorite changes in some tasting rooms is the offering of cheese boards or charcuterie plates to accompany wine tastings. They go well together and help you maintain your balance throughout a long day of tasting.