Seated tastings are the norm in California wineries these days, especially in Sonoma County and Napa Valley. We understand the rationale from the wineries’ perspective. Perhaps some wine tasters prefer to be waited upon, rather than simply having their glasses filled. We are not really opposed to seated tastings, but we would like to have the opportunity to choose.
The bar at Limerick Lane in Russian River. They also offer seated tastings. Bar tastings are less expensive.
Of course it’s nice to sit rather than stand while tasting wines. (Bar stools do alleviate this problem.) This is, after all, the way most of us enjoy wine at home. But there are drawbacks as well.
- We don’t get to chat with other tasters. We’ve frequently met nice people this way, and they also enjoy wine tasting or they wouldn’t be there. Sometimes we could get a different take on certain wines than just our own.
- At the bar, we could sip and pour off wines at our own pace. If, for example, we only wanted to taste a winery’s Zinfandels, we could focus on these and leave the Merlots and Syrahs untasted. This enables us to sample a winery’s wares in less time, so we could visit more of them, without overconsuming alcohol.
- There is less pressure to join the wine clubs when we were at the bar. In part because we were moving long more swiftly, the server usually didn’t bring it up unless we asked.
- The bartender/server is always present. The waiters at sit-down tastings come and go. Sometimes they are at another table, which happens in a bar setting as well. But other times they are chatting with their colleagues and we have to wait to be served.
We don’t want to take away seated tastings from those who enjoy them. But we’d like to have the choice to sit at the bar and be served as well.