Wineries are in several businesses. Of course, their basic business is making and selling wine. In this regard, their competition is other beverages, from soda pop through whiskey. Mostly it’s alcoholic beverages consumed in a social setting, with beer brewers their primary competition as an industry.
They also make a substantial amount of money from wine tasting, which is Power Tasting’s subject. Wineries are in the business of tourism, which is why we now see so many resorts opening in Wine Country.
So when we wine aficionados go wine tasting, we are certainly drawn to specific wineries by the quality of the wine being served. To a very great extent, we also choose one winery to visit over another based on the overall experience we expect to have there. Beyond the wine, we are attracted to the obvious big things: location, architecture and other attractions, such as art or panoramic views.
The tasting room at Louis M. Martini winery.
At a much more subtle level, the various amenities offered by a winery make a great deal of difference to the way we feel as we remember our experiences and plan to return. The first and ultimately the most important is the personal interaction we have with the servers and other employees. They should make a visitor feel more like a guest than a customer. No one wants to feel looked down upon or intimidated. To our experience most do a good job of hospitality, but we have experienced some notable exceptions. We have never returned to those places.
A tasting room should express the personality of the owners. As more and more winemakers are taken over by big corporations, the tasting rooms have become visitor centers, located in palatial buildings that feel more like show rooms than friendly places to gather and sip.
If the owners collect art or horses or musical instruments or race car paraphernalia, they should share their collections with their guests. Equally, the more humble wineries that are extensions of farms (which is all a vineyard is) should be rustic without being shabby.
At the most elemental level, wineries should show consideration for their guests no differently than each of us would do in welcoming friends into our homes. The tasting rooms should be clean and tidy. Double that for the bathrooms. We appreciate shady places to park. If there is bar service, there should be a place to sit if one wants to. There should be accommodation for those with mobility issues. Some sunlight is always appreciated as well as a view of the vines or the town, depending on location.
The little things add up, often in a subliminal manner. Wine tasting venues in our times is about entertainment almost as much as wine. Serving wine in the barn on a plank and two barrels might have been the way things were done 50 years ago, but in those days the wineries weren’t charging you to sip their wines nor selling their products for three-figure prices. Most winery owners understand that the experience is a part of their business model. The others need to catch up.