{"id":934,"date":"2018-04-30T14:19:33","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T14:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=934"},"modified":"2018-04-30T15:35:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T15:35:48","slug":"this-side-of-the-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=934","title":{"rendered":"This Side of the Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Part of Power Tasting\u2019s manifesto, as we say on our Welcome page, states: \u201cWe want to empower the visitor to get the maximum advantage out of each visit, not to be intimidated by wine snobs on either side of the bar\u201d.\u00a0 In most wineries, the servers are friendly and in be best of cases, <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=545\">educational<\/a>.\u00a0 Some are wine snobs, but fortunately, they are rare.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tasting_room.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-935 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tasting_room-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"663\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tasting_room-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tasting_room.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Photo courtesy of touringandtasting.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, the other people tasting wine with you are much more of a mixed bag.\u00a0 The majority are just folks out for a pleasant day, going about their own business.\u00a0 However, there are certain types we have encountered who offer both challenges and opportunities.\u00a0 As a general statement, we see more of them while we are tasting in Napa Valley, because there are so many wineries and it is so well known.\u00a0 Here we offer some tips on how to deal with the various sorts that you might meet in your wine tasting travels.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Party-ers<\/strong>: If you are in Napa Valley on a weekend, especially at wineries that offer a food menu and tables, \u00a0you are then likely to run into a loud group who would rather drink than taste.\u00a0 If they are not your kind of crowd, maybe you ought to skip tasting on weekends.\u00a0 But if Saturday and Sunday are your only chance to go, try to get away from them.\u00a0 The servers are alert to this type and try to isolate them, but it\u2019s hard to avoid them.\u00a0 So if they are inside, take your glass to the terrace.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t get away completely, try to find a quiet corner.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bachelorette Parties<\/strong>: A special case of the party-ers is a group of young women who pull up in a limo, previously over-served, celebrating one of their group\u2019s impending nuptials.\u00a0 (Of course that sounds sexist, but we\u2019ve never seen a bachelor party doing the same thing.\u00a0 At bars, for sure, but not wineries.)\u00a0 Our best advice is to give up and go somewhere else, but if that\u2019s not practical then by all means have nothing to do with this group. \u00a0They can only detract from your experience and you can\u2019t add to theirs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>People You Saw Earlier<\/strong>: It is inevitable that you\u2019ll run into some the same people as you go from winery to winery.\u00a0 After all, they\u2019re doing what you\u2019re doing, in the same part of the world.\u00a0 And since they\u2019re going to the same tasting rooms as you are, they are likely to have similar tastes.\u00a0 It might be interesting to recognize them, ask for\u00a0 recommendations of other wineries you might enjoy and give them some in return.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Dreaded Wine Snobs<\/strong>: Some people like to share information; others want to lecture.\u00a0 In a tasting room, a little alcohol loosens the latter sort\u2019s inhibitions as well as their tongues.\u00a0 The moment you hear something like, \u201cThis is good but the tannins don\u2019t measure up to the 1996\u201d, find a reason to do something more important, like examining the t-shirts and coasters.\u00a0 If you engage these people in conversation, you\u2019ll be stuck for a half an hour listening to someone, no matter how knowledgeable he or she might be, who is more interested in an audience than a conversation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wine drinking and tasting are by nature social experiences and for the most part, the people you\u2019ll run into in wineries will be convivial and in some instances informative.\u00a0 A little conversation can be interesting; too much can spoil your wine tasting experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part of Power Tasting\u2019s manifesto, as we say on our Welcome page, states: \u201cWe want to empower the visitor to get the maximum advantage out of each visit, not to be intimidated by wine snobs on either side of the bar\u201d.\u00a0 In most wineries, the servers are friendly and in be best of cases, educational.\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=934\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">This Side of the Bar<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":943,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}