We were recently driving in the car and had the radio on. It was tuned in to 92.5 The Krush here in San Luis Obispo County and it happened to be while David Wilson of Grape Encounters Radio was on. We were catching the last segment in which he was chatting with Sara Schneider (Wine Editor Sunset Magazine) about tasting room do’s and don’ts for the consumer.
Now, as you know if you have followed us at all, you know customer service is a huge deal to me. It’s more important than the product or service you are offering. However, what is not discussed often enough is the expectations of the consumer that comes into the tasting room. The consumer can go on Yelp or Facebook and bash a business but a business can’t go on Yelp or Facebook and bash the jackass consumer.
All that said, I went on to our Hoot n Annie Facebook page and said:
“Need your help: I may not use all of the suggestions but I am working on a blog post on tasting room etiquette. Give me 1 or 2 of your best tasting room etiquette tips. Thank you in advance!”
This rather unassuming statement received 17 Likes (not a big number) but did receive 75 comments (which include my responses to people) and had a Facebook Reach of 1,510 (which doesn’t mean crap). The comments were interesting though.
It seems the top 3 tasting room do’s or don’ts were:
No perfume or cologne
It’s wine TASTING not Happy Hour
Don’t hog the bar, make room for other people that are tasting
Now, I did not go through and count how often each was brought up but these seemed to me to be the most mentioned. Some other good ones were:
No lipstick ladies
Don’t bring children (I have failed at this one)
Don’t rinse out your glass each and every tasting, especially with water
Tasting crackers are for clearing your palate not for lunch
Set your glass down to receive your next pour (apparently some people move their glass during the pour and not only is that rude but it makes a mess)
If you like what you tasted buy a bottle or two (or a case)
As you can see it was a pretty good conversation and I think it’s a topic worth visiting from time to time. At the end of the day, the consumer needs to remember that even though a winery is a business they really need to treat it more like someone’s home. Be respectful, be kind, and if you struggle to do these basics stay home.
I don’t want this article to be about customer service so we will wait for another time for that. I wanted to focus on consumer behavior because, well, it’s simply not discussed enough in my opinion. We will cover tasting etiquette at wine tasting events at some point too. Many of the same rules apply but there are definitely some additions.
Cheers…and be kind!
You didn’t mention the “it’s all about me bachelorette party bus”???!!! It’s alright to enjoy yourself while tasting but not at the expense of everyone else in the room including the servers because you want to get your drunk on…go to Ensenada…Papa’s and Beer love your types!!!
LOL…very true. Didn’t mention the bus specifically but several people brought up the “it’s wine tasting not happy hour” thing. Good one, Steve. Hope you are well.
I think it’s okay to bring babies and young children who are happy to be there… Just not older kids who are sulking, complaining, and clearly don’t want to be there.
Nancy, I would take that one step further and if you know you have a baby or toddler that is problematic, you may want to avoid taking them. The flip side of that is that the kids are often fine but it’s the parents that do not keep track of their own children.
I really enjoyed your blog and will follow. What a great topic and I hope that you continue to address some more etiquette on both ends server and servee! Important topic in Paso!!!!
Susan, thank you. You are absolutely right. This is not just about the consumer and it’s not just about the employees. Being kind and acting proper is a two way street and I think reminding people of that is a good thing. 🙂
I listened to David’s conversation with great interest, too. Something that I’d like to add is for guests to be mindful of closing hours. I’ve seen more than a few groups come in after posted closing hour. It creates a bit of a double-edged sword in that we want to provide a good experience but we also want to end what are usually long and busy days. Can’t wait for follow-up posts. Great work Matt!
Thanks, Jim and yes, that’s another great point. In the end I think it’s all about being human, being kind, and being respectful of others.
Nice story. I think we sometimes take the tasting room staff a bit for granted. I wrote a post on my blog a year ago or so about tasting room tales…they have some stories to tell!
Randy, absolutely. I think consumers take employees for granted all the time. Whether it be at a hotel, a winery, a hardware store…unfortunate but true.
Great tips! Definitely a bummer when someone wears perfume or cologne. I agree that kids are fine if they have something to keep them occupied. Our guy plays Minecraft contentedly when he comes along to a tasting.
Yes indeed, David. I agree on the kid thing for sure. So long as parents are attentive to their children it’s all good.
Thank you for posting these tips. My pet peeve when tasting is encountering guests who are clearly there just to party, get a buzz, and wouldn’t care if they were drinking boxed wine (not that there’s anything wrong with economy wine!). I will pay more attention to my own behavior based on your tips above.
Thanks, Elizabeth. Always good to have reminds to be self-aware. We can get lulled into just doing what we do but anytime we are in public it’s good to make sure we are not “one of those people”. 🙂