Is it legal for a retailer to host a blind tasting?

I can’t say I’ve ever heard of one. Are retailers required to disclose what wine they are pouring before Joe customer consumes it?

You would have to consult the Alcohol laws/regs in your individual state, but they don’t typically deal with blind vs. non-blind tastings. More often, the rules are whether the retailer has to charge for the tastings (no freebies), ensuring you’re not serving underage or drunk patrons, etc.

Bruce

Not Illegal to have one in IL we have done 2 of them in our time in business. People love them and hate them. Often in our case the tasters were not experienced enough to get the correct information on the page which was good for me since I was offering a bottle of Screaming Eagle to anyone that got it all correct. we tried to make it easier the 2nd time around and made it a blind tasting but did provide the the wine in the tasting so that tasters could try and match the wines with there tastes. Much better results. No I did not offer the Eagle the 2nd time around just a free tasting. which was claimed.

Larry, thanks for taking the time to do what most retailers view as too bothersome.

There’s at least one local shop near me that holds them at least twice a year.

We do them all the time.

I used to do them every few months when we had our store in SoCal. Free bottle if you could identify the dominant grape variety. People enjoyed it.

In CA, at least, there’s nothing I’m aware of in the code that relates at all to whether or not the wine is identified to the consumer ahead of time. That’s just not something the law covers, though my inclination would be not to give the ABC any ideas.

You can have blind tastings. Just watch out for their seeing eye dogs. [rofl.gif]

Individual state law will govern “tasting” but I can’t find any state mentioning “blind” tastings. (there probably are one or two that have a subsection that can be manipulated, that was added to ensure the consumer gets what they paid for.

In CA, a retailer can’t hold tastings unless they possess an “On Sale” license or can obtain a one day license.

In Texas, we had to post for public viewing exactly what we were tasting 24 (maybe 48) hours before the tasting was held.

However, I don’t know the legality of pouring an unknown beverage to a customer with he/she not knowing exactly what they were consuming.

If there was such a thing as common sense, common sense would tell you that a blind tasting of Cali Cabs would indicate the customers are tasting California Cabs. What else would you need to know before you sign up and pay for a “blind tasting,” when the purpose of a blind tasting is to test your senses and expand your appreciation of wine?

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility for a governmental agency staffer to interpret code language to require prior disclosure of the specific contents of a consumable product like this. It makes no sense with wine, but I’ve seen stranger and more ridiculous things. Just sayin’.

Is it possible for a retailer to have a “single blind” tasting (you know the wines being tasted but not which wine is in your glass(s)) but be prohibited from having a “double blind” tasting (you don’t know what wines are being poured and whats in your glass)? I can see arguments for allowing the former while prohibitting the latter.

Interesting question! I’ve never heard of a state having an issue with blind tastings but I would love to know (from a Devil’s Advocate POV) what possible reason that a government agency would have for not allowing it?

The only thing I could possibly think of (that is admittedly quite stupid) is that a covered bottle would prohibit the consumer from seeing that oh-so-important-but-asinine “sulfite warning”.

There is a local shop here in Delaware that has an occasional double blind tasting. Lots of fun and somewhat humbling usually.

We have done this several times before. Everything bagged and then wines revealed at the end of the tasting. Lots of fun.