Another Class Act from Tablas Creek

A month ago, I had a friend who was doing a visit to PasoRobles, with friends. I urged her to do a visit to TablasCreek and gave DarrenDelmore a heads-up. They set Karen up w/ a special tour and treated her like royalty. TCV is her new favorite wnry.
Low & behold, Friday I get in the mail a $15 gift certificate from TCV from Nicole. Not a biggie in the scheme of things at TCV…but a very nice/thoughtful gesture…and so typical of the customer relations they show at TCV.
Tom

Top marks on their gesture of goodwill, Tom!!!

This is a rant I’ve delivered before: How is it that some wineries get it…and others don’t. By “it”, I mean good customer relations.

TablasCreek obviously gets “it”. And there a lot of our favorites here that get “it”. Wineries who go out of their way to treat their customers as
valued and appreciate their business.
Last week, I had a Harrington Lagrein that I thought was terrific…one of the best Lagreins I’ve had. The grapes came from PelletiereEstate in Paso.
I mentioned it to owner JanisDenner and got an immediate response, even though she was out on the road. Looked at their WebSite and found it interesting
(Italian varietals), so ordered a hlf case to try. She immediately responded thanking me and assured they would be shipped Monday and requested I let her
know what I thought of her wines.
Also last week, I had an old Zin that I thought was still in wonderful shape. I sent my TN, filled w/ the usual florid prose and more /////'s than necessary,
to the wnry and complimented the owner/winemaker on how it had held up so well. I was prepared to order a case of their current offerings to see what they
were like. The response?? Zip/nada/nothing/zero. Needless to say, I didn’t bother to order that case to try. This sort of response happens more often than
I’d care to mention.

End of rant…have a good day.
Tom

Yep, it always helps to take care of good customers - well, any customer actually. The wine industry is no different than any other industry - some get it and most don’t . . .

Cheers.

I like their wines a great deal. Having said that, I’ve visited there twice, once signing up for a tour, and the experience was pretty indifferent and average. Not bad, just kind of ordinary.

It’s kind of like visiting Ridge - part of you expects something more soulful because of their wine philosophy, but just as far as a visit, its kind of just another corporatey walk in tasting room. (In both cases, this is just me as an ordinary Joe visiting - I’m sure people with connections and status can create different experiences).

We’re members of Tablas and took some friends there for a reserve tasting last October. For members the reserve tasting is $25 and $40 for non-members. We had a great tasting and after they went through their lineup they asked us what else we might like to try of anything they had available. Of course I proposed an older Panoplie and someone else asked for one of their more limited production wine, which they were more than happy to serve. My friends were very impressed and joined on the spot. On top of the extra tastings, they comped me one of my fees. For my friends they comped one of the non-member fees and charged the 2nd non-member at the member’s price. Everyone walked away with a smile on their face.

Yup, Chris…I’m pretty certain that the rec for hosting Karen coming from TomHill made a lot of difference.

OTOH…I’ve also dropped into TCV tasting room wearing my “ordinary Joe” disguise. I found the two different people that poured for me were
very engaging and interested in what I thought of the wines…very hospitable. I thought the tasting experience, even though they poured me nothing special,
just what they were routinely pouring, was very cordial & friendly.
This is something I make an effort to observe as I visit tasting rooms across Calif…the reception that an “ordinary Joe” receives when they walk in.
In some, the pouring staff go out of the way to make you feel welcome and glad you walked in the door. In others, it’s clear that the staff, from their attitude,
just consider you another moocher wanting free booze. And we won’t even talk about PattyRafanelli!!!
Apparently, some wineries can staff their tasting room w/ people that “get it”. And others cannot. Or care not to.
Tom

From my experience, Tablas Creek has one of the best managed and staffed winery tasting rooms, with well trained and helpful staff. I know that Jason Haas considers it to be a crucial part of the way they interact with existing and potential new customers, so has worked to make it an enjoyable and educational experience for the people who visit.

-Al

We had a downright terrible experience at Lytton Springs. So bad, I wince at the thought of going back, even though I’m still in ATP.