Offline-Organizer Veterans

Hi! I’m organizing my first offline and would love to know what best practices you’ve learned from organizing offlines in the past?

All suggestions/experiences appreciated!

Thanks,
Barry

–If it’s new people, toss out wines you’ll bring early on so people have a sense of what to bring. A lot of first offline attendees (or organizers) get nervous about what they are bringing. It helps sooth the soul. Or everyone just bring whatevers, that also works.

–Don’t worry about corkage. Took me too long to figure this part out. Being comfortable, eating good food ultimately matters more than saving $20 a person on corkage.

– don’t make it too big otherwise you won’t get to know the people in the group. Start with 8-10 people then expand. If need be, maybe limit +1s.

– bring stemware (unless you’re paying a decent amount on corkage and they have nice stems ).

Superb advice so far- the only thing I would add is that it would help a great deal to set a theme. With a theme to narrow things down, you can address a lot of the anxiety that other guests might have about what to bring- as well as dissuade potential attendees who are planning to sandbag.

To address the downside upfront- I have put on a LOT of offlines in my time- and you will often have that “special someone” show up. Some of my favorites include the person who showed up with 3 unexpected and uninvited guests who brought no wine of their own, and the person who came to my 2006 DRC tasting and not only complained to the wine merchant in attendance about why I was given enough of an allocation to allow me to put on a tasting- but also took such large pours for himself that midway through dinner I had to ask the sommelier to take over the pouring process. The lack of taste and good manners you encounter will know no bounds- but happily if you handle things deftly and quickly, you can prevent a disaster in the making and ensure everyone who deserves to will have a good time.

Don’t let my jaded view put you off. Such situations are rare, but being ready to handle them helps you get through it and keep the faith.

There is always an up and down to organizing these events. I think having a theme can be helpful (OR Pinots from $40-$65, N Rhone $50-$70, etc.) however, that can also limit someone that might otherwise be generous or want to share something rare from their collection.
For my first offline I hosted a vertical of a wine I wanted to share and invited others to bring a bottle to taste blind. It worked out really well. I was pleased with everyone’s desire to share something special and we all had a great time. I believe that generosity can beget generosity.

All good advice. Some other thoughts–tip very generously, as OLs tend to be demanding of wait staff time; establish a split-the-check rule; see if you can arrange for a set menu in advance, as it tends to help things flow smoothly.

One more suggestion - if possible do your first one with people you know reasonably well and stick with that group, even if it becomes small. Inevitably it is the last minute addition or the friend of the friend who ends up being a major pain in the ass - a couple of past experiences include the guy who brought the last minute date to a fixed menu dinner at a very traditional French bistro - she turned out to be a very vocal and strict vegan, and the friend of the friend who had been drinking all day, was blotto at dinner and ended up taking a nap at the table.

On the other hand, I have also made long lasting friendships over these dinners, so you have to take the good with the bad.

The tipping recommendation is very important, as this is a lot of work for the servers. Make sure everyone is agreement on the financial arrangements up front, not when the bill arrives!

I cat-herded three Cellar Tracker weekend offlines in Charleston.
I learned

1. not to attempt the fourth
2. to require that people declare wines well in advance (many people did not, so refer to rule #1)
3. to require mags or 2x bottles if the group is large
4. to set a minimum price per bottle (advice from a prominent WBer/CTer). Many people are offended by that policy, but I didn’t enjoy the grumbling about ‘freeloaders’ taking advantage without really contributing (again, refer to #1)

I agree with C Fu’s corkage suggestion.
A CTer is currently organizing an annual Tampa event, similar to our old Charleston weekends. He requires a non-refundable deposit. MANY people commit to an event, then change their minds, often at the last minute. These people don’t seem to realize the difficulty those actions present for organizers and restaurants.
I enjoyed the weekends; I grew to despise the months leading up to the event.
Now I prefer smaller events, but look forward to Falltacular(sp?) after I retire.

Any offlines that involve attendees having to pay for food (hired chef or catering) or whatever need to be pre-paid. It is no fun collecting after the event. No pay no come!
This does not seem to be a big problem at restaurants but home OLs with expenses are tough places to collect.

Having organised a lot of offlines there is some good advice here, so I’ll just add a few bits.

Set a number, say 12 and create a list of attendees, as people state their wish to attend add them to the list, once filled create a reserve list. People are always dropping out so just manage the list as they do.

Specify a theme, if you want a certain level of wine, maybe ask people to nominate what they are bringing, the organiser can usually set the ‘feel’ of what to bring by nominating what they are bringing. Although bear in mind not everyone can afford Grand Cru, so I always make it clear bring a wine you find interesting and would like to share. Don’t begrudge a young college kid bringing a Prem Cru wine which probably means he’ll be eating Ramen noodles for the week to afford it. There is a role to play in exposing the next generation (or even same generation not as well off) to good wines and hope they pay it forward when they are able to. If someone is really taking people for a ride every off-line by bringing Yellow Tail then maybe set specific stds. ‘Premium Shiraz tasting $50 and above’.

Always have the basic tools with you, Corkscrew, Durand, Filter, Blind tasting socks, spittoons, even a couple of decanters. That way if the restaurant is happy to let you look after yourself you can do so easily. (we always do – as most of the time we have a lot more experience with getting the corks out of old bottles). Check the glassware they have, in most cases we take our own glassware, they don’t seem to mind (less washing up for them) – never let them wash your glasses at the end of the night – just rinse in water and clean properly the next day at home.

Check the food you are eating, not too spicy, not all seafood on a Cabernet night. Also see if they can alter the speed at which the food comes out, nothing worse than dessert coming out while you are just getting into your Aged Cabernet. Try and match the flights with the dishes and have a general idea of where you need to be, if you have 3 red flights and only 1 red meat dish to go ask the kitchen to hold off bringing out dessert for 20mins.

Ask the Restaurant if they can set aside a small side table for all your wines, decanters, ice buckets so as not to clutter up the table. Check the wines for faults before sending it around!! Nothing worse than 12 people having to tip their wines into the spittoons and wash them out. Just pour one and pass it around if people really want to confirm for themselves.

Backups, a lot of people bring them just in case their main wine is no good. Then decide they may as well crack it open since they have it there. If you don’t want the main event being overwhelmed be strict about when people can open their ‘backups’ - like only after all the main event wines are finished and if people still want to try some more.

Have a ringmaster, as people drink they become more chatty and time gets past them and the 30mins per flight becomes 45mins, then 60mins. Have someone who is spitting or has their wits about them to call time on each flight to keep things moving.

Are you doing this at a restaurant? When it was at my house, and it involved cooking and food, it didn’t matter whether people brought wine or not and we never had a theme. People just showed up. Most were wine people, so brought wine. If not, we had plenty.

Tasting group was entirely different but I assume that’s not what you’re talking about. So if at home, you might ask people to bring sides and depending on how many glasses you have, to bring glasses too.

If at a restaurant, it’s totally different. A lot of times a chef will offer to do a tasting menu for you if you let them know what wines you’ll have. And in that case, limit it to 8 or 10 people max. Otherwise you end up with separate groupings of people, plus you don’t have enough wine that you can go back to it.

Make sure to offer some wine to the staff. Let them know that you’ll pour the wines and basically take care of yourselves. That puts less work on them.

Go on an off night. Friday and Saturday are always crowded. They may appreciate the business more on Monday or Tuesday.

Tip well.

Remember that there are other people, so don’t get loud and boisterous.

In general, don’t be douchebags.

I organize the wine tasting every month for my wine group. The people in our tend to have large wine cellars and to be quite generous, so setting minimums is never an issue. The hardest thing in our group is people want to bring too many wines, which means rushing through wines more than I would like.

We tend to meet at the same restaurant every month. We have a set deal for a price with the restaurant that makes things easier. As Randy says, tipping well is very important.

We have a general theme each month. My view is that people should be able to bring wines from their cellars and not have to go out and buy wine to fit a tight theme, so sometimes we can have a flight off theme or something.

Share wine with the waitress, chef, etc., in other words be generous.

There is a lot of good advice here but most of all have fun. If it is going to be a burden, save yourself the time and effort.

For sure have a theme and change it up a bit. An example, have a “Cabernet from around the world” theme with a certain price minimum. Also have a second Cabernet bottle at 1/3 the cost.
It’s always fun and humbling when you love That $22.00 bottle instead of that $75.00 bottle .

Let us know how it goes.

If your group is up for it, it’s always fun/interesting/educational to stick a blind bottle in and see if people can identify any attributes. I find it pretty hard personally, but some people are good at that. Even identifying the varietal on older wines is tough.

Anyways, lots of good advice in this thread. I’ve been lucky to meet lots of great people and try neat stuff through offlines. I hope you experience all that too.

Been a while since I put one together, but the only thing I might add is try not to be the last table an hour after every other guest has left, and be blunt about needing to call it a night by a certain time.

I once had three people go on a mission to drain every last bottle in the table that stayed over two hours after other tables and our main group had decamped.

I once had three people go on a mission to drain every last bottle in the table that stayed over two hours after other tables and our main group had decamped.

The few. The proud.

Lots of good advice. I’d add that requiring everyone bring cash to cover their share of the bill is greatly appreciated by the staff and management/ownership. You want to be welcomed back, and everyone paying cash goes over much better than part cash and 5+ credit cards being run for the 1/whatever share each they owe. Plus, you avoid folks fighting to get the points on their award cards.

Would also add that while attendees should tip well no matter if corkage is charged or not, everyone should tip even better if corkage is waived. Again, you want to be welcomed back, especially to the places that waive corkage.

I’ve hosted at my home and organized out at restaurants. Two different approaches.

At home I:

1. Don’t limit the number of guests. I’ve had as many as 22 all getting tastes from the same bottle and as few as 8.
2. I second the idea of having guests bring sides in order to cut down on the time you send away from the group prepping food.
3. I don’t ask for monetary donations. Offers are accepted but not required. It’s very awkward asking people for money when they are leaving and in the long run we probably spent 5-10x the food cost on wines opened.
4. The less structured the tasting is the more fun you will have. I’ve been to a few offlines where the wines were great but the overall vibe was too stuffy. I try to keep it very casual. You make more real friends that way.

Away:

1. I enjoy using caual eateries and ordering family style off the menu with everyone sharing from selections that are broad enough to appeal to everyone’s tastes. If you peruse the menu beforehand to see the average cost for an app or entree you can easily get an idea for the per person cost ahead of time and require everyone be ready to pay x amount per head. Working a corkage agreement ahead of time is a plus. We often use a restaurant that will waive corkage and then I’ll add extra to the per person fee. We often tip the staff a higher dollar amount than the actual check. Other places will want to set a per person price and serve to that number wth a set tip. Normally those places get less money in the end.

2. The theme will often dictate the vibe and guest list. Consider that when making plans.

3. Keep the crowd to 10 or less. It’s much more manageable.
   
   
   Most importantly, at least to me, is don’t judge people by the bottle they bring. For a newbie coming to their first offline a $40 bottle may be extravagant, or his year old bottle may be the oldest one he has. He’s doing his best. Don’t be a snob. Nobody likes a snob. Now, if he talks a big game and then doesn’t back it up that’s a whole nother thing. There is always enough wine for everyone and then some. Never make them feel less than. Is just a DB move.

I don’t ask for monetary donations.

Yeah. I went to a guy’s house one time and he had a bowl out for donations. On one hand I didn’t really care all that much - he spent a good deal of money on the food and apparently this group always did it that way, but I’d never encountered that before and if they took turns hosting, it seemed like it would work out anyway. OTOH, one time a guy brought over 2 huge lobes of foie gras that he wanted to share with us. Everyone offered to offset the cost but he wouldn’t take anything. And he was a cheap bastard so that stands out for me as a singular moment.

Most importantly, at least to me, is don’t judge people by the bottle they bring. For a newbie coming to their first offline a $40 bottle may be extravagant, or his year old bottle may be the oldest one he has.

This.

A lot of people feel like they’re getting screwed if they bring a $200 bottle and someone else brings a $50 bottle. I understand that feeling but look where the people are coming from. If you’ve been collecting wine for thirty years and you picked up a lot of stuff cheaply back in the day, that’s nice. And if you only want to drink with people who are just like that, I guess it’s OK but you’re limiting yourself. OTOH it’s kind of fun sharing with people who are kind of new. One thing you can do is ask people to PM you in advance so you have an idea of what they’re bringing. You can gently tell them privately that maybe they might want to up the ante, or you can let it go.

One more thing. Some people just aren’t going to get along. It’s the way life is. Alcohol makes it worse. Some people are great for the first two glasses and then they cast a pall over the table. Not often, but it’s happened a couple of times in my experience. My advice then is to just call it a night because it’s only going to get worse.

everyone bring cash, Gene will put it on his CC for convenience

Lately we’ve been putting it all on one card and everyone else paypal/venmo/bank transfers money on the spot through their phone. Granted that probably doesn’t work if your group has a predominantly older age group

A necessary evil, especially when you have to guarantee a certain number of people. At the Di Fara’s pizza O/L, they only accept cash. Cash is collected in advance because people say they’re coming, then cancel at the last minute. Hey, $hit happens.

I’ll agree with what others have posted above. It help to set a theme. In the case of Berserkers, that’s a good guide. After that, people will bring all pricepoints. At my first offline, I brought a '99 ACV Reserver Cab Sauv that cost be $37 back in 2001. At the time, that was big money to me. Out of 6 bottles at that dinner, this was #5; and probably the least expensive. I was new to this hobby. One of the attendees told me the wine as good, just outclassed by much better wine. It was an eye opener for me.

At my Flyertalk wine dinner (coming up on the 10th annual), I set a theme and the minimum bottle price. It’s good to know going in to the event that everyone is on the same page.