In store Wine Tastings

We provide free wine tastings 7 days a week. We always have 2 reds and 2 whites available… The owner and I select the wines we want to put into our tasting unit. Of course, we disagree at times, because, I am looking for wines that are solid and can be exciting to the customer. The owner, likes that view, but has to look at those wines which give him the best return in value.

For me, the taster. is a valauble tool. It give me the opportunity to try wines for our customers to better understand their tastes. I keep a log of every wine we have tasted for the past 4 years. ALong with this, I have developed a good understanding of our customers likes and dislikes. So, now after I have had a customer try out our wines a few times, I know their tastes, what they want what they do not like.

For me, that is great. I have so many customers that come to me and say “I want a such and such wine type” I can select that wine to satisfy their requirement in a short time. Nd I always ask for feedback, so I can better understand their tastes.

This works wonders for our store

The laws here in CA don’t allow us to pour “free” beyond 2% off our wine “purchases.” It’s a great tool for the appropriate clientele, but we have seen problems with the “free” loaders. Free tasting by invitation could work for us in CA on a very limited basis.

On the flip side, every employee in the store should have knowledge of the wines you sell and tasting is means to obtain the knowledge.

Which is why we purchased three Napa Tech units.a few years ago. 12 wines, open all day, every day, and changed each fortnight.
Signs sell, but wine tastings sell more!

Randy - Can you please explain this? Thanks.

Randy,

I’ve got a question about that too. When we were getting our 42 license I had to go before the local Planning Commission for a CUP that would be linked to the ABC license. I specifically recall researching a state code section that allowed us to pour ‘3 one-ounce pours per day, per person’ FREE. The Commission’s counsel was familiar with the section and helped me convince the group that 2-ounce pours were not that much bigger than what the state already allowed to be given away.

Anyway… with the convoluted ABC rules here in CA, I could easily have gotten off-base on this. What do you know about the 3 one-ounce free vs. the 2% you reference? I DO recall something about the ABC being able to audit records in this regard, but not anything specific about a percentage.

At our store in KY, (where the hell is Kentucky and people actually drink wine there?) we hold free aisle tastings every Friday and Saturday.

Our Friday tastings are conducted by our Sales Reps and the Saturday tastings always feature one of our favorite importers.

The biggest issue with them is that, as many would assume, many random clientele want sweet wine.

To many KY and OH people there are only 2 kinds of wine, dry wine and good wine. Buy 'Merikan

I’m not ITB per se, but I worked the VIP Room at a charity wine tasting recently (Dayton, OH) where folks that paid $90/ticket had a tasting of wines paired with food including a Brunello and a Rutherford Cab, among several other nice and somewhat pricey bottles. The question most asked by a long shot was, “which is the sweetest? I want that one.”

I sent some of them downstairs to the only sweet wine at the event, a German Riesling. Most others, however, I simply said, “I’ll let you start with this Russian River Chardonnay and you tell me if you don’t like it.” I didn’t have one person complain or otherwise dump or return the wine. I certainly don’t judge others for their tastes, but I would never pay that much for a wine tasting unless I had some interest in wine beyond its sweetness.