And then what do you do with the half full plastic cup? Pour it down somewhere at the winery (sink, bucket…) where you could have spat in the first place? Or bring it back to your car so that you can splash wine everywhere when taking the narrow, winding roads?
It’s the winery’s responsibility to provide something in which to spit… because it’s a lot easier for them to organise than for me. Maybe that’s too obvious a reason?
Bringing a cup can be a good idea, but it shouldn’t be the customers’ responsibility to find a place to spit - and the wineries should be encouraging spitting as an option.
There can be a lot of awkwardness around a spitbucket, with people blockading it, bumping or even shoving to get to it (when there’s room to get by), people who aren’t that talented being not entirely accurate, etc. So, a cup allows you to find a peaceful spot, away from bumbling twits. It also allows you mobility to quickly move out of range of perfume and b.o.
Very interesting discussion. On a recent trip to SB it appeared that all tasting rooms charges $10 and you generally got some good wines. However, not in one single case was the fee forgiven when I purchased wine.
At Melville I bought $200 worth of stuff and paid my fee, same at Huber, same at Babcock etc
Then I went up to Paso. The fees where the same, but they seem to forgive them when you either joined the club, belonged to the club, or bought enough wine. Much nicer experience.
It is interesting for me because we’ve reviewing the way we charge customers visiting our winery.
The other thing is that our situation in France is quite different to a Californian winery. We don’t have a tasting room in the try-before-you-buy style because a lot of our visitors are not coming to buy wine - they have flown here from other countries where we either don’t sell the wine or sell it through importers. They may buy 1 or 2 bottles and they may buy from my merchants later but many are just coming for a winery experience - to have a look around ask questions, taste the wine and generally spend a pleasant 30 minutes or more.
We try to encourage people to book a proper wine tour. These cost 10€ ( = $15) and take 1.5 hours, include a tour of the vineyards and winery plus a tasting with either me or my wife. We enjoy doing them and realise that the main benefit is publicity rather than direct sales.
However, we get some visitors who don’t want to pay for the tour but want to have a look around and taste some wine. Our winery is pretty historic, they get to ask the winemaker (me) loads of questions in a language they understand and the look-around usually lasts 30 minutes. How much should I charge these kind of visitors if they “are travelling and can’t buy more than 1 or 2 bottles”? My wine is not expensive enough that I make $50 profit on a bottle.
Time has value, wine has value. In your case, I’d charge about 20 Euro/ per person. Chat Pommard or Mersualt is not much cheaper.
First off, apologies for resurrecting an old thread.
Airfield Estates’ tasting room at the winery in Prosser, WA, has sinks built into the countertop. They are very deep, conical sinks that are perfect for both spitting and dumping. I wonder why I have never seen this anywhere else?
On the real topic, Washington tasting rooms typically have a small charge (most are $5-10), with the fee waived with almost any purchase. There are exceptions for expensive wines, but they really are the exception. I also find that if you are an active listener, are polite, and ask questions that don’t make you sound like a doofus, that quite a few tasting rooms simply don’t charge anyway. It’s all pretty laid back in the Pacific Northwet.
Having blackened my teeth for months in Washington I have to admit that I found Napa wineries expensive and kind of depressing (except for Smith-Madrone). I didn’t have much time in Napa, but even at a couple of wineries where I liked what I was tasting, I had the major “wine club arm twist” applied, and paid a fee even when I bought wine. I’m sure the valley has dozens of old-style wineries, but I didn’t know how to find them (except for Smith-Madrone). Sounds like it’s time to start a blog focused on tasting room experiences.
(OK, I admit it, no one accidentally finds Smith-Madrone. It takes a Jeep, a map, a compass, and a Sherpa guide, but it’s well worth the trip.)