Tips for starting a tasting group? (Marin County, CA)

WINE TALK
1

Hello everyone, up until 6 months ago I lived in Silicon Valley where I was fortunate to attend bi-weekly tastings organized by a group that has been doing it for over 30yrs.

I figured moving to Marin County (San Rafael, an hour closer to Sonoma and Napa counties), this place would be crawling with wine lovers, events, bars and shops… WRONG.

There is nothing up here like Beltramos, K&L and Vin Vino Wine. I either have to go to San Francisco or perhaps Berkeley. I found out about a Marin group called CorkSuckers so I’ve reached out to them.

There are a few wine bars around here but they are more for eating small bites and havens for girls night outs, little wine knowledge amongst staff, lame selection. There is a cozy shop and wine bar called Rick’s Wine Cellar in Corte Madera I frequent, but the owner recently sold (young new owners seem cool.)

I’ve been thinking of forming my own tasting group up here, dedicated to focused serious tasting as opposed to a casual social tasting. Basically I want what I had in Palo Alto with the Bott tasting group. I’ve spoken with the former owner of the wine bar here, he knows plenty of wine lovers, we have a mutual friend who also knows tons of wine peeps but never had the time to organize anything.

We are going to get together to discuss possibly doing this but I wanted to reach out to you guys.
I’d love to hear about your tasting groups, the format, what you like and don’t like, tips, warnings, etc.

Thanks!!!

2

I’ve been in number of groups in different formats for years. Each has its virtues.

  1. In one, we meet once a month to taste eight wines of the same type. One person buys the wines so the tastings are very focused and you get a sense of, say, a particular vintage in a particular region. For that format, you need money up front, preferably for the whole year, so that if a member doesn’t show, it’s their loss and you don’t have to scramble to collect. That has worked well through several groups in NY and the Bay Area over three decades.

  2. I’m in another group where everyone brings a bottle in a brown bag and we taste totally blind. We rotate between members’ apartments. That’s more relaxed and tests your palate. There are tastings with lots of great wines and others with lots of duds. You never know!

  3. Finally, I’m in a dinner wine group where we have a theme and meet over dinner, generally in someone’s home. Most of that group is less serious about wine, but it’s very convivial.

Whatever the format, the most important thing is to find good company. It doesn’t matter how good the wines are, it’s no fun if the company isn’t. Be choosy at the beginning and careful about who you invite in later. A single obnoxious or self-centered person can throw off the dynamic of the entire group. I speak from experience.

3

I have run a very successful tasting group since 2006 aptly named CLONYC (Cabenet Lovers of New York City).
What started as a tongue in cheek experiment has blossomed into an amazing group of like minded, unsnob-like and friendly set of folks. People joked with me early on and said things like ‘What are you going to do after you run out of ideas for a Cab focused group around dinner number 3’. After 34 dinner/tastings, we have yet to run aground of ideas. We have hosted some of Napa’s biggest names, and even a giant from Australia.

Here is some of what I learned:
I try and keep in fewer than 12 people. 10 is usually preferable, but 12 works ok. I do ALL the pouring. I had a bad experience way back when someone poured 4x the amount of Scarecrow into his glass leaving 3 people with none. Since that I have controlled pours— I am the hardest working man in wine dinners. :slight_smile:

I do these with people I enjoy dining/tasting with. Some have been weeded out in the years for different reasons and some have palate changes which is to be expected, and don’t return. We get a few new members a year, and I am always getting requests to join.

The format that works best is the ‘everyone brings a bottle’ one, usually on theme. I ask for a list and usually choose which would best fit the night’s thematic plan. Sometimes we go blind, whereas I am the only person who knows all the wines.

When we host winemakers/winery owners: I have found these to be some of the most generous persons I have met. (Thomas Brown brought something like 20 wines to the group for tasting). Attendees need not bring a bottle on these nights. The bill is split equally and is larger due to dinner costs for our guests and other things like gift bottles, etc.

I have a home base restaurant where we do all of our dinner/tastings. There is a private room and the staff does a bang-up job. They are well versed in what our needs are and it we area at a point now where it has become almost effortless (other than the pouring).

We tip well. This is key. Our servers get to what amounts to 45-55% at the end of the night (The staff never need touch a bottle of wine either). Working my teen years as a busboy and waiter has taught me enough to know that in the service industry, you are only as good as the service you provide and how much people are willing to reward you for it. I/we are loyal to those who deserve my/our loyalty, and North Square Restaurant in NYC gets that loyalty. Does this mean I never expect problems? Nope, but what then becomes equally as important is how those problems are dealt with. Keep us happy, and we will keep you happy. Everyone wins.

One important item I have found is doing math and collecting monies at the end of the night. Early on we were regulars at Zoe in NYC. (Since closed). As great as a restaurant (and as nice as a people you could ever want to meet), the one grip was a bill that was nowhere near consistent. They would rent glassware when we needed and add to my bill, and sometimes offer aged prime steaks, which confused my math skills once a dozen bottles have been ‘sampled’. Together, the restaurant and I have worked a somewhat consistent billing schedule these days. Sometime it fluctuates if I have special request, but for the most part I can pay the bill without going into my goes-in-tus.

I keep two wine blogs: One for CLONYC and one for my personal notes. I try and write notes for each dinner/tasting and keep it updated as best I can.
Bottom line: Keep it fun and lively. Don’t invite snobby people make sure everyone gets 2.2 ounces and all will be right.

4

we’ve had loads of fun with the series of blind wine dinners originally organized by Leo Frokic. Each month a different person supplies all the wines blind, sometimes at a restaurant, sometimes at their home. It allows for a more coherent progression of wines and one chosen to match the available food. You have to go into that sort of thing with the realization that people have different incomes and not be bothered because one person opens more expensive wines than another.

5

The most significant decision is whether the group is going for depth or breadth. Early on, I joined a tasting group where each month the role of hosting the tasting rotated to someone new, and that person had to pick a wine region or theme that hadn’t been done that year. We all chipped in to cover the cost of the wines. That breadth model, of course, is only one choice.

Bruce

6

This is what we’ve been doing for decades, too. For me the important parts are

  1. the host (which rotates around the group) buys all the wines. No duplicates, clear theme.
  2. if you’re a member, you must either a) show up, or b) send an acceptable sub, or c) send the host a check. This avoids the well-known ‘OK, we have $600 worth of Burgundy and only 3 people showed up, what now?’
  3. no table talk.
7

Oliver - Weren’t you in a brown-bag group for years, too?

8

+1

I’m too lazy for that, but I found a solution: We pass around a graduated cylinder, set for 50-55 ml for 10 people. Each person measures the first wine and then pours the other glasses against it. (Most people have matched glasses.) That’s an ample pour, I find. There tends to be a bit of upward creep in the pours in the later wines, but the bottle always makes it around the table with lots left over for a little refreshening when we unveil the wines.

9

We had the now defunct WACOS: Wine Appreciation Club of Sonoma (county). You’ll have to come up with something equally clever for Marin. You can always include BMWs or hot tubs in the title. lol

  1. It was mostly a group of coworkers with a few others, including some industry folks.
  2. Hosting rotated amongst the group.
  3. Host provided a few light munchies.
  4. Cost divided amongst all who showed.
    5 Host (or someone with an industry discount) bought the wines. Themes were something like “six 2008 CA Cabs under $40” or maybe “Pinot: Carneros vs. Santa Maria,” etc. Occasionally we did “ringers” like one really cheap or really expensive wine, or one French wine with all the other from CA. Wines were tasted blind. I found I often learned more from having a ringer in the group.
  5. People ranked and we totaled up and picked the night’s winners and losers.
  6. Conversation always encouraged. This is a social event, not anything serious. It’s only wine.
10

This is great info, keep it coming!

My old group was unique as all the wines came from one person’s very large cellar. Twice a week he came up with amazing themes of 8 or more wines, “Burt vs. Bob Williams Selyem Pinots” “1977-1994 Steltzner Cabernet Sauvignons” “Lytton Springs Retrospective”
He would collect what his original bottle cost was, so we got to taste 8 or more amazing wines for often under $35.

My concern with having someone assigned to assemble the flight is that we won’t have enough dedicated wine savvy people to start. I will likely have to round up all the wines myself (which I don’t mind) Maybe I can find some people with deep cellars who would sell us bottles. I also want flights of wines that are readily available though, “2010 Oregon Pinots” for example.

For those who have organized, which do you feel is better: hosting at someone’s home or at a public place? To keep costs down I’d like to host at my or someone else’s house but I have concerns about strangers coming to my home, people getting intoxicated and leaving my home. Your thoughts?

11

Whenever I do a group at my home, I find I am too busy to actually get serious about ‘tasting’ notes and such. It becomes more of an ‘entertaining’ thing.
Cooking, setup, serving & making sure all are happy.
Don’t get me wrong, tha’s fun too, just not as ‘focused’.

12

Yes, I did the last 2 blind dinners I hosted at home and while a lot of fun there is no time for note taking.

13

Does Ross still do those tastings? I remember he was on a serious zinfandel bender for a while. He owns serious quantities of juice.

14

Yes Ross is still running the show, I’ve heard he has obscene amounts of wine but I’ve never asked.

Looking forward to Jan 27th in SF!!

15

I have heard rumors that he buys “pallets” so he can do these continuous retrospective tastings but IDK. I have also heard that most wineries will give him very substantial allocations because they know he does not flip the wines and has been very generous with his tastings. He is a class A major wine geek to be sure.

Here is to the 27th!

16

Yes, John, we rotate hosts, host picks two whites and 6 reds, we taste them and try to guess them. Excellent and humiliating. The wines have ranged all the way up and down the quality scale.

Then the host serves dinner and we have another couple of blind wines with dinner and cheese. The first group I mentioned does not serve food at all. That and bringing your own glassware makes it easier on the host…

17

For an event where people bring a bottle don’t allow corked bottles. I amazed at the lack of preparation I see in so many groups. Are you really going to open a 2005 2nd growth and not decant prior to showing up? Set some basic rules up front and you will weed out the none wine drinkers and don’t think you need 22 people at every event.

A good number often times is five people so you can go back and revisit wines throughout the night.

18

Our group meets once a month. We rotate every other month doing a themed tasting (region or variety), and a completely unthemed blind tasting. We generally do pizza, cheese, chacuterie or some lind of food like that. It is a very laid back group in which I am the only non-ITB’er.

19

I’m in a small tasting group of 4-6 called NWA that meets about every 5 weeks. We pick a theme and all bring a bottle from our cellars. Always high end stuff with back ups in case of a corked bottle. The small number allows for retasting over the course of the meal and allows one to see how the wines evolve.

We meet at different restaurants with no corkage and always just divide the bill no matter what was ordered by whom. Then we go to a nearby bar for absinthe. :slight_smile:

20

Important thing: pick a day (first Thursday of the month for example) and stick to it. Too much monkeying with the schedule creates a nightmare.