Top Ten Tasting Room Tips for Planning your next Wine Tasting Trip!

Wine tasting as a "vacation focus" is a growing segment of the travel industry, in no small part spurred on by the popularity of the film “Sideways (2004)”. Many vineyards and wineries will open up their tasting rooms to the public, who are allowed to sample a handful of wines for free in some smaller wine regions to upwards of $30 per tasting for top producers in Napa Valley. It is also the practice of many to offer a wavier of these fees if minimum wine purchase is made. Many also offer educational tours of the facilities which are terrific for those who want to get "beyond the bottle".

Some of the traditional hotspots for wine tasting are, of course, Napa and Sonoma counties in California, Bordeaux and Burgundy in France, and Chianti in Italy. However, in the last decade or two, vineyards around the world have begun to produce excellent wine and are now on the wine-tasting vacation circuit: Australia (Barossa Valley), Argentina (Mendoza, Chile (Maipo) and South Africa (Stellenbosch) and in the America, New Yorks Finger Lakes Ava, Paso Robles, the Willamette Valley and Santa Barbara.

Since it is almost that time of the year again, I thought I would take out and dust off the Cuvee Corner Wine Blog's Ten Top Tips for Tasting Room Visits!

1. WINE CLUBS:

There you are in the wine tasting room and you see and hear offers to become a wine club member and at the same time the quality of the wine you just quaffed was quite amazing. What to do, what to do, okay I am going to make this decision a little easier for you. Most wineries will give you a decent discount on your purchases if you join the wine club right then and there. Most wine club agreements will allow you to cancel, after receiving one or two shipments with the average shipment being 2 bottles. Don’t wince the next time you hear the words, "join our wine club" embrace the wine club and you’ll save on average 20-30 % off a wine you would most likely purchase anyways. So if you do join the wine club, remember it is not have to be forever.

2. TRIP PLANNING:

I’ve read Wine critics Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher advise of 'Tastings' Columnists: Open That Bottle! : NPR recommend for planning your next trip to wine country that it is best to not have a plan, just randomly drive through wine country and show up to any tasting room you may find open. In my experience and in the words of Molly Hatchet, you’re "Flirtin’ with Disaster" and you will most likely result in a miserable time. Believe me a little planning will go a long way! One wine country trip I planned for a group of friends went so well they still speak glowingly about it today. I recommend doing a little research ahead of time. This can be done by getting a wine country map of the AVA you will be visiting. Scheduling tours, making appointments ahead of time, planning behind the scenes tours, etc. This will tell you which places have tasting rooms in first place, when there open, or if they are by appointment only. Don’t be discouraged if they are, this can usually be arranged via email. Order your wine country map ahead of time and bring it with you on the trip. This will allow you preview the wineries you plan to visit before your trip, so you are somewhat familiar with the line up, if they offer tours or have arranged for the winemaker to be on hand certain days. Also include in your planning the wineries with relatively close proximity. So you can do build an itinerary for yourself, for example day 1 we will go to here and here, day 2, here and here, etc. Lastly, make some dinner reservations ahead of time; this will save you a lot of frustration and make you look like a local. OpenTable is a great resource for this and will earn you some points towards discounts.

3. APPOINTMENTS:

This is one facet of wine tasting you will invariably run into. This is often done because some wineries don’t have a tasting room or they don’t have the staff to accommodate a regular tasting schedule. Like I have previously said don’t be discouraged by having to make an appointment. This can be some of the best times you will have tasting wine. Often times the winemaker or proprietor is the one hosting your appointment and they are very eager to give you their wrapped attention and can interact with you on a much higher level, in comparison to a crowded tasting room with a novice tasting room assistants who has just served over a hundred pours before you got there. Speaking of pours, the pours at appointments are typically more generous, which to me really gives you a better opportunity to evaluate the wine fairly. Another benefit of appointments is being able to taste just about everything they have available, unlike the average tasting room experience where you are only allowed to taste what is on the menu for the day. You never know they may just get you "sneek-peek" of the new vintage via a barrel sample. Make sure you keep your appointment, call ahead to remind your host of your arrival and show up on time and if you have to cancel please call them at least day ahead, that is just good form.

4. ARRIVE EARLY:

The best rule of thumb regarding tasting room’s visits is to go early! Most will open by 10 or 11 in the morning and they start closing up by 5 in the evening. Most of the popular places will fill up fast and this will minimize your experience.

5. DRINK OR SPIT:

Another rule of the thumb is to make up your mind beforehand, if you are going to drink or spit. I can’t be a spitter, so I indulge in a heavy breakfast something starchy will do nicely. (I also make sure I have a designated driver) But if you are going to spit, then make sure you are near one of the wine spittoons on the bar, which festoon most tasting rooms like the scene from Frass Canyon in "Sideways". Don't feel bad if you don't like the wine, just pour it out and move onto the next tasting or feel you must drink the whole amount. By the way, while you’re in between pours please don’t pour the water sitting on the bar to rinse your glass; this will only dilute your next pour. But do stay hydrated and drink some water as well, preferably after the tasting.

6. WHICH TASTING MENUS:

Another good rule of thumb, if a reserve tasting and a regular tasting or all red and all whites and if with a spouse, is to get one of each. On occasion, the "regular" menu is the mediocre wine, so skip it by asking for the reserve tasting if there is one. You can then taste each others wine so you will get more bang for the buck. Likewise if they only have one set of tasting’s then you and your spouse or significant other can split the tasting fee and the pour, which is perfectly acceptable. Another point to remember is many times the tasting fee will be reimbursed if you make a purchase, which I recommend. If you find one you particularly like then bring with you for dinner later. Most places charge a modest corkage fee, (What is a Corkage Fee?) compared with menu prices.

7. SHIP OR HOLD:

This will mainly be determined by how you got to your destination if you drove, and then you can save yourself some money on shipping which by the way is to starting shooting up and varies greatly. You would think UPS, has a standardized fee, but go figure. If you flew, you will most likely opt to have your wine shipped home. If shipping home I would recommend sending it to a work address, because the shipper will need to have someone sign for your wine. Shippers don’t like to wait too long for you to come to the door and have long windows for residential delivery and you don’t want the hassle of having to arrange for another pick time, while your wine is jostled around in the back of hot steamy truck. If you only plan to buy a few bottles you can easily put it in your "checked" luggage, which I have done successfully many times.

8. WINE JEWELS NOT SOLD RETAIL:
One other thing to consider is to ask for the wines which are not sold outside of the tasting room; if they are of a good caliber I would recommend purchasing those over a bottling which is available via your retail wine store shelf. Often times this will be late harvest bottling or maybe a Port. Many times it is because their wine is so allocated you have buy what you can right there and then or wait on a list for a year or more.

9. OFF THE TASTING MENU:

It has been my experience many times during a tasting, if your hosts see you have a genuine interest in wine, they will offer some wine which may not be on the menu. You also may just want to ask your tasting room attendant, if there is a possibility of tasting one of the new releases not yet on the list. Often times this practice will reward your palate with a delightful surprise!

10. HAVE A BUDGET:

This is a very good idea, if you’re like me it is far too easy to go overboard. I recommend the idea of taking cash just for your wine purchases alone. When you run out of cash, you can’t purchase anymore wine. This will cause you to really be more focused & fastidious about what you want to purchase and help you zero in the ones you just can’t leave without.

As someone who's seen his fair share of tasting rooms, these tips may come in handy before you plan your next trip. Cheers!