The Wine Does Not Sell Itself
The Wine Does Not Sell Itself Plenty of wineries still run on the assumption that great wine sells itself. Tasting
Insights
Who Tells the Story While the Owner Is in the Cellar
Who Tells the Story While the Owner Is in the Cellar Harvest pulls the winemaker out of the tasting room
Thirty Seconds of Production
Most tasting rooms already brief before a shift. Reservations, large parties, stations, what is out of stock. None of it is about what the staff say to guests. During harvest the thing changing daily is not the logistics, it is the material.
Slow the Tasting Room Down on the Days It Fills Up
Insights Slow the Tasting Room Down on the Days It Fills Up Harvest is running early across California, the tasting
The Ask Nobody Assigned
The club conversation in most tasting rooms happens only when the guest starts it. What it takes to change that: stories worth telling, a host who can read when the room will take the ask, five occasions to hold it, and a different order entirely on event days.
Teach Hosts to Ask What the Wine Reminds Them Of
Most tasting room training is built on description, and description asks a guest to verify something. One question asks them to retrieve something instead. What that changes shows up at the last pour, where club decisions get made.
When crush arrives, the tasting room goes quiet
Thursday Insights Harvest does not arrive on a schedule that accommodates anyone. It comes when the Brix says it’s time,
You Can’t Read a Room You’re Running Through
Sonoma is picking Pinot in July. Not as a curiosity. The first fruit came off the Russian River Valley on
A story only the owner can tell is a story the floor can’t use
The founder’s history sounds best when the founder tells it. That is the problem. Most tasting rooms run on part-time
Why the Reserve Pinot Comes Out at 3:45
A tasting room host who opens something off the menu is doing one of two things, and no depletion report