Everything but the Cabernet
A blindfolded tasting on a foggy deck above Windsor, led by a blind chemist, and the one wine I got right.
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.
The Letter to Soup
A wine club member who left over an industry discount, kept buying the wine for two years, and rejoined in
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,
The second afternoon
Oportuno, Rua do Comércio do Porto. Poças colheita 1967, Douro DOC. The first visit lasted about twenty minutes. We had
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
The Fourth Wine
The event was Saturday, the day before the conference opened, which meant everyone drove themselves. Fourteen of us, in fourteen
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
Guess the Wine
San Diego had a few quiet days left. Comic-Con was almost on the city, and once it landed the Gaslamp
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