Every Wednesday I have a Zoom chat with two winery owners and three wine writers.
We talk about the industry in general and about things that are going on. This past week we were talking about visiting wineries and how, in some cases, the visits to the tasting rooms were very similar. As a group member put it, the winery was Beautiful and Bloodless, meaning that the winery was lovely but the interaction with the staff member was routine and not particularly interesting.
What the person relating the story meant by that was they loved the tasting room, though the actual presentation of the wine and information at the winery did nothing to make a guest remember the winery. Not a lot of enthusiasm from the staff member about the wine or interest in the guests that the server was pouring for.
I know after a long and busy day it can be hard to be perky in the late afternoon. However, the guests who visit the tasting room (even twenty minutes before closing) deserve to be greeted by a winery staff member who is happy to see them and shows that she/he is pleased that the guests have chosen to visit.
If the guests know that they are being hurried through the tasting or that you are waiting for them to leave so you can close, it is liable to make them uncomfortable. It is better, for all-around, that even though the tasting room hours are 10-5 p.m. that you do not plan on being out of the tasting room (after clean-up, etc.) until somewhere between 5:30 and 6 p.m.
Our job as tasting room staff is to encourage our guests to buy wine from us. We do this by giving the best service we can to make the guests feel welcome and that they belong. This will encourage them to buy wine from us.
A tip of the glass from me to you!
