Top 5 Tips for a Great Wine Tour

This is the distilled wisdom of the past 2 months spent visiting bodegas in the Mendoza area.

1. Start the tour on the right foot: with a glass of wine

When we arrived to Pulenta Estates we were greeted by some beautiful glasses atop a used barrel (with white linen!). When the tour began, the cups were filled with the their Sauvignon Blanc - a delicious wine that got us in the right mood for the rest of the tour. For pure tasting purposes it would probably be best to let us taste them all at the same time and, of course, to have a spitter so we didn't have to drink it. However, most people are just there to enjoy wine, not really do a proper tasting, so giving wine up front is just a great idea.

2. Charge for the tour, but give a discount purchases

Let me start by stating the purpose of tastings: increase sales. Ideally people will by cases at the winery but if not then you hope to make a good impression on them so they will recommend and purchase bottles if they see them at a liquor store.

There are a couple strategies we've seen for the tastings. The worst was to give one cup with an option to buy a whole glass of wine for $10. I don't want a glass, I want to taste a flight, and $10 is way too much.

Second worst was when the winery gave free tastings that included the two cheapest wines with no option to taste the more expensive wines. Bummer.

A reasonable system is used at Tempus Alba. They have a price list for the tastings (so you know without the awkward question) and offer a series of options of flights or cups. We shared two different flights which enabled us to taste their entire line of wines for about $15. This is a very reasonable price and leaves us with a great feeling of what kinds of wines they offer.

And, the best system, was at Ruca Malen - they charged $10 for the tour, included tastings of 5 of their wines that covered the range from their "young line" to the mid-line and included one of the "reserve" line. After such a great tasting we of course wanted to purchase bottles and the price of the tour was discounted from the purchases. This is, in my opinion, the ultimate system. Not only did we leave with an understanding of all their wines we also left with bottles to share with other people to spread our love of the winery. Well done.

3. Hire a Knowledgable Tour Guide

One of the things that makes for the best tours is knowledgable guides. After your first tour, there's really not all that much different from one place to the next. But often a good tour guide can tune the tour so that they tell you the things that set them apart and really dive into a deeper level of information. This rule is especially valuable because of rule 4:

4. Don't lie to us

I'm amazed by the number of lies we've been told. Here is a small sample:
* A boutique winery, by law, can only make 100,000 liters per year
* A boutique winery is anything that makes less than 500,000 liters per year
* a mix of rocks and dirt is colder than mix of gravel and dirt
* barrels should only be used once (no twice, no 7 times, no, it doesn't matter as long as you take good care of them)
* you should never mix a varietal from different terroir
* concrete is a good material for tanks because it is porous which allows micro-oxygenization
* concrete is a horrible material for wine because it leeches bad chemicals

Some of this is just the lack of valid information in what is a largely subjective industry, but some of this was just tour guides lying to us when they didn't have a good answer. Don't do that.

5. Give a Bonus

In a tasting at the Vines of Mendoza we purchased a flight of 5 wines. Along the way our server asked which we liked the most. When we finished she brought out another bottle and offered a free glass of this bottle which she thought we would like based on our comments. Everybody loves a bonus! At tasting rooms and wineries they have to throw out so much wine at the end of the day - instead, try to plan ahead a little and give some of it as a bonus to your clients.

On another tour the guide called in a utility person to open a door so we could get into the barrel room. This is always the best smelling part of the tour and it was a nice extra touch. They may have planned it, but that feeling that a special person had to let us in made us feel special.

Set your customer's expectations and then exceed them and your customers will love you for it.

6. Eliminate Awkard Situations - Provide Good Signs

And, to follow my own advice here is a bonus tip of this "top 5" list. One of the things that made the tasting at Tempus Alba nice was that they had a price sheet to explain the prices. This let us decide without having to ask about all the options or how much they were.

At another wine tasting room they had a special event going on one night that was $20 at the door. People showed up and were confused and communication went wrong and the result was customers who had an uncomfortable feeling about the place. That's never a good situation.