Vinfolio Blog

Like a lot of women, I didn’t start collecting wine until my husband and I started collecting together. We began assembling bottles and cases here and there before I got into the wine industry, but didn’t start truly investing until I had been working for a distributor here in California that just happened to have a lot of collectible wines. And like a lot of collectors, our tastes have changed over the years, but our cellar is in need of a bit of pruning, purging and possible restocking with new interests and finds. 

In August of 1996, the first weekend I moved here from Washington, DC, we attended the Russian River Valley Winegrowers Grapes to Glass program. Spending time in the vineyards with growers like Joe Rochioli and time in the cellar with winemakers like Merry Edwards, it was hard not to be persuaded by their passion for wine and to want to share that feeling with friends and family. We first started collecting wine as a way to have good wine available at home and to share that experience. We tended to buy wine from wineries we had visited or from friends in the industry, so we ended up with a lot of Russian River Pinot Noir. Later, on wine business and education trips to France, Italy and Australia, we started to add Rhones, then a little Brunello and Barbaresco, and a bottle or two of Hill of Grace. 

There are many reasons to collect wine, but I have to admit, we never really looked at it as an investment until I started working at Vinfolio. And I’ll also admit, I don’t know exactly what’s in our collection, how much we’ve got, how much we’ve spent or how much it’s all worth. But over the next several weeks, we’ll be cataloguing all of those bottles and making decisions on what to sell, what to drink and what to keep. I’ll be writing about the experience of going from amateur assembler of random wines, from the wineries we’ve visited and people we’ve met along the way in becoming collectors, to the painful decision of parting with prized possessions in order to put that cash into much needed home improvements.

In the visits that I’ve made to winery tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma this past year, including a recent one to Sonoma, I’ve noticed a perplexing and somewhat disturbing trend.  The level of tasting room service has been spotty and runs the gamut from no service, to too much service.  Whatever happened to simple customer service in winery tasting rooms?  Here’s a brief summary of the experiences I had this past weekend:

Winery Tasting Room A – Level of Service = Not Enough

The patented Pour-And-Poof-Be-Gone move by the tasting room attendants was in full effect.  There was no quick background spiel on what we were drinking nor was there any engaging in a conversation with us. There was just a pour of the wine and a move to a non-busy area of the tasting bar where the employee promptly continued her conversation with her fellow coworker.  In fact the two attendants were pleasant, but they were also uninterested in selling any wine to us.

Winery Tasting Room B – Level of Service=A Bit Much

The classic, We-Haven’t-Had-Visitors-All-Day-Overbearing tasting room attendant was happy to see us arrive at this venerable winery.  Before we could answer his question of “how are you two doing today?” various print marketing paraphernalia were thrown our way, as well as was a leather-bound book of for-sale library vintages.  Then, before we even took our first sip, we started getting bombarded with more info, this time about the wine club.  He also continued to interrupt us even after being the one to ask us the questions.  I was unsure the entire time as to whether he was having a conversation with himself or with us.  It was far from a relaxing experience.

Winery Tasting Room C – Level of Service = Just Right

This tasting room experience was what could be considered the perfect one to have; in my opinion at least.  The attendant welcomed us, asked us if we had been here previously, provided us with background info about the winery, and provided us with info about each wine he had just poured.  He also smile, engaged with us and other customers at the same time and even said thank you for our business when we left.

Because I’ve had many experiences in the restaurant, retail and wine industries in my career, I’m more sensitive to the nuances of customer service than the average consumer.  I’m very cognizant of the fact that I sweat these small details, but I also feel that what I’m really looking for, which is basic customer service, shouldn’t be too hard to provide.  Or is it?  I really don’t think there’s a science to it.  I firmly believe that what it all boils down to is simple human interaction and how we treat each other, especially in today’s challenging business climate.

What do you feel is the appropriate level of service in a tasting room? What have been your tasting room experiences?  We’d love to hear from you.

Since we’re on the topic of tasting rooms, here’s a winery (not any one in this story) that’s been making great wine for decades now and whose tasting room staff is always welcoming and hospitable.

The recent report on Decanter of the cork industry’s blatant attempts to push your environmental buttons provoked pithy outrage in the comments. The comments are required reading to complete the article, and satisfyingly mirror my own more unedited response. These are nothing more than death struggles by a former monopoly, which did serious damage to the industry it claimed to serve and is now paying for it. At the same time I have to wonder – why all this heat and light about a bottle stopper? Corks were a step up from rags, a piece of tree used to seal amphorae containing liquids. Surely we can move on from there - take advantage of improvements in packaging since the 1st century BC; employ reason to assess the effectiveness of what is merely a vessel; and reserve our emotions for the wine itself, a much more responsive and deserving object of our affection.

And put cork where it belongs – on our floors or how about on the soles of our shoes?

I just tried the new release 2008 Beringer Chardonnay Private Reserve. I was eager to try it based on the history of the winery and this wine's following, but honestly, the high score was what initially caught my eye.

The wine is all that you'd expect from a classic California Chardonnay. It's like "comfort food" for wine - very rich and complex, with great acidity, and spicy oak. This full-bodied Chardonnay is ready to drink now, but will hold. 

Overall, I was really impressed, especially since this wine is half the price of wines of a similar profile. Plus, it received an impressive 94 points and glowing review from Parker. This is definitely worth a look!