Wine Tasting Manners

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Since harvest is about to begin and many of you enjoy visiting wine country during that time, I thought we’d have our refresher about etiquette in the tasting room of a winery.

When it comes to visiting wine country, with the intention of wine tasting, the very first consideration is assigning a designated driver. With that out of the way, you may want to map out your travels and determine which wineries you would like most to visit. Or you can always just meander through and stop where it looks inviting to you. Chances are it may be crowded on the weekends so plan to be patient and just relax and enjoy a slower pace. When you are standing at a tasting bar you want to be aware of not hogging all of the room. Ladies don’t load your big handbags up on the bar, please. Once the host has poured your taste, step back and allow others to come forward and participate. This will also give you time to focus on the fragrance and smell the wine, swirl it and taste it as well as chat with your companions. If you have questions, by all means ask away the person working at the winery is usually happy to talk about the wines at length. If you are tasting but not swallowing, be sure excuse yourself in order to get close and lean over the spittoon before you spit out the wine. Although some of the guests don’t understand spitting, I have learned to get over their stares and in some cases glares. It is a legitimate part of tasting wines. If a member of your party has had a little too much, do the right thing and cut them off yourselves, don’t force a scene in a tasting room.  Most of have fun and learn all you can about wine. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.