Tasting fee's at wineries, what is a deal breaker for you?
In preparation for the opening of our tasting room, Katey and I have had several meetings on what our policy for tasting fee's, if any. What is the most you should ask someone to pay to taste your wines? 5$, 10$, what about over in Napa where they charge up to $40 for just a tasting? And what should be included? Would a tasting of 4-6 wines be sufficent? Should you get to keep your tasting glass? Would you even want to keep your glass, if it had a logo on it? I would like to offer that the tasting fee will be waived with purchase, would this make you more or less likely to buy? I would love to hear feedback from anyone who has an opinon on this!!
Tags: fees, rooms, tasting, visits, winery
Views: 83
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cuvée Corner Wine Blog on -
Dave Gaier said, "Waiving the tasting fee with a purchase is a great idea, and probably a real incentive to a purchase. We all like to think we're getting a deal, and the environment of a wine tasting room is a great place to employ this tactic"
I believe this a great common sense business practice and should be standardized through out the industry. Further, I am glad to pay a tasting fee for places I'm not going to buy any of their wine as long as it's is reasonable! About pour size one ounce is plenty and if I really need another sip, I just ask and most are very accommodating to give me another splash. The shirts don't bother me too much, but I can't say I look for t-shirts which say "wine chick" maybe a "will work for wine" shirt!
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Permalink Reply by Uliana Petrucci on -
I am from Italy, I am in the wine business (www.circuitoverde.net) and although I travel a lot in the US I am more familiar with tasting rooms here in Italy. I know what you are talking about and the problem is always in "how clear is the patron idea of what a free tasting is". It is part of a marketing strategy that brings your wines to the consumer and it has a cost. This is something for sure. It is also possible to establish a limit to that cost as well as it is important to have a clear budget of how much the "patron" wants to put in marketing initiatives such as a free wine tasting. But, once you decide to do that (again as part of your marketing strategy) you have to do it properly offering not only a drop of wine but a glass of pleasure which includes wine, nice location and welcoming atmosphere
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Permalink Reply by Mary Rocca on -
We are between tasting rooms right now, but when I had mine in downtown Napa, we had a standard tasting and a "reserve" or library tasting. The standard was three wines, and the special tasting we added in a library wine or one of our smallest production wines. I think that 6 can actually be too many wines to pour: people forget what they've tasted, which was their favorite... Also, psychologists have shown that when presented with too many choices, people can't decide, and then they don't buy anything!
Regarding tasting fees: People value what they pay for, so charge a fee that is reasonable, and in relates to the price point of your wines.
Good luck with your new tasting room. There are some good one day seminars out there that are worth attending also, so watch for mailers about them.
Cheers,
Mary
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Permalink Reply by Becky on -
Small Lots Big Wines just sent you a newsletter going over that very subject. I've done a lot of surveys on this subject. It doesn't really matter so much what you charge a tasting fee or how many wines you have. But what really pisses people off is when you don't waive the fee if they purchase wine. Especially if they purchase a lot of wine. At that point they are feeling nickeled and dimed.
As for the higher price points in Napa. I work for a high end-boutique winery in Napa. We charge a $25 tasting fee for 4 wines. It's a great tool for preparing buyers for our wines, which are at a high price point. But I always waive the fee when they buy wine. The tastings in Napa that are $40 are usually full blown tours, cheese pairings, or food pairings. Those aren't usually waived, but again, if someone buys a lot of wine (a case or more) those types of fees should be waived as well.
Not many people expect a glass anymore. As a matter of fact, it's better to have the right glasses for people to try your wines rather then a cheap glass they can take home. Your wine will taste better in the more expensive glass that you keep, wash, and reuse; which in turn will result in higher sales. At the end of the day, that's your goal. To sell wine.
John Tyler wines are very nice high quality limited wines. Make sure you charge appropiately so that people stop by because they are looking for great wines and not a free drink. Make sure you present it in the approptiate glass because your wines desrve the right glass! That's my adivce based on my years working in tasting rooms.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hoy on -
Its an interesting debate, at my tasting room in South Africa, I dont charge for tasting at all, I see it as part of my marketing, and as I am selling the wines from the tasting room at the full retail price, I feel this justifies the cost. There is a risk that people wont buy any wine, but I have found that people are less likely to 'feel' they should purchase if they are having to pay for the tasting. We find that well over 90% of people do buy wine from us after the tasting.
I dont give the glasses away after the tasting, I tend to use expensive glasses - similar to Riedl - for the tastings, and the glasses are worth more than I could ever charge for a tasting!!! I also dont brand my glasses, as I have found that they are more likely to get stolen that way.
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Permalink Reply by John Scruggs on -
Hi Nicole,
I believe your idea to waive the fee for tasting with purchase is fair and would make me more likely to buy. How many bottles will you consider as a viable purchase? Personally, I think three is a good start. As for those Napa wineries that feel it necessary to charge up to $40 for a tasting, I say shame on them. This would certainly deter me from visiting their tasting room on principle alone. In the end, we are all very lucky to work in a business that elicits bright passion and emotion and still make a pretty decent living at too. Good luck with your start up.
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Permalink Reply by Tana Domecq-Davis on -
Hi,
I am new to this site and could tell you what we do here at Wooldridge Creek Winery, in the Applegate, So. Oregon.
We offer tastings of our two featured wines at no charge, and if the tasters are not wine club members (our wine club is about 1200), we then offer the rest of the tastings for $5.00. I have never had a customer complain. We do not include the glass. We do not waive the tasting fee unless they purchase a half case or more. This is not a set rule and we adjust as the situation deems. I have not found that deleting the tasting fee inspires people to buy more. They buy when they have had a good experience and find the winery friendly. I don't know where your winery is located, but the people who come see us that have been to Napa, prefer our valleys wineries. The friendlness and personal attention beats the big name wineries of Napa. Plus we have great wines in Southern Oregon.
I am interested to hear how it has worked for you. Good luck.
Wine Manager
Tana Domecq-Davis
Wooldridge Creek Winery
Grants Pass, Oregon
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Permalink Reply by Israel Zenteno on -
Hi there,
We are in a very new wine area, but have been operating for 20 years in the Guadalupe Valley in Baja. The way we work is easy, basically we 3 different tasting fee's, one for whites ($4 USD for 5 wines), one for reds ($5 USD for 4 wines) and one for everything ($8 USD to taste 9 wines). We don't give them the glass, and since our least expensive wine is $8 USD it makes no sense to waive the tasting fee. We do waive it if the customer buys some wine, but it will depend on the customer and the criteria of the person in charge of the tasting bar at any given time. Sometimes if you find me in a good mood I will not charge tasting even if you do not buy anything. Sometimes you can walk away with the glass.
One of the reasons we don't waive the tasting fee anymore (we used to do it in the past) is because we found that there where a lot of repeating people coming in for tasting and buying the cheapest wine just not to pay for the tasting, it got to a point that there was a "wine group" that came in EVERY wednesday to taste and they NEVER bought anything but A bottle of the cheapest wine. We used to waive the tasting fee of the entire group if a bottle was bought.
There are a lot of small wineries in the area that can not afford to give free tastings or cant afford to wave the tasting fee, it would be unfair for us to give free tastings because the tourist would not go to the other wineries. We are a small group of wineries we have to stay together and work as a group for our valley to grow.
Just my .02 USD.
Have a nice day!
Z.
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Permalink Reply by Wineguys TV on -
My background is the wine business (industry specialist they call me.. ok that is nice...lol). I have never asked a consumer what i should do. And boy I have had a lot of them. I do pay very close attention to them which has made me successful at what I do (not trying to toot my own horn just some background).
OK first off the deal breaker has to be on the winery (business) side... If you need the extra cash flow then charge. If you are fortunate enough as a business where you do not have to charge its ok, then don't charge. A business should never ask a consumer what it should do (research yes).
The other point is employees... tasting rooms (any business) needs good front of the house people ( not the typical people that say 'Hi ). Understand your strength's and your employees strength... oh and remember you will typically hire people like you like it or not (and they learn from the top person).
Any business needs a good front of the house person, and if a business is very confident in there decision about what they are charging in what it is they are selling and it will all be fine. Not bad to create a hook sometime if you do charge...example : tasting is $10 and $5 of it can go to a purchase.
Also remember that free can be bad sometimes... it creates a negative to many consumers that actually spend money. Charging a bit will weed out the ones that do not intend to listen to your story or purchase your product...the boozers.
Finally, stick with your decision and give it time to work. If business was easy everybody would be doing it... good luck and work really hard and be really nice to everyone no matter what (be genuine).
Keith Miller
http://www.denverwineguy.com
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Permalink Reply by Ronald JR on -
Historically our winery offered complementary tastings as a way to be in line with the neighbors and remove any entry fee objections from first time visitors. For the staff, the pressure was always on to close the sale and have the visitor leave with at least one bottle. But, as a consequence, there were locals who continued to use the room as their watering hole, enjoying the free lunch with new friends on each visit.
Recent area surveys demonstrated a growing shift towards charging nominal tasting fees, and many of the neighbors(nationally distributed brands) complied. We introduced a two tier fee schedule, refunded with purchase per taster. Suddenly, the word got out that we were no longer the free lunch. And I found that importantly, our visitors were faced with a decision as soon as they were engaged at the bar. Was the experience worth at least $5? For the staff, the tasting fee added value to the service we provided and appreciated the value perception of our wines.
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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We charge $9 for a flight of 6 tastes - and give them the glass because it's cheaper for us to do that than to install and maintain the required commercial dish washing equipment & inspection fees that we would have to incur to reuse glassware.
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