Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Wine Tasting Disaster

Wine Tasting in Small Plastic Cups
Chris and I decided to visit a few local wineries and vineyards to enjoy the fruit of the vine and see how the wines are progressing. We ended up visiting two wineries that we had last visited a few years ago and one winery that we had never visited. 

I was disappointed in the quality of the tastings. And of course the wines suffered as well from poor presentation.

In my mind, winemakers should ensure that their wines are presented in the best possible manner for people to enjoy and hopefully purchase. 

All three of the wineries visited were doing tastings by the flight. Which, in my mind is the worst way to do a tasting. There is little interaction with the staff and almost no knowledge transfer regarding the estate and the wines. 

At one winery Chris and I tasted 12 wines--but they were served in small plastic glasses--single serving glasses not much larger than communion cups. It is impossible to enjoy the intricacies of wine in small plastic cups which provide no space for the bouquet to develop. At least when I had decided that I wanted to taste a couple of the wines in glass, the tasting room manager accommodated me.

At another winery we were seated outside, under alleged heaters on a cold November day, to taste wines in flights of four. At least they were serves in glass--although not wine glasses. And since the day was cold the wines definitely did not overheat. The reds may have been a bit cool. As the cold November wind blew, we definitely did not enjoy the wines in the same manner that could be done in a warm tasting room with knowledgeable staff to help us understand the vintages and processing. 

The final winery's tasting was probably the most egregious. The wine tasting was $20 for three wines. They were served in wine glasses and were a sufficient pour--but the server poured the wines, placed them in front of us and went back to her computer and continued shopping on Amazon. So much for as personalized tasting experience. We did not even get a written description of the wines. Did I mention that there was only one other two-some in the tasting room? Well, at least we were in the tasting room.

Based upon our experience we likely will never return to any of the three wineries. 


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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