How to hold a wine tasting course?
1.what’s the progress of it?
2.what should I prepare before it?
3.what should I talk about?what first what second?
4.what should I do look like a professional wine guy?
My purpose is half sale wine and half share the knowledge of wine!
I hope u could offer me details, you’d better send me email:treeinhell@yahoo.com.cn
Thank u all!
Tagged with: professional wine • wine guy • yahoo
Filed under: All Things Wine
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I would say the best thing for you to do is go to a tasting or two and see what it is all about. You’ll probably hit some gawdawful ones and eventual a good one that will show you the light.
The most important thing is to be knowledgeable about your product and wine in general. If you don’t know how to describe a wine or drink a wine, and don’t know what you are describing about a specific wine (i.e. your product) you are sunk.
Basically, you should have all the tasters cleanse their palates between tastes, so the order in which your samples are served is unimportant. You might want to start with your cheap crap wine to establish a baseline with your tasters. Next move to the sweet wines as they will be seen as a step up but will still lack complexity. Finish with your most expensive (most complex) product and spend time unraveling the layers of flavors, so your tasters understand why this is a better experience. By doing this almost everyone will be buying your mid-grade or premium wines at the end of the tasting (so get a crap wine if you don’t have one).
You should be showing them how they are to taste the wine- how to smell the bouquet, how to coat the tongue, how to decipher the taste. Doesn’t matter if they spit or swallow. Have them cleanse the palate with canapes and then water or just water between tastes. Explain what they are tasting with each wine and what foods go with it.
Lots of tastings are given in the form of a questionnaire or test. This really sucks the fun out of it. Instead you should be entertaining and knowledgeable, don’t make them work or feel stressed. Do provide paper and pens to every taster and instruct them to write the name of each wine and if they liked it or not. This is what is going to sell your products at the end. A preprinted checklist would be classy with a scale to grade each wine.
After you explain the layers of taste in a couple of wines, make it fun and ask for volunteers to describe the tastes in a nice complex mystery wine or two, and remember the customer is never wrong. Be enthusiastic about the responses you get and tell them they are amazing at exploring the complexities. This is as much "testing" as you should do. Be sure to ask everyone if they can taste the volunteered suggestions, then throw in a few of the tastes that were missed by the group. Always confirm that they are getting the flavors you describe.
If you do canapes make a variety, suggest which to try after which wines, but don’t correct anyone who does their own thing. The hour invested in making the snacks will more than pay for itself in sales.
Size up your audience for what is appropriate- paper dixie cups are fine, as are plastic wine glasses, or real wine glasses if the profit point is right. If the crowd is small, create crowd excitement and involvement by giving the unfinished bottles as prizes. Ask questions and give the bottles to the right answers, or just ask "who liked that one?" and give it to the first one who shouts out. Most states allow the transport home of an opened bottle of wine if it is corked with a rubber stopper. If the crowd is huge give away an unopened bottle or two of each kind after the taste. Nothing primes the sales pump like a little envy.
Bottom line is if they had a good time, you’ll sell wine. You don’t need to teach them anything except how they can reach you to buy more.
Be responsible about offering cabs if needed, if the wines are consumed. Lastly, if the wine is not consumed never decant the spit buckets back into the bottles until after the last person leaves.
Good luck.