But it seems to be a lot of times when I meet someone and the first thing they ask “How are you going to make money with it?” To be very honest I have thought ahead that somewhere down the road I might be able to sell some sponsorships or ads on my site. But this was not done on the idea of making a living or even for anytime soon making income off of it. I doubt that most of the hundreds of bloggers out there are making a living at what they do. Most of the great blogs I follow started years ago, and now are making some income but would probably laugh if you asked if it is how they make a living. It has been a venue to bring some great writers into the light and land them some jobs with in print magazines.

For all of my fans on Facebook or Twitter or those of you that have been so kind in putting your reviews up on the website I wanted to set the story straight that I am not doing all this to make money off of you. I want to do a service for you and the industry. If I make some money …great I would not refuse (except when it would make the site biased) but for now it is a hobby based in the love of the industry and the great people on both sides of the counter!

I found many sites that had basics missing from their site. They did not make contact information easy at all and finding out if they had a tasting room or not was a nightmare. The two weeks I had worked to finish Washington did not even get me through half of Oregon which only had half of the number of wineries. I have done with it now and have gone on to other states but have decided that to meet the goals of getting all the information out there and the reviews starting to get us information I am going to go ahead and put all the wineries that I have any information on and fill in the missing information as I can get them finished. I hope that this will be more efficient for all of my readers and reviewers.

But back on my rant. I know the effort that I put in to finding the information and I had a serious reason for doing all that work. But for the normal wine consumer, they would put in the effort to do a search and go to the website. But if the information is not easy to find they will be off and looking for some other winery that does tell them basics like address, contact information and if they have a tasting room, the hours and location.

I know that several bloggers I know have written recently about being in the “Golden Age” of wine and I do know from working in the industry it is big business. I really wonder if these wineries realize how much money and customer contact they are passing up but simply not providing information. I know that many wineries are on a tight budget and that many try and do their own websites, but even with that they should think about what information they would need if they were looking at wineries to visit. If they do not want people coming to the winery then they need to politely say that the winery is closed to the public or by set appointment only. But by not communicating this basic information on their websites they are adding to the frustration of the customer and to the amount of time they have to spend answering emails or answering the phone to tell the customer the same things they could have read. Though I am not a web designer (I let my wonderful boyfriend at Passionatecopy.com manage that side of things), but I do understand the rules of marketing. One of the rules that I believe is very important is that information sells. Without the information most people will simply move on to some other site or source that will get them what they want to know. The wine industry is a business and maybe we need a wake up that it is and our consumers need information!

Wine tour buses are nightmares! Not only for us the poor staff at the wineries but also for our other non-bus customers who are there when they arrive or that try and come in when they are there. Now let me say I am not talking about the small tour bus companies and the limos. These tend to be groups of under 12 , these tend to be more manageable for both to handle. But the large tour buses of 30 to 45 that descend with no notice and “take over a tasting room” tend to not only frazzle the staff but drive out any one that was there or anyone trying to come in.

I personally believe that they should not allow large tour buses on already overly busy weekends like Barrel tastings or have them on a schedule that allows for a separate space for them and their party atmosphere. My feeling is that there are other ways to make this work for all the parties involved. I understand they are a business and need to operate as such but some small changes would I feel make everything work better for all parties involved.

That said here are some of the changes I would love to see wine tour buses do to make it work better for all of us.

1. Call ahead for an appointment to come to the winery. This allows the winery a chance to schedule at a time that works best for them and allows for staffing to make for a more enjoyable experience for everyone on the bus and the others visiting the winery. We may charge for larger groups and then can sometimes have foods, food wine pairings and a separate private experience set up just for your guests!

2. Treat the tour as a tour not a party bus. I know you want to make it fun for your guests. But I think you will find that a clientele that is out to taste, learn and purchase will come back many times to tour and will refer many clients. Only plan on visiting a few wineries in a day and allow time for them to purchase wines and a place to store them after they do. I would suggest in hot weather a few coolers and a way to track which wine belongs to whom. Encourage them to try and buy or get info of shipping available. You will definitely make friends at the wineries if you are not just bringing your guests for a “free drunk” .

3. Watch your own clients. If they are getting inebriated have food and water on the bus. Encourage them to eat between wineries and drink plenty of wine. Discourage drinking alcoholic beverages on the bus. We are regulated in most states the same as any other server. We have to check ids and of course we can NOT serve anyone who is already impaired.

4. Don’t do tours on big weekends. That said I know they are major money makers for you so let’s see what we can do together to make it a great experience for both your guests and mine that are not part of your party. I have already given you the first three things that will be a great help on those big weekends. We at the wineries are already geared for a large crowd that weekend but when we are hit with 45 people in party mode on top of a full tasting room we are in meltdown mode probably. So if we know you are coming and a possible time we can have a separate/extra area, staff and food just for your guests. This allows them to have a great time and still allows our other guests to have their own fun experience. One thing we might be able to do is have a special Barrel or Holiday weekend just for the tours. This makes your clients/guests experience more exclusive experience.

I know that these things are going to take an effort on both sides but I really feel that the outcome will work for both groups. I have seen an increasing number of wineries that are just not allowing buses and large tours. Most I feel would be more open to the buses and tours if they felt they were working in tandem with the wineries to build the business.

Again this is a subject that I am passionate and I in no way am speaking for the whole industry but I can say from personal experience that these have worked with the bus/tours that we work well with. I don’t want to see any group not welcome at the wineries. We all just need to work as a team and we can find ways to make all of this work!

But my love of this clip is the ”Smell box”.  I was introduced to my first one back in the 80’s at a small winery in the Yakima valley.  I was amazed as I smelled and then tasted and did more and more I got it!.   I understood what they meant by spicy or earthy.  It was a break though moment of understand what all this confusing gibberish that I was reading when I was in a tasting room, magazine or even the back of the wine label.   This was the turning point of my love of wine and the beginning of my understanding so much more about what it is and what the people making it are talking about.  After this clip I put together my own “smell box” and had a blast learning about the smells and how that affects taste.  It was fascinating and totally change my view of wine and wine tasting! Please enjoy!

So thank you Sip (you rock girl) and you brought back some wonderful memories! Hey everyone make sure you check out Sip’s website www.sipofspokane.com for some more great wine info!

Webster defines Party as a social gathering. So if it is about being social and tasting wine, how can it be that hard? We tend sometimes to over think the whole idea. There are kits made for it and they can make it seem complicated and confusing. But one thing to remember – it is your party and you don’t have to cry if you don’t want to. Follow some simple steps and it will all be fun and simple.

1. Invite friends – the people you invite are your friends so what reason do you have to be afraid. They are supposed to like you no matter what right?

2. Have them each bring a bottle of wine and appetizer/tapas. (You can choose if you want to do reds, whites, mix or maybe all of one varietal vintage) Ok so now the pressure is off you for picking the wines.

3. Have some basic supplies on hand, like:

• Corkscrew Pick one that you or whomever will be opening is very comfortable with as you could be opening quite a few and broken corks are no fun.
• Wine glasses They don’t have to match and it will help if you don’t have wine charms for all your guests. Again these are your friends- if they make a comment are they really your friend?
• Plates and Silverware Wine is made to go with food. Make it easy for them to try new things and see how tastes change with food. Also this is a good idea to protect your furniture from those weak napkins spills of people trying to eat on a napkin. (This is also to make sure they eat – depending how many friends there is a lot of wine flowing – and some may have to drive home) Paper is acceptable again these are your friends right?
• Paper bags Big enough to completely cover a bottle of wine. You could use plastic but you need to be able to write a number on it. I also suggest some rubber bands to help keep the top on the bag in place (those winos in the movies really do know how to hide a bottle). You do not want your guests peeking
• Paper To score the wine on. You can either have a form (if you are a computer geek like me) or just blank paper and explain as you go what to do. You may also want to provide something for them to write on surface wise. This might save your expensive table as someone presses too hard and leaves marks. You can set things you want them to score or judge. We usually have them score the wine 1 to 10 on how well they like it. Have them make notes about it. If it is a mix of wines have them try and guess what the wine is. The big thing we are usually setting things up for is what everyone votes the best wine of the evening. Sometimes this can really be a shocker! Remember this is a party and all of this should be fun and informative.
• Crackers Oyster crackers or some other bland cracker to “cleanse the palate” in between the different bottles of wine.
• Dump receptacles Not all wines may be to everyone’s taste or some may be watching their drinks for the drive home. Always have some place for your guest to get rid of the wine they do not like or if they are poured more than they want to taste. Warning if you don’t designate …things will be found to be used, that is all I want to say about that.
• Water You should have a couple pitchers of water available to clean out glasses and to drink
• Coffee or tea Last part of the evening you might want to serve a nice little dessert with some coffee and/or tea to again think of those that have been having fun but still have to get behind to wheel to go home

4. Someone should be the one to bag the wines as they come in and mark them with a number. This person should ask each person in private about the wine they brought and read the bottles for things to say when pouring the samples. They should be very careful not to give away too much about the wine during the discussion. They will introduce each wine only by number and a brief description. This person will make sure the reds are opened early and the whites are chilled if appropriate. This will also be the person pouring the wines and should write a master list (memories can go as the evening goes on). This person should understand that you are pouring a “taste” not a glass. At least until we get through all the tastes.

5. Let people talk and mingle. Some of the most fun at the parties we have thrown were the discussions on what a wine tastes like and what food it seems to go with and such.

6. Relax and enjoy great friends, great food and of course hopefully great wine!
Need more directions just Google “wine tasting party” and you will have a plethora of advice.

Nope – would not want to miss those sweet new vintages and the wonderful bargains that abound. But I will go better prepared for the other less than fun things that I know I will encounter. I will go with a strong sense of patience, a very large sense of humor and a plan.

I know it seem counter to the idea of a fun weekend of wine tasting to have a plan but as a survivor of years of these fun and stressful events I can tell you it makes all of the difference. I am not saying that you have to take the fun out of the weekend, but with a little planning you can make it fun for you and all the others you will encounter. Here is some basic ideas and rules that will help you have a fun time and also make sure that others do too!

1. Take your sense of humor. It is a busy weekend of crowds and sometimes that can make for parking problems or being cut off or many things that can get tempers flaring. Take a moment and a breath before opening your mouth and taking frustrations out on the servers or the person who just took “your” only parking spot.

2. Plan your trip. I would think about avoiding the larger wineries better known that have bus parking or large parking lots. This is where the tours will be headed and that will mean probably anywhere from 10 to 45 people all descending on the place at once and it is very easy for the staff to get a little overwhelmed. (Save these for a non-barrel tasting weekend when you can get to know the staff and maybe still get to try some special stuff) If you must try for them first thing when the staff is fresh!

3. Taste responsibly! I know there are a lot of places you want to go for the spring barrel, but remember you will be traveling between wineries and that can be dangerous. Even if you have a designated driver (and I strongly suggest you treat them very very well for the day) I would still think about tasting an spitting. It can all add up very fast and in warm weather even more so. If you find something you really like buy it and drink it with friends or at home for your own private tasting.

4. Don’t try and visit too many places. I know there are so many fantastic wines and wineries out there but try to limit the number you try and visit in a day. I would suggest no more than 4 or 5 in one day . It will make for a more relaxing day not trying to dash to make the next one and it will help your poor taste buds from being over worked and coated. You will buy less wine that you get home and think it does not taste anything like what I tried.

5. Do have some back up plans. If some of the places you have on your plan are busy or that favorite lunch spot is full up. Have a backup plan. Remember you can always come back hopefully in a less busy time or another year for spring barrel. Again this is supposed to be fun and keep that sense of humor!

6. Have some munchies in the car. Yes I know in rule 3 I said to spit but one I know you will probably not listen and two alcohol can be absorbed through the lining of your mouth so even if you do not swallow you can still get a pretty good buzz with spitting. So keep some munchies handy in the car for a snack between the wineries. This will also help if you don’t get that designated driver that I also mentioned in rule 3.

7. Take a large dose of patience! The staff at the wineries are doing the best they can to make your experience fun and informative. But they are only people ( ok I have seen a few that I consider superheroes) and can only help one person at a time. Remember this is about having fun and having an experience, not how fast can I get through a winery. I promise the staff is going to do everything they can to get things done and to keep the food filled and the checkout line moving but again this is about fun relax and remember that!

8. Have Fun. Remember wine tasting is about building memories and for some of us a treasure hunt for hidden gems for our collection at great prices. Don’t judge a winery or its staff off these weekends in a negative light; it can be a very busy weekend. Find the ones that you want to go back to and see how the staff is on a normal day and then make your review/opinion!

9.  Take a Cooler to store your wine!  One of the great things about a barrel tasting are the great deals and sometimes the winemaker is even there to sign bottles.  But that wonderful red that you got at the first winery of the day may not taste very good when you get home and it had been sitting in a 120 degree car for the entire day.  Take a spare cooler with some of the frozen ice packs to store the wines you buy and you will get home with the same wine as you had in the tasting room.

Ok so that are some of the rules that I have used to keep my sanity on one of the busiest weekends of the year for many wineries. I hope they help you and the staff at wineries make memories that will be wonderful and built on every year!