Tasting Room Expertise: Improve Your Profits with Tours

I have conducted over 4,000 wine tours and I am convinced that people who go on tours buy more and join wine clubs at a higher rate.

By Craig Root

Budweiser factories offer tours. The Jelly Belly candy factory gives tours. Your local electronics factory does not do tours. For what? Because no one wants to see widget creation. One of the important things to remember is that wine is a product that people are willing to give up their valuable time to learn about.

Remember, we’re jaded—we’re used to veraison—but even more savvy consumers are excited to see a Cabernet grape that’s half green and half purple.

A winery tour is ostensibly about turning grapes into wine, but it’s also an infomercial about what makes your winery special and attractive to a buyer. Tours also make you more memorable. I went on the Tillamook Cheese Tour decades ago and can still describe the experience. You will also notice that I remember the brand name.

Potential objections

As you plan your visit, you will likely hear some of the following potential objections.

First, many are concerned about security. But this problem can be overcome with rigorous safety training for tour guides. Also make sure the start of the tour contains important safety instructions for guests. For example, visitors accompanied by children must hold the child’s hand during the visit. Tourists are also not allowed in certain parts of the winery.

Another objection is that “my colleagues don’t feel comfortable speaking in public.” But if you ask, there are always staff members who appreciate it. And later, you can hire people to guide tours. Another objection is that “it takes away a member of my staff for a period of time.” That’s true: but let’s get back to the higher sales and club registrations, which finance the increase in staff.

The only exception to the “tours are good” rule is when you have a storefront tasting room in an urban area. But even this situation has a solution. Over the years, I’ve had a few storefront tasting rooms that did a 10-minute guided tour of slide shows twice a day, or had day tours of their vineyard.

Some common visits

I invented the 10-15 minute mini tour while managing a busy (but small) winery tasting room. This was useful when we were overcrowded. These general public visits were informal (without appointment). I would mingle with groups of visitors and say, “I’m about to take a fun 10-15 minute tour and show how we make wine.” Do you want to come with me?”

After asking one or two groups to say yes, I announced the visit to the whole room and left; the guests who said “yes” had a siphon effect. Other undecided groups sometimes joined us. The mini tour took the pressure off the overworked staff, and by the time I finished the tour the crowds had generally thinned out.

The most common type of tour is 20-30 minute tours, which are usually free. Usually the tours are sequential, starting at the vineyards and moving from crushing to fermentation to barrel aging to bottling.

If you are not near any vineyards, you can plant a demonstration vineyard of two white vines and two red vines right next to the tasting room. These are quite common and even have an industry nickname: “stroking the vines.”

Get a barrel with a plexiglass top and bottom and put a cheap, unfiltered white wine in it. Over time, as the barrel sits on its side, the lees will settle, which guests can easily see and you can explain what lees are and why they are important. People love this kind of demonstration.

Also, remember to use analogies during your visit. In the barrel room, you can say things like, “These barrels are like kids in a classroom, no two are the same.” » I covered the use of analogies in my latest article for WIN Advisor.

The third type of tour is the 2-hour in-depth tour and tasting by appointment only with senior staff. These tours are paid and are aimed at visitors who want to learn more about how your wine is made. They can include hard-to-find wines and library wines. Some wineries only offer these types of tours and tastings. These tours often include food, which can be as simple as artisan cheeses or as complex as several courses paired with wine and prepared by an on-site chef.

One tip with this type of visit: try to limit the number of guests to eight or fewer. I’ve found that when it comes to larger groups it gets cumbersome. People at the end of the table start chatting among themselves and this can be a real distraction for the presenter.

All such visits should end with a very brief discussion of the club’s amenities. Additionally, all tours must end at your gift shop (if you have one).

In nature

Increasingly popular, the “off-road tour” usually involves some type of vehicle that travels through unusual and rugged terrain. At some point during the tour, there is a stop where the guest can soak up the views and nature, usually while tasting wine and cheese. These types of tours are very profitable and in most cases charge high fees. But people remember it for years.

One tip regarding off-road tours is that tour guides should be extremely safety conscious, especially when it comes to speed. There were turnovers that hurt guests. Good training and frequent mystery shopping are essential for this type of tour, as well as scrupulous maintenance of the vehicle.

Free and commercial visits

There are two more tours to discuss. These are the free visit and the commercial visit.

I’m not a big fan of self-guided tours because guests shape their own view of your operation, and that may not be what you intended. You want the story to be told your way and not subject to the visitor’s interpretation. That said, sometimes DIY options have their place, such as during your off season when staffing is low.

Finally, the sales tour is mainly intended for visiting buyers and salespeople. If you’re handling the wine buyer at a Ritz-Carlton and she’s already been to your winery once or twice, does she really need to revisit the same vineyards and winery facilities? production ? Show him new things and share new wines. Maybe you’ve done your homework (Google all VIP guests in advance) and she likes fishing or ballet. Take her to something like that. I will write about business relationships in a future article, as it is an important facet of what tasting rooms do on a regular basis.

_________________________________________________________________

Craig Racine

Craig Root has over 30 years of tasting room experience. For more than 13 years, he was first an employee, then a successful manager. Over the past 20 years, he has consulted for more than 150 tasting rooms, including more than 90 start-ups, primarily in the United States but also in China, Canada and France. He is the only person lecturing on tasting room design and management at UC Davis in its Division of Continuing and Professional Development.