Last week I worked exclusively in the tasting room at Vista Hills (Friday and Sunday). Neither day was too busy, and I worked in conjunction with a Vista Hills employee for my first real experience in the tasting room for a long period of time. I often poured wine and greeted guests alone and am familiar with the register now.
Wine pouring is really interesting because I get to hear many different people's opinions about the wines. Some are clearly just visiting to get buzzed, but most of them have developed their own tastes with which they judge wine. The most interesting was when the owner, John McClintock, came in with another winemaker to taste some wines side by side. The other winemaker was brutally honest, and had a very low opinion of his own wine when compared to the others. A couple of my co-worker's winemaking friends also came in to taste. These types of people spit out the wine after tasting.
I am getting much better at describing the wines and socializing with guests. Some of these people have traveled from across the country or from abroad, and often times have interesting stories to tell. I look forward to working in the tasting room more often.
Chris
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This sounds like the most interesting week at your internship. I didn't realize that you were getting to interact with winemakers from other vineyards. That's cool!
ReplyDeleteTalk a little about networking in the wine industry and how vineyards do compete, but most have the 'we're in it together' attitude.