The many hats of the tasting room attendant

A few years ago, a winemaker said to me, “The tasting room staff is nothing more than a dog and pony show. My wine is so great it will sell without them.”

I grumbled about the comment, especially after spending seven years behind the tasting room bar. From personal experience and now as a wine writer I understand how deserving and valuable the tasting room attendant is.

I usually compare this job to the bank teller. Often the bank teller is the lowest paid person at the bank and the most visible. The bank teller can, either with a smile or a snarl, make the difference in how the customer perceives not only the service but sometimes the whole image of the bank. Tasting room attendants are no different, as they are the most visible staff in the winery, and especially on weekends.

The tasting room attendant not only pours and sells the wine, but wears many hats: concierge, wine educator, bouncer, mediator, marriage counselor, entertainer and phone operator. The tasting room attendant has to be quick on his or her toes, be prepared to repeat answers to the same questions time and time again, smile a lot, be gracious, and never, eveR, say what they are really thinking. This is where the hat of a good actor comes in.

CONCIERGE: is asked many questions and often the same ones over and over again:

“Where are your grapes and why aren’t they next door to your building?”

“I read your tasting notes and do you put cocoa and plums in your cabernet sauvignon?”

“Why isn’t Walla Walla making any white zinfandel?”

“Where do you like to eat in town and are there any places for lunch between Lowden and Pasco?”

“Where did you get the idea for your label?”

“How do I get to Leonetti and what time do they close?” (Leonetti, as most wine folks and locals know, is not open to the public.)

WINE EDUCATOR: When the timid wine newbie first walks into the winery (and sometimes it can be the first time into any winery) it’s an opportunity for the tasting room attendant to gently educate and give the novice hints of what to look for in future wine tastings. Hopefully, by the time the customer leaves the winery, the tasting room attendant has just graduated another wine lover and can reassure the “grasshopper” to go fearlessly on to other wineries.

SALESMAN: The tasting room attendant not only sells the wine and the tschotskes but just about anything with the winery’s name on it. The attendant sells the winery’s brand, that which makes it different from all the other wineries, and the craft of the winemaker. The staff also sells the local wine industry and the Walla Walla Valley — the history, the award-winning downtown, other historical buildings, the weather, and the local agriculture. The staff sells Washington state and then — more wine.

THE BOUNCER: The tasting room attendant checks IDs to make sure guests are 21 years old and over. The attendant determines how much wine to pour visitors, when it is wise to cut back on pours and even eliminate them altogether. It’s a big responsibility. There is the possibility the visitor may get behind the wheel.

MEDIATOR-MARRIAGE COUNSELOR: Sometimes the tasting room attendant has to counsel couples who do not agree on which, if any, wine to purchase. The couple may even disagree on where to eat dinner or what other wineries to visit. This is where the tasting room attendant must gain their trust or have an intervention. I suppose there’s also a chemist’s hat to wear as the tasting room attendant has to convince the white wine lover, who’s adamant he can’t drink red wine because of “allergies” to sulfites, that there are just as many sulfites in white wines.

And the last hat, but not the least …

THE ENTERTAINER: Visitors to the Walla Walla area are ready to relax, taste the wines and create a memory. Even if the tasting room attendant hasn’t taken lunch by 4 p.m. closing on a busy saturday, he or she must wipe off the frown and put on a happy face, because the visitors who walk through the winery doors are guests. And when the guests walk out the door with a wine purchase, they should also leave with a great memory to share with others.

Do those great wines really sell themselves on the grocery store aisle when they are competing with the line- up of “fighting varietals?” If the consumer is educated in wine scores and the labels they do. But for the majority, perhaps they would purchase more if there were tasting room attendants in the aisle wearing their many hats, performing their dog and pony show.