Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/297564
68 W i n e s & V i n e s M AY 2 0 1 4 whenever possible: You go from the vine- yard to the crush pad to fermentation to barrel aging to bottling. One note: If your vineyards are too far away from your tasting room, you can always plant a cou- ple of vines close by. We in the business are desensitized, but for the average visi- tor to see something like a véraison is a real treat. By the way, these types of areas with three or four vines close to the tast- ing room have a great industry nickname: petting vineyard. Use analogies in your tour. For exam- ple: "The grape is the most important component in making great wines. It's just like cooking: If you have a great piece of salmon, you don't need to do a lot to it for it to be tasty." Analogies improve comprehension and help the group to bond with the tour guide (which leads to higher sales and club sign-ups). Always mention the wine club just before returning to the tasting room: "By the way, folks, we have a really fun wine club. You get great discounts and invita- tions to wonderful parties as well as a free tasting. If you're interested, let's talk about it when we get back to the tasting room." Never let people in your tour group wander off. Pretend that you're taking a group of 4-year-olds around. Would you turn your back on those rascals? Not for a second. If you started off with 18 people, make sure you return with that number. Try to keep your tour size to 25 people or less, when possible. If you have a bus group of 50, divide them in half. One half goes on tour while the other half tastes, then vice-versa. Always keep the safety of your group paramount. For example, at Beaulieu Vineyard, I gave thousands of tours as 707-938-1300 info@acrolon.com ® • Climate Controlled Bonded Wine Storage Facility • Cased Goods, Full Barrels, and Dry Goods • Centrally located in Paso Robles • Unix Inventory System Trucking, Harvesting and Warehousing Available! 3230 Riverside Ave, Ste # 150 Paso Robles, CA 93446 Phone (805) 237-9499 Fax (805) 237-9599 MichaelDusiWarehouse_Dir07 10/25/06 11:49 AM Page 1 Newton Vineyard offers two tours as well as a portfolio tasting featuring three unfiltered wines. S A L E S & M A R K E T I N G