Last week I wrote an article called “Looking for a Great Side Gig?” where I talked about why you might enjoy becoming a wine consultant. In the article, I said that our wine consultants lead fun wine tastings in people’s homes and offices, giving guests the chance to try fantastic wines made by Napa winery WineShop At Home before they buy them. This week, I thought it would be fun to tell you about what a WineShop At Home wine tasting is. I’ll do this in a Q&A style, since you are likely to have many questions.

If hosting a wine tasting sounds like fun, let’s talk. If joining my team so you can lead wine tastings for others sounds like fun, let’s also talk. I’ll share my contact information at the bottom.

Who is WineShop At Home?

WineShop At Home is a Napa winery that doesn’t sell their wine retail or wholesale. Instead, they sell through independent wine consultants like me who lead private wine tastings in your home or office.

How many wines would I get to try at a tasting?

The standard tasting is 5 wines. But you can upgrade your tasting to have as many as 8 wines.

How long does a tasting last?

A typical tasting lasts 1 ½ to 2 hours.

How much does a tasting cost?

A WineShop At Home wine tasting costs $40 (plus tax) for a 5-bottle tasting. You get about $150 worth of wine for $40! For additional bottles, the cost is higher.

That seems really cheap. Why is it so inexpensive?

Our goal is to sell you and your guests a lot of wine at the tasting. The $40 fee is a loss leader for us. Rest assured, I don’t hard sell. The wine does a good job of selling itself. This is really no different from going up to Napa to taste – only you get to do it in the comfort of your home. And each person doesn’t have to pay $20 at each winery J

How much do the wines cost?

WineShop At Home wines range in price from $16 to $45.

How many people can I have at a tasting?

The ideal size for a tasting is 12 people. You can have as many as 18, but that means the sips are really small.

What if I want to have a bigger tasting?

This is often the case for company tastings. With more people, I need more wine, and I would need to sell you the additional bottles at full price.

How does the tasting work?

Everybody shows up at the same time. I get people to fill their plates with food. We then do introductions. Once we’ve done introductions, we start with sparkling wine. We then do whites followed by reds. With each wine, we talk about what we’re tasting and smelling and how we’re liking it. We try each wine with the different foods the host provides and figure out which pairings we like best. Very importantly, we do a lot of laughing. I even tell a few wine jokes.

Are there any rules to the tasting?

I share my most important rule up front. I tell people not to yuck anybody’s yum. Why? If you’re the leader of the crowd and you don’t like a wine, you might embarrass other people who really like it. So I tell people to share their opinions gently.

What do I need to do to get ready for a tasting?

When you decide you want to do a tasting, we come up with a date and talk about your wine preferences (sweet, drier, more red, more white, etc.). I then send you a coaching email with everything you need to get ready for your big event, including:

• Invitation copy
• A reminder to send reminder emails a week before your event and a few days before
• Appetizer list – a quick run to Trader Joe’s is perfect
• Room setup details
• Information about when your $40 fee will be charged (10 business days before your event)
• Particulars about when I’ll arrive (15-30 minutes before your event) and what I’ll bring (glasses, wine and paperwork)

Wrapping Up

WineShop At Home tastings are simple and fun! And they don’t take a lot of prep. You just need some fun wine-loving friends and a few good hours. And your house doesn’t even need to be clean.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and you’d like to book a tasting, please call me at 650-714-7009 or email me at betty@winetastingsandmore.com. If you’re in the United States and you’d like to join my team so that you can lead tastings for other people, please check out my Wine Business page and call or email me.

Cheers!