The Wine Lover: Economics of tasting fees

There was a time when tasting fees were rare in the Santa Cruz wine region. Most wineries were happy to pour a few tastes for guests, with the expectation that they would at the very least buy a bottle to take home for later. This unspoken method worked well for quite some time.
Over the past few years, though, wine tasting has become much more commonplace. It is not just wine connoisseurs and interested tourists visiting the wineries anymore — oh, no. Wineries see everything from birthday parties to bachelorette parties now.
As popularity in wine tasting has risen, that unspoken rule of politeness has just about gone out the window. Wineries, in turn, have had to hedge against these would-be mooches. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
It is certainly a good thing that wine has become more popular in recent years (at least for my business). More people taste wine with purpose these days than ever before, and more people are interested in wine shopping than ever before, as well.
Most wineries now have a standard fee of $5 or $10 to taste their wines, and most of them will refund this fee with the purchase of a bottle. Some wineries are still free, and some do not refund the fee with a purchase. In Napa, many of the tasting fees are $20 or $25, without the refund for purchase.
I think the tasting fee with refund for purchase is the best bet for most wineries. By offering the refund, they are encouraging people to purchase their wine, which at the end of the day is their objective.
I have had many wine tour guests who are unhappy about the tasting fees and will even argue with the tasting room staff about why they shouldn’t pay. My typical response to these pocketbook-conscious people is, “Do you argue with a bartender when he charges you for a pint of beer?”
It was only a matter of time before the tasting fees became ubiquitous. It was nice not to have them when the wine-tasting culture understood that if you were going wine tasting, you were also going wine purchasing, too. But those days are long gone, and rightfully so. With the rising popularity of visiting wineries, the consumer must understand that wine, like any other product, is not free.
Feel lucky that we still live in a region where $5 gets you a flight of wine, and oftentimes a short discussion with the winemaker, instead of a $20 tasting fee and a brush-off by an overwhelmed staff member.
On a final note, Nov. 19 will be the final passport day of the year. Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association passports are $40 and are good for tastings at more than 70 wineries with no expiration date. In terms of tasting fees, that is a deal with which you can’t argue. Cheers!
Austin Twohig is a certified sommelier and partner in The Santa Cruz Experience, which conducts winery tours in the Santa Cruz Mountains. E-mail him at au****@th********************.com.