I have given more than 4,000 winery tours, and I’m convinced that people who go on tour buy more and join wine clubs at a higher rate.
By Craig Root
Budweiser plants offer tours. The Jelly Belly jelly bean plant does tours. Your local electronic factory doesn’t do tours. Why? Because no one wants to watch widgets being made. One of the important things to remember is that wine is a product people are willing to give their precious time to learn about.
Remember we’re jaded — we’re used to veraison — but even more knowledgeable consumers are excited to see a Cabernet grape that’s half green and half purple.
A winery tour is ostensibly about turning grapes into wine, but it’s also an infomercial about what makes your winery special and attractive to a buyer. Tours also make you more memorable. I went on the Tillamook cheese tour many decades ago, and I can still describe the experience. You’ll also notice I remember the brand name.
Potential objections
As you’re planning your tour, you’ll likely hear some of the following potential objections.
First, many worry about safety. But this can be overcome by rigorous safety training for the tour guides. Also make sure the beginning of the tour contains important safety instructions for the guests. For example, visitors with children must hold the child’s hand during the tour. Or tourists are not allowed in certain parts of the winery facility.
Another objection is “my staff doesn’t feel comfortable doing public speaking.” But if you ask, there are always staff members who enjoy it. And down the road, you can hire people who do want to guide tours. Another objection is “it takes one of my staff off the floor for a period of time.” True: but refer back to the higher sales and club sign-ups, which pay for increasing staff.
The only exception to “tours are good” is when you have a storefront tasting room in an urban area. But even this situation has a solution. Over the years, I have had a few storefront tasting rooms that did a 10-minute slideshow tour twice per day, or they organized day trips to their winery.
A few common tours
I invented the 10 to 15 minute mini-tour while I was managing a busy (but small) winery tasting room. It was helpful when we would get overcrowded. These tours for the general public were informal (without an appointment). I would mingle with groups of visitors and mention, “I’m about to give a fun 10 to 15 minute tour and show how we make wine. Would you like to come with me?”
After I got one or two groups to say yes, I would announce the tour to the whole room and head out; the guests who said “yes” acted like a siphon effect. Other groups who were undecided sometimes joined us. The mini-tour took the pressure off the overburdened staff and, by the time I concluded the tour, the crowd had usually thinned.
The most common type of tour is the 20 to 30 minute tours, which are generally free. Usually tours are sequential, starting with vineyards and moving through crush to fermentation to barrel aging to bottling.
If you’re not near any vineyards, you can plant a demonstration vineyard of two white and two red vines right by the tasting room. These are quite common and they even have an industry nickname: “petting vineyards.”
Get a barrel with a plexiglass top and bottom and put a cheap, unfiltered white wine in it. Over time, as the barrel sits on its side, lees will settle, which guests can easily see and you can explain what lees is and why it’s important. People love this kind of show-and-tell.
Also, don’t forget to use analogies during your tour. In the barrel room you can say things like, “These barrels are like kids in a classroom, no two are alike.” I covered using analogies in my last article for WIN Advisor.
The third type of tour is the in-depth 2-hour tour and tasting by appointment only with senior staff. These tours have a fee and are for visitors who want to learn more about how your wine is made. They may include hard-to-find and library wines. Some wineries only do these types of tours and tastings. These tours frequently include food, which can be as simple as artisan cheeses or as involved as multiple courses paired to the wines and prepared by an in-house chef.
One tip with this type of tour: Try to keep the guest count to eight or less. I have found that, when dealing with larger groups, it gets unwieldy. The people at the far end of the table get to talking among themselves and it can be a real distraction for the presenter.
All of these tours should end with a very short talk about club amenities. Also, all tours should end in your gift shop (if you have one).
Out in nature
Growing in popularity, the “off road tour” usually involves some type of vehicle that goes over unusual and rough terrain. At some point during the tour, there is a stop where the guest can soak in the views and nature, usually while tasting wine and cheese. These types of tours are very profitable and, in most cases, charge a hefty fee. But people remember them for years.
One tip with off road tours is that tour guides need to be extremely safety-conscious, particularly in regard to speed. There have been turnovers which have injured guests. Good training and frequent mystery shops are a must for these types of tours, along with scrupulous maintenance of the vehicle.
Self-guided and trade tours
There are two more tours to discuss. They are the self-guided tour and the trade tour.
I’m not a big fan of self-guided tours, because the guests are forming their own take on your operation, and it may not be what you intended. You want the story told your way not subject to the interpretation of the visitor. That said, sometimes the DIY options do have their place, such as during your slow season when staffing is low.
Lastly, the trade tour is mostly for visiting buyers and sales reps. If you’re taking care of the wine buyer for a Ritz-Carlton and she has already been to your winery once or twice, does she really need to see the same vineyards and production facility again? Show her new things and share new wines. Maybe you did your homework (Google all VIP guests ahead of time) and she likes fishing or the ballet. Take her to something like that. I will be writing about trade relations in a future article, because it’s an important facet of what tasting rooms do on a regular basis.
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Craig Root
Craig Root has more than 30 years experience working with tasting rooms. For over 13 years he was first staff and then a successful manager. For the last 20 years he has consulted with over 150 tasting rooms including over 90 start ups mostly in the U.S. but also in China, Canada, and France. He is the only person who lectures on tasting room design and management at UC Davis in its continuing and professional development division.
