1)      Brushing Your Teeth:    Good dental hygiene is important to everyone and no one wants people to scoot away from him/her in a tasting room because of horrid breath.    However, toothpaste distorts your palate’s ability to taste wine.   

      The solution:  brush your teeth first thing in the morning when you get up – not immediately before going tasting.

2)      Aftershave, Perfume, Heavily Scented Lotions and Body Sprays:     Wine country… it allures with a connotation of elegance, style, and wealth and people often want to look their best and smell their best.    A word of advice:   people are coming to wine country to taste wine and smell its bouquet.   They are not coming to smell you.   Years ago, a friend and I were at a winery and a group of people joined our group late.    They had just been kicked out by a different winery.  Why had they been turned away?  Because they were wearing perfume and aftershave.    These people were miffed and thought that it was arrogant of the other winery to have rejected them.   Hospitality staff, however, confirmed that some wineries do this.    Let’s state the obvious:   Old Spice and Cabernet Sauvignon do not pair well together.   

      This being said, bathing is still highly recommended for other obvious reasons.   However, leave perfumes at home and use aftershave sparingly, first thing in the morning or preferably, the night before going tasting.   

3)      Drinking Orange Juice:     Think a mimosa is a great way to start off your day of tasting?   It is not.   Due to the acidity in orange juice, it is not a friend to your palate when you attempt to taste wine later.   If you must have orange juice in the morning, have it as early as possible and drink plenty of water afterwards to clear your palate.    Breakfast is highly recommended.

4)      The Gum Chewer:       I once stood next to a fellow who, while chewing gum, sincerely tried to talk knowledgably to me about the wine that we tasted.   Seriously.   Seriously.    I should not have to explain, but chewing gum will distort your palate and it frequently insults the hospitality staff in the winery accommodating you.  

5)      Plants Outside the Winery:    Wineries are generally beautifully landscaped as you walk towards the entrance of their tasting rooms.   Ever wonder why?    The roses, rosemary, lavender and other flowers planted outside help get your olfactory senses primed for wine tasting.   Most of what you are able to taste is determined by your sense of smell.   So as you encounter these plants, take in a deep breath and get your nose ready to smell some good wine inside.  

6)      Tasting in General:   You have made it into the tasting room of the winery.    You are here.   People are happily drinking wine.  You step up to the tasting bar, ready to experience similar enjoyment, and the wine is poured.   Just drinking it is an option, but how do you obtain the full experience of wine tasting?    First, hold the glass by its stem on the tasting bar and swirl the glass.   This helps oxidize the wine which helps “open up the wine.” 

      By opening up the wine, you will smell different elements in the wine and similarly taste more fruit, spice, and less tannins.    Now, hold the glass up to your nose.   If your nose is toward the top of the glass, you will smell more fruit.   If your nose is toward the bottom of the glass, you will smell more alcohol.    Breathe in deeply.   Close your eyes.   Imagine what you smell… blackberry… plum… grapefruit… lime… licorice… It could be a variety of things.   Then take a small taste.   Let the wine slowly cross your palate.   Your front, middle and back parts of your palate are going to taste different components in the wine.    As you are doing this, make notes.    If you do not have a pen or a piece of paper, ask the hospitality staff behind the tasting bar.    They usually can accommodate you.    

     Important note:  you do not have to finish the total amount that is poured for you.   You are welcome to dump that into the spittoon located on the tasting bar.   “But I am wasting wine…”      No, you are not wasting wine.   You are preserving your palate so that you do not waste future wine and you are acting responsibly.    And moreover, it is perfectly fine to pour wine out or not taste every wine listed.   You will not offend the winery’s hospitality staff.

7)      Pack Snacks:       Snacks are important for two reasons.   First, snacks will help you and your palate.   Those industry standard one ounce pours in the tasting room add up quickly.   Typically, I have a small cooler in the car that is loaded with bottled water, apple slices, string cheese, almonds and dried breadsticks.    These types of snacks help clear the palate for future tasting at the next winery and help hydrate, nourish, and absorb some of the alcohol that has been consumed.   If your palate is not clear, you cannot enjoy the wine that you are tasting or adequately assess if it is worth purchasing.  Second, snacks are essential because they will save you from becoming the dreaded Water Cracker Gobbler.    We’ve all seen the Water Cracker Gobbler at one point or another.    Perhaps he/she is leaning all over the tasting bar, hoarding all of the water crackers to himself/herself.     Maybe he/she is standing slightly behind you, clumsily reaching over your shoulder repeatedly to keep eating all of the crackers in the bowl.   Or maybe you turn around to see him/her with a goofy grin on his/her face, but with the tell-tale signs of cracker crumbs dusting his/her shirt with the cracker bowl tossed carelessly aside.    None of these are pleasant images.   Aside from that, those water crackers help patrons clear their palates:  they are not a substitute for your lunch.

8)  Plan a Picnic or Make a Lunch Reservation:     Do not skip lunch.    Even if you have an appointment at a winery, you can call that winery and reschedule.    Food is essential to helping you through the day.    If you plan to picnic, many of the wineries have picnic areas but it is bad etiquette (if not prohibited) to drink another vintner’s wine or beer on the premises.

9)      Milk Products, Shakes, Ice Cream:     It has never been my natural inclination to have a milkshake in between tastings at wineries.   I have been told however, that having a milkshake with a belly full of wine and then trying to squeeze in one last winery for the day is a gastronomical mistake of potentially great proportions.   Simply, do not do it.

10)   Number of Wineries in a Day:    Three.   No more.   Ideally, I like visiting one or two wineries a day but I have the luxury of living in Napa Valley.   For those visiting, I recommend no more than three wineries because after three your palate will be over-saturated and not able to distinguish accurately what you are experiencing in the wine.    Remembering that you do not have to taste everything that is set before you (in what is called a “flight”), you can go to several wineries in a day if you plan to only taste one or two wines at a winery.   

11)   Driving:    Please be responsible driving while out wine tasting.    There are a number of chauffeur services in wine country who can safely transport you to each winery and many actually will arrange tours for you.    Also check and see if there is an alternative method like the Napa Valley Wine Train, or shuttles or trolleys.     Finally if you must drive, have a designated driver.    There is nothing worse than standing in a tasting room next to a stranger who at 1:00 p.m. admits that he is not going to taste because that is his fourth winery and worse …  he is the driver.  

12) Make Appointments With Wineries:    Some wineries allow you to wander in at your leisure to taste, but often many require appointments.   If you know you are going to a winery, call ahead and find out if an appointment is required.   Aside from it being simple courtesy to make an appointment, wineries can also prepare for your arrival.    If you are in a large group, this is essential.   If you are out tasting and receive a recommendation to visit a certain winery, if that person works in the industry, ask if they would call the winery for you to ensure that they will be expecting you.   Or if you stumble upon a winery that catches your interest, use your cell phone and call information to connect you to the winery.    Calling ahead when wineries may or may not require appointments is always good measure and good simple common sense.  

13)  General Tasting Room Conduct:     Recently a friend of mine was out tasting and shocked by the number of individuals braying like drunken donkeys in a tasting room.    While this image made me laugh, I did think back to the numerous instances of people happily calling out “Say Hangover!” as their picture would be snapped by hospitality staff and those errant fake feathers that have landed in my wine glass from the boa of an inebriated bride-to-be.    As comical as these images sound, in reality, being surrounded by people like this is a nuisance.    Everyone is entitled to have a good time… but that is just it, everyone.     The tasting bar in a winery is not the town tavern.     While you might be out celebrating a special occasion, if you know that you are going to want to “party” as opposed to “taste,” be courteous to the other people in the tasting room and buy a bottle and take your festivities elsewhere.