Tasting room management gets formal

January 6, 3:21 PMDrinks ExaminerBill Dowd

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Anyone who has been to a variety of winery tasting rooms knows the level of expertise among those staffing the pours varies widely.

That will be addressed to some degree under a new agreement between Sonoma State University's Wine Business Program and the magazine Vineyard & Winery Management.

“The local wine industry has been asking us to develop a tasting room management program for a long time,” said Linda Nowak, director of the college program, “so we are excited about augmenting it with the accelerated learning offered at the Wine Club Summit and Tasting Room Profitability Conference.”

Students in the Tasting Room Management program receive training in the areas of direct shipping, staffing, sales and marketing, wine club and database management, budgeting, and customer relations. Under the agreement, they now may substitute the Wine Club Summit for the core curriculum course "Building a Profitable Wine Club" and/or substitute the Tasting Room Profitability Conference for another core class, "Hospitality Management for the Tasting Room."

“Education is the basis from which our industry continues to grow and improve,” said President Robert Merletti of Vineyard & Winery Services, which published the magazine. “Understanding the dynamics of the ‘business’ is as important as enology and viticulture.”