The following post is a reprise of a newspaper article I wrote in 1992. It was subsequently published on the Dover Canyon Winery blog (which no longer exists). The post enjoyed viral hits and backlinks from all over the world. I'm sure poor Roger (pictured above) never expected to see his photo reprinted on hundred of sites. I hope he can take comfort in my opinion that he is not a cork dork, but a true geek.
Recently, at a dinner with friends, one man's date turned to me and complained, "He's so boring. All he ever talks about is wine. All day long he talks about wine."
I probably looked hurt, because I was just as engrossed in our discussion of Syrah as he was. Lorraine leaned toward me and whispered, "She's right, you know. We're all hopeless wine geeks. Look at us from an outsider's point of view."
But the deeper I get into the world of wine, the harder that is to do. I think moving our discussion from Merlot to Syrah is a total change in conversation. Have I been slowly losing touch with reality and drifting more and more into a fascination with varietal differences and degrees of oak, malolactic overindulgence, and varying theories on wild yeasts?
I must, however, point out the vast difference between a wine geek and a cork dork. In my lexicon, a wine geek, like a computer geek, is consumed by his field. He likes dry and sweet wines, white and red wines, French and American wines. He is an experience junkie, always looking for a new and vinous adventure.
A wine geek will look at an untried varietal like a biologist discovering a new phylum. "What's this? A pinot verde? Get out the Riedel, we must examine this!"
A cork dork, on the other hand, will hold his glass by the base. He'll swirl a wine until it's exhausted, and after a long speech on the supposed characteristics of a wine he has yet to taste, will finally sniff it and announce his disappointment in its aroma. A cork dork will aspire to all things French, and the barrels must be new, the women young, and the wines very old—although any one with any experience knows that these choices are not necessarily the best. If you try to pour him some dessert wine, he'll snatch his glass away in horror, leaving you in the foolish position of pouring wine on the table.
When visiting wine country, you will inevitably encounter both wine geeks and cork dorks. Therefore, I suggest these ten guidelines for differentiating between poseurs (dorks) and real geeks (us).
1. A dork will make you feel uncomfortable. They are supercilious, punctilious, and from my point of view, just plain supersillious. A geek, however, will make you feel comfortable, and value your opinion of his wines.
2. A dork holds his glass by the base, or with his fingers curled sensuously around the body of the glass. A geek grabs his glass by the stem and just sticks his nose in. All business.
Getting Ready for Wine Festival: Managing Large Crowds
Most established wineries know these angles aready, but if you are new on the circuit—or still working through your first five years of post-festival debriefing—get a leg up on organizing for festival crowds with the following tips from other wineries.
First - Choose your top priority
Understand the difference between sales and hospitality, and choose ONE for your priority. Both goals should be customer-oriented however. You can DO both, but in order to do so effectively, you must have just one priority.
When it comes to planning, remember it's not about YOU. Both hospitality and sales planning should be about the customer.
If you are an established winery expecting large crowds, then sales should be your top priority. Making sales fast, easy and efficient will help your visitors achieve their goals. They'll be able to taste, order, and then layaway, ship or accept their order with ease, allowing them time to enjoy your hospitality as well. Give them a seamless sales experience, augmented by excellent hospitality, and they'll leave with fond memories.
If you are a new winery, remotely located, or very small, maybe you expect to welcome less people, and you'd like to give them a stellar hospitality experience. In this case, make sure you've covered all the aspects of a good party—shade, music, food, cleanliness, seating, games, and so on. But even with sales as your second priority, be prepared. Don't run out of tasting sheets or credit card machine tape, or become otherwise discomboobled on the sales front.
Second - Define your goals
Common goals for a festival weekend are:
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Posted on 05/17/2010 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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