Why wine education matters
By Rachel Brown, Thirsty Bandit
What makes a great tasting room great? Is it the decor? The view? The glassware? While these tangible items are great for stylistic enhancement of a tasting room, it’s the intangibles that go the distance: the community, the friendships, and the engagement that can only come from deep bonding and the craftsmanship of storytelling. At the root of all of it: wine education.
Wine education is the pulse point and the heartbeat of the tasting room. It connects the bridge between the product and the experience, parceled prettily for guests that come into the tasting room. It takes casual, laid-back tasters to life-long fans and repeat customers. With so many tasting rooms sprouting up like wildflowers, the education-driven programs and intense staff training separates the extraordinary from the ordinary and keeps customers coming back for more.
For me, storytelling is everything — the engagement, the connection, the real-life application. Even the most stunning tasting room can’t make up for a team that struggles to articulate the wines or connect with guests. Wine — its artistry, its beauty, its ever-changing nature — should become a kind of love language, a part of your genetic makeup. To truly inspire others, the wines must first become meaningful to the staff, woven into their lives as more than just products, but as personal staples worth sharing.
This level of storytelling doesn’t come easily, I’ll admit. It takes a lot of time— not just being behind the tasting bar walking your team through the wines, but creating digestible materials for existing staff and new employees coming in. And not just on your wines either, but the wines of your region against the world. Vintage comparisons side-by-side, different barrels and their flavor profiles, blind tastings, roleplaying tasting room scenarios. These training tasks aren’t luxuries, they’re necessities.
While programs like WSET have their place and are invaluable certifications to attain, they aren’t wholly necessary for every tasting room. Really, it comes from creating a culture that makes asking questions okay. Fostering that open communication is imperative. Letting people learn and grow in the way that makes the most sense for them. For every staff member I’ve hired and trained, my first question is always: What’s your learning style?
Being able to create educational programming is one thing but being able to apply it to everyone in a way that makes it stick for them is where I’ve found most of my success. Having multiple sources of information— training binders, educational videos, flash cards, quizzes and customer-based scenarios allow for every member of the team to receive a cohesive training program in a way that suits them best.
This level of training fosters both confidence and authority when speaking about your wines. The more knowledge and assurance we can equip staff with, the stronger and more seamless the guest experience becomes. It’s reflected in their dialogue, their ease during tastings, and their ability to handle questions that go beyond the standard portfolio — topics like vineyard management, barrel integration, and bottle ageability.
When the basis of knowledge is applied, the focus shifts to the guests walking into the tasting room. Now, those within the industry can wax poetic about acid levels and PH and back blending, but for the guest coming into your tasting room— who may be a novice or a pro— those numbers and figures won’t mean the same as they will for the seasoned veterans.
Rachel and Corey discuss the importance of staff training and development in winery tasting rooms, emphasizing the need to hire people with the right intangible qualities rather than solely focusing on wine experience.
This is where storytelling comes in. Teaching your guests about wine, adding context and information, but not overwhelming them. Real life application travels much farther than any of the technical jargon we study. In my experience, the first thirty seconds of interaction with a guest lets me know the level of information I need to provide. Body language cues are another one of those intangibles that staff needs to be able to pick up on. Some guests will want to know PH and soil composition. Some simply want to know how to hold their glass or what pairs best with their Friday night pizza night. Both of which are amazing pieces of information to know, by the way.
My staff is trained to begin every tasting with two key questions: “Have you been here before?” and “What do you like to drink?” While simple, these prompts open the door to truly meaningful conversation—allowing us to share the winery’s story, discuss the region’s climate and terroir, and start building a personalized experience. From there, thoughtful follow-up questions naturally unfold: Are you looking for something more fruit-forward? Higher in acidity? A touch of sweetness? This subtle game of twenty questions helps narrow the focus, guiding your team toward two or three well-matched wine recommendations that are tailored to each guest’s palate.
If your guest loves Riesling from the Rheinhessen in Germany, automatically the staff should be able to guide them to a wine on the portfolio, if you’re not currently offering one. If you are currently offering a Riesling, they should be able to do a quick compare and contrast based on what the guest likes to drink and how it either matches or differs from what you’re currently offering on your portfolio.
Often, guests don’t know how different regional nuances can be in wine. For example, Cabernet is not a one-size-fits all sort of wine. French Cabernet is vastly different from that coming out of Napa Valley. Without staff explanation, a guest may be set up for failure and disappointment if they try it expecting something else. It’s a missed opportunity to not only set the expectation early on, but it’s a level of hospitality that often goes missing in tasting rooms. Teach them about your area. Tell them who you are. What you stand for. All these puzzle pieces shape into the guest experience within the tasting room.
This is what we, as life-long wine lovers and educators, are here for. To give them the information they want, to make it fun, approachable, something they can take home and use in their everyday life. This is where education morphs into hospitality. It emboldens staff to move around their dialogue and use some key life phrases. For example, explaining tannins to someone who has never heard the term before. Making the comparison to steeped black tea or bitter dark chocolate puts a very real image— and often an experience— at the forefront of their mind.
The key is the invitation. To open the dialogue. To let the guest at the bar know that they can ask whatever they want— without fear of judgement or an eye roll. We all started somewhere. This openness, the willingness to take time, to answer their questions and make them comfortable takes a maybe standard experience and makes it remarkable. They know they’ll be welcomed and heard. This, to me, is the highest level of hospitality. What a thing it is to be a steward in someone else’s wine journey. What a privilege to foster the ‘light bulb’ moment of wine.
All these things blended together add up to a high-quality visit to your tasting room. Vision, education, ethos, and regionality are things that need to be learned. A guest may forget exactly what malolactic fermentation is, but they won’t forget the uniqueness of a grape that’s harvested at midnight on the shores of a nearby lake, or if the winemaker’s mother makes the bread used for their private tastings. Those details will stick with them long after their visit ends.
As approachable as we can make wine, the better. The ‘pinky up’ stereotype permeates the wine world and often makes it so that inexperienced drinkers are terrified to dip their toe into the barrel. Staff training, educational documents, supporting videos, and customer roleplay set up any tasting room for success. Foster and nurture your staff. Encourage them to fold the wines in your portfolio into their everyday life with their favorite dishes and foods.
We’re here to offer more than just a product — we’re here to offer a purpose, an experience. And that experience begins with your people. It’s your staff who make the wine approachable, memorable, and meaningful — and that kind of impact doesn’t happen without education. Yes, the wine may bring guests back, but it’s the staff who shape the experience and give it lasting value. There’s no better feeling than seeing a returning guest light up as they share what they learned during their last visit — how they used that knowledge, and how proud they were to pass it on to friends.
Developing a strong, well-rooted wine education program can transform every aspect of your tasting room. Its impact will resonate throughout your business — from your team’s confidence to the guest experience. I encourage every tasting room to grow collectively: hold regular tastings, ask thoughtful questions, and invest in ongoing education. That commitment to knowledge and care is something your guests will notice — and remember. Because in the end, it’s not just about what you pour — it’s about what you share.
About the Author
Rachel Brown is a Level 2 Sommelier with over nine years of experience in the wine industry. Certified by WSET, ISG, and the Napa Valley Wine Academy, Rachel has dedicated her career to curating exceptional wine experiences — from building tasting rooms and leading educational classes to hosting intimate private dinners. Her passion lies in making wine approachable, engaging, and unforgettable for everyone she meets. Outside of her work in the wine industry, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her husband where they live in West Chester, PA.
