Archive for Tasting Rooms

Southern Oregon Wineries: The Next Generation in Charge

It was bound to happen. Southern Oregon’s pioneering wineries are passing from their founding fathers and mothers to the next generation. If you haven’t visited these featured Southern Oregon wineries, autumn is a lovely time to make the trip! Here’s your travel guide.

Capiche Conversations: Interview with Traute Moore, Co-Owner of South Stage Cellars

In 1939, seven-year-old Traute Moore fled to St. Louis from her hometown of Vienna, Austria, with her mother following the Anschluss. Before her father was able to join them, Hitler banned travel by boat. Five years later, they were reunited, and Traute’s life was to become marked by a series of happy coincidences that would lead to her and her husband, retired physician Don Moore, embarking on a viticultural adventure at Quail Run Vineyards.

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Capiche Conversations: Interview with Chad Day, Owner/Manager, RoxyAnn Winery

When you hear “historical destination winery in Medford,” RoxyAnn Winery probably comes to mind immediately. With 11 spots on the National Register of Historic Places and a farming heritage dating back four generations, RoxyAnn Winery’s stunning grounds carry a fascinating history that makes an unbeatable backdrop for wine-tasting, weddings, and their Wine + Music Series.

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Hire Nice and Teach Wine—Case in Point

Last October, I wrote a blog post called “Hire Nice, and Teach Wine,” and last week, I saw this principle work beautifully in action. In a time when every single guest to your tasting room will either help make or break you, it’s even more important to hire nice, teach wine—AND teach hospitality!

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Here Comes OND … Pour Me Another—and Get Busy Marketing!

Are you suffering from bad news fatigue like I am? It’s one thing after another—COVID-19 hitting us in March. Now, the fires. And the constantly changing rules and regulations for restaurants, bars and tasting rooms.… With so many moving parts, how do we plan for OND—October, November, December—the biggest annual boon to all retailers?

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How to Create Opportunity from Crisis: Top 10 Strategies to Come out Swinging

In just a matter of weeks, the nature of the wine business in the US—and the world in general—has drastically changed. Restaurants and bars have been shut down, wineries have closed their tasting rooms, and wine retailers have had to rethink the way they do business. Some have closed altogether, at least for now.

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How to Keep Customers Coming Back: Why Hospitality is Job #1

Do you ever wonder why we spend so much money on getting new customers when retaining customers provides more value to our business? Think about the investment your winery is making in customer acquisition (advertising, PR, social media, email, and direct mail campaigns) vs. customer retention (providing an outstanding customer experience for guests in your tasting room, wine club members, and customers ordering wine online). Which direction are your scales tipping?

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Got Downtime in the Tasting Room? Use It to Better Serve Your Future Guests

Most tasting rooms experience downtime during which there are no guests. That leaves you with three options: 1) let the staff sit and wait, 2) send staff home, or 3) have them perform other strategic tasks. I’ll bet you can imagine what Capiche recommends!

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Use Tasting Room Downtime to Increase Visibility (and Sales)

Most tasting rooms experience downtime during which there are no guests. That leaves you with three options: let the staff sit and wait, send staff home, or have them perform other strategic tasks. I’ll bet you can imagine what Capiche recommends!

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Held Hostage in the Tasting Room

Seriously. That’s how it felt. Maybe it’s because it was our first stop on what we hoped would be a fairly quick series of tasting room visits. We had five wineries on our list and limited time. This would have to be well-orchestrated. Best-laid plans …

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