The episode was unnerving and was avoidable had there been someone around with the sensibility to solve the problem.
It occurred in a winery tasting room I was visiting a few years ago. And I can appreciate the fact that the issue wasn’t easily solved.
Since summer has arrived, it may well be time to revisit tasting room etiquette since many vacationers will be visiting wine country areas in the coming months—which brought back to mind the above-mentioned prickly episode.
I was served an ounce of a wine I wanted to evaluate. Soon after, a woman arrived at the tasting room. Within seconds, it was apparent that she had bathed in an unbelievably powerful perfume that quickly affected the whole room so strongly that none of the tasters could smell the wines in our glasses. All we could smell was perfume!
What made it all the more galling was that the aromatized woman seemed to have no interest in wine! She was there primarily to finger the thematic gadgetry—earrings, scarves, T-shirts, umbrellas, coasters.
Winery tasting rooms originally began as a way to allow potential buyers to get a sense of the recent wines that growers and winemakers had crafted. In earlier days, tasting rooms didn’t charge. Servers were skilled and answered questions about grapes and winemaking.
Winery tourism wasn’t a thing in the 1970s or even 1980s. It wasn’t until the 1990s when tourists began to invade wineries as a kind of vacation activity. Winery tasting rooms began seeing a lot of newcomers who knew nothing about wine—or tasting room etiquette.
To this day, many people who visit tasting rooms do so primarily for what once was seen as free alcohol. Today, most tourers know that winery hospitality rooms charge tasting fees, most of which were instituted to discourage buzz-seekers.
Some people who visit wineries don’t realize that there are unwritten rules governing such activities, including one of the most obvious: eschew products with extraneous aromatics.
This includes not only perfume, but aftershave, strong deodorants, aromatic hair conditioners, and even cigarette smoke left in hair, beards, and clothing. Numerous tasting room employees have told me that almost everyone should avoid all extraneous aromatic intrusions when planning to visit a tasting room.
This includes avoiding the wearing of clothing such as leather jackets, skirts, and pants, some of which are so aromatic that they can smell offensive to serious wine tasters. Also verboten are fruit-scented lipsticks, scented hand and body creams, and hand sanitizers.
The same goes for foods brought in from outside. It’s the main reason that wineries usually stage picnic tables outside, on patios, even where summertime temperatures soar well into triple digits. They place picnic areas away from tasting bars to keep onions, garlic, pastrami, and other food scents away from the wine.
And if you should see indoor tables that are within sight (and smell) of the tasting bar, tasting room etiquette calls for you to avoid serving aromatic foods in that location.
Some wineries even go to extreme lengths to avoid scents in their tasting areas by using scent-free soaps in restrooms. Be aware that visitors’ scented hand lotions are seen as anathema.
