The only Wine Trivia I needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten

Every night I post wine trivia questions for my staff on a dry erase board.  Through out the night the employees place their initials next to the best answer.  I continue asking questions and tallying their scores, until the last question is placed and then the person with the most correct answers takes a bottle of wine home.  I do this because it keeps my employees thinking about wine.  It  might even trigger a conversation at a table.  It is just one of the ways I try to educate my staff and keep them thinking about wine.

Another method is providing regular wine tastings.  This past Monday I decided to practice blind tasting with the group.  There were about 15 employees in attendance and each at a different level.  Some were hostesses just promoted to cocktail servers, others bus boys now working as server assistants and their were veteran servers.  The knowledge pool was all over the place.

I handed out our Blind Tasting Grid, the same grids the Court of Master Sommeliers uses for exams.   When I started tasting with them I realized (more…)

How to Drink Wine by a 6-year old

All I ever needed to know about how to drink wine I learned in kindergarten.  As many of you know, I try to make wine fun and easy to understand.  Wine is super complex and wrapping your head around it is frustrating.  As adults we have a knack of making things more difficult.  I am not sure what is the psychological reasoning behind this statement, but I know it is true.  My children are in preschool and first grade.  Each and every day I learn something new.  Sometimes I learn something I already knew but in a new way.

I am not sure if I inspire them or if they just copy Sponge Bob.  For sometime now, they have played restaurant.  Each of them have their own restaurants.  My daughter played along with my son’s ideas and created her own restaurant, Cold-y.  Of course they serve cold spaghetti and cold soups.  My son, the instigator, started his restaurant long before.  He called his restaurant the Hot Pumpkin.  As one would guess, he serves pumpkins, right?  Nope.  At  the Hot Pumpkin he serves Hot Dogs.  It only makes sense. (more…)

Wine Education III – My Frustrations in Teaching

I like to talk about wine education and how it relates to my work.  I strive in trying to keep my staff well-informed.  Sometimes I succeed and other times I don’t.  Understanding each employees needs and interests is the most difficult part.  If everyone was open to wine education , my job would be a breeze. Unfortunately, that is not the case. (more…)