First, I have noted that I originally developed my wine interest via walk-in wineries, in Australia in the early 1980s, because winery tastings were usually free and without appointment — we could just drop in during business hours. Indeed, we can still do that in some parts of Australia, even today in these very different times.
This is important because, as the recent 2025 Tasting Room Survey Report notes:
In such turbulent times, it is advised to focus on what's within one's control. For wineries across the United States, the single most important source of sales and engagement is the tasting room. In a flat, fragmented and fluctuating U.S. wine market, the tasting room crowds may not be as dependable as years past, but gleaning sales from the visitors who do make it to wine country is that much more important.
The recent Silicon Valley Bank 2025 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report also tackles this same topic, on pages 32–45, when it notes for the USA:
The most meaningful change in tasting room service styles during the 2010s was moving from walk-in standing bars to seated by-reservation tastings. The change lessened visitation numbers but increased the average order value. The question today is whether the ‘experience arms race’ has reached its peak. Only 26% of wineries exclusively offer by-appointment tastings, while 8% are exclusively walk-in. With declining visitation, the largest group of wineries, 66%, is opting for greater flexibility and offering both service styles.These data are shown in the first graph (above).
Obviously, the fees charged for reserve tastings are pretty much double those of the standard fee, as shown in the second graph. More sadly, those fees have been continually increasing over the past 5 years. As Per Karlsson commented on my previous post:
The SVB analysis is really interesting. In some ways it is worrying, it shows a trend towards moving wine more and more towards a beverage for the rich (perhaps it is already - in particular in the US).
This point is emphasized when we look at the tasting fees charged, compared to the suggested retail price (SRP) of the wines produced by that winery, which we do in the third graph (below). Clearly, the more you pay (wine) then the more you pay (tasting).
Also, the lower is the SRP then the more likely it is that the winery provides walk-in tastings, as shown in the final graph (below). All of this also relates to the U.S. wine-producing region, as Napa and Sonoma charge above average fees (both standing and reserve), with Oregon, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Washington, etc charging below average.
As was recently noted: In a slower market, physical spaces are your biggest asset. In the modern on-line world, younger generations are showing a strong trend towards valuing their experiences above all else. So, the tasting experience is very important for modern wineries — after all, it cannot become digital. It was important back in My Day, too, of course. However, almost every survey shows that wine sales are declining, in both volume and dollars, and will continue to do so. We therefore need to connect to potential customers, and a tasting room is one way to do that — even in these different times, wine should still be fun, as well as a learning experience.
