Sip & Savor Your California Wine: Don’t Guzzle It Like A Shot Of Whiskey
Professionals in the California wine industry have no problem discarding their ‘nectar of the gods’ into a pour bucket. After all, not every pour is a keeper. They readily use pour buckets for wine failing to meet flavor standards and have no qualms about spitting out distasteful vintages.
| ‘Remember, you are tasting and savoring wine. You are not guzzling wine for the buzz.’ |
Shouldn’t you do the same with wine you are not loving? Why not dump unsatisfying wine? It bears repeating every year, so here goes our 2026 version.
Savor your wine, don’t guzzle your vino.
We write this story yearly as a reminder to pace yourself while wine tasting. If you’re not loving a wine, don’t drink it. Spit it out or pour it out. After all it’s alcohol burning your palate and preventing you from tasting more beautiful wines. Wine makers and their hosts have no problem spitting out a mouthful of shoddy vino failing to match their fancy. Neither should you.
Mastering Wine Tasting: Sip & Savor, Don’t Guzzle
Don’t drink for the buzz when you’re tasting in wine country. If you become inebriated or burn your palate you won’t have a chance of tasting all those yummy regional wines awaiting you in Paso Robles, Napa, Lodi, Sonoma, Monterey, Temecula , Santa Barbara and of course Gold Country.
Over the years we’ve stood next to tasters shooting their three ounce sample as if it were whiskey or vodka. How can they taste all that glorious fruit when it’s sloshing down their gullett faster than the California Bullet Train is supposed to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco (oh, make that Bakersfield to Merced.)
When you sample this way your wine hosts know what you seek: a buzz. It’s a surefire way to shut down their hospitality and generosity. Read our story about turning off a wine host with poor behavior.
If you’re drinking for the buzz your host will notice. When this happens, don’t expect hosts to start pouring off menu samples. Don’t look for bonus pours, revisits, side-by-side comparison sampling different vintages, different vineyards or different oak treatments. That gracious treatment disappears when you’re not sober.
You’re only going to receive the corporate treatment when inebriated. Five samples, 3 ounces, ‘Would like to take some bottles home to waive your tasting fee?’ ‘Thanks so much for visiting, your tasting today is $100, we take debit and credit.’
We’re keeping this essay short and tight. Remember, you are tasting and savoring wine. You are not guzzling wine for the buzz. If you’re looking for a buzz every wine country has a bar or two awaiting you. Go there.
At the winery, savor, sip and make friends with your wine host
Some notes on our wine ranking system.
Bill & Erin Hodge write about California Wine, the estates & winemakers producing them and educational information about Vino. Living in California Wine Country provides a front row seat to the places you want to visit the most here in the Golden State.
– -✰ means -What’s next on your list of wines
-✰ means -Not liking it too much
✰ means -We’ll drink this wine, especially if it’s hosted!
✰+ means -You’ve got our attention and we might buy this wine.
✰+ + means -We’re hooked and we’re going to buy this wine.
When you see -✰/✰+ with a slash, it means we disagree.
