Getting my Feet Wet

After doing some research on the wine tasting thing, my colleague from the last job had called again and was really pushing to have an in-home wine tasting party.  So, I created an outline of what I wanted to do and how I thought the night should flow and I dove into in full force.  I bought wine glasses and champagne flutes.  I created tasting sheets and put a carefully planned wine list together.  I wrote down some opening remarks about myself and the how the tasting would go to explain it to the guests.  My notes looked something like this:

Intro

• About me
• 6 wines, 6 different countries/regions
• Don’t have to participate
• Don’t like, try with food pairings
• I will tell you which foods pair
• Guess prices
• Trivia wine giveaway
• Enjoy yourselves
• Ask questions
• Different glasses for each wine

Basically I would have six wines from six different countries, usually 3 whites and 3 reds,  I always tried to enhance the experience with a food pairing and I always worked with my host to see what foods would be served to see how I could best pair them.  I liked to make it fun so I challenged the guests to guess the prices of the wines and whoever came the closest to the last bottle tasted would get a bottle of wine to take home.  In the beginning, I always changed glasses for each wine, but as time went on, that got burdensome as the more glasses I had to bring, the more I needed to borrow my husband’s truck and that didn’t make him happy.  Besides the dish washing at the end of the night was gruesome.

The night was such a success that I really thought how I could make this work for me.  I had my good friend design a logo for me. I designed business cards and started advertising in NJ Monthly magazine.  After that ad ran, I was booked every weekend.

I referred to my new side business as my sanity job and called it edu-taining.  As a Wine Educator, I would go to people’s homes and lead their friends through some fun, unpretentious wine parties.  It wasn’t Tupperware.  I wasn’t there to sell wine, just the experience.  I spoke at homes, seminars, businesses, home shows, restaurants and where-ever anyone would pay me to go. 

Some of my clients were great and a handful were*ssh*les.  I remember one client in particular.  She was filthy rich with a large home, pool house, pool, cabana and she asked me to arrive through the servant’s quarters.  Her party was outside and she also had a caterer, servers and bartenders.  I was supposed to start at a specific time, but she didn’t want me to start until ALL the guests had arrived.  It was a Sunday.  After two hours had passed, I told her that we start or she has to pay me extra.  I think at the time I only charged for the wine and a couple hundred bucks for my time.  After this day, I worked this into my contract.  The more I wait, the more you pay me.  As I was leaving and it was already night fall, guests were still arriving and it was about 5 hours later.  I realize some people are rude, but if your host forgets to tell you that a certain activity is happening at a certain time, then shame on you.

The worst parties were the ones when I showed up in a suit and they wanted me to pour outside in the rain, humidity, heat, etc.  For some people I was just the hired help, but for others, the reason why I started this in the first place, enjoyed learning about wine.

My side business died after the economy tanked around 2008.  Most people thought I was running a Tupperware party and they didn’t expect to pay, so after the initial quote, they usually disappeared as did the bookings.

After some long, consideration, I decided I wanted to be sane all the time, so I decided to switch careers.  Mind you, I was making over $100,000 at the time so this was no easy decision in my early 30’s to start all over again from the bottom.