1) Show up right when they open! I can not tell you how many times that I got the “one on one treatment” since I was their only customer. When you are the only one at the tasting room, you get to pick the brain of the server and ask him or her all about the wines and the winery with no interruptions. This will make your time there more enjoyable. If you are lucky, you might get some additional pours.
2) Be kind and honest. These servers literally pour for hundreds of people a year. They have seen it and heard it all. From the drunk and rude to the painful hangovers types. Learn their name (if they are not wearing a name tag) and some details about them. For example, where are you from? Or how long have you been working here? What do you like about the job? If they did a good job, tipping is acceptable at most tasting rooms.
3) Show that you love and care about wine. These serves are there because they most likely love wines too. Ask many questions about the wine and the winery. Is this estate grown? Do you source? Are these wines 100% _______? Know the wineries and wines story. Some of them have some really cool history and facts. Again, you are more likely to get extra pours if you show them you love and care about wine.
4) Ask them what their favorite wine on the tasting list is and why. You will always get one of two answers back: My favorite is __________ because of ______, in which case you just learned more about the wine or my favorite is ________ because of ________, but it is not on the list. Which you should also reply with, “can we taste it please?” Nine out of ten times if you followed steps 1 through 3 the server will pour it for you gladly. If they don’t pour it for you. It is probably a high-end bottle that is too expensive to be opened at the tasting room.
5) Ask if there is anything open that is not on the tasting menu. This one always gets overlooked. Sometimes they have a high-end bottle opened because the day before or the current day a customer wanted to taste the wine before placing a big order. On rare occasion they want to get rid of an older vintage to make room for the new one, or they just felt like opening a bottle. You may or may not know this but some wineries don’t have their REALLY good stuff on their tasting flights (even though you are doing their reserve tasting). They do this because they are high end and/or very small quantity. Again nine out of ten times if you followed steps 1 through 4 they will give you extra pours.