Romancing the Grape, Stories and Words that Sell, Evoke and Enhance

We’re all hardwired to remember stories, particularly simple, well-told ones. On the other hand, when was the last time you remembered the details about a wine “with 30% malolactic fermentation, 3 daily punchdowns, aged in 50% new French oak barrels, unfined and unfiltered”? Huh?

Those words may mean a lot to wine geeks who revel in the details of winemaking. But for the majority of guests visiting your tasting room or experiencing your wine at an event, those details will go in one ear and out the other.

If, on the other hand, guests hear, “I first opened and served a bottle of this for my wife’s 40th birthday party. I wasn’t sure completely it was her style, but the look on her face told me I nailed it. She gushed about it for days and then took a bottle to one of her girlfriend’s birthday parties,” they’ll remember the wine long after departing.

Why Stories Are Better Than Facts

Guests may visit up to a half dozen wineries during the course of a vacation. How will you make yours memorable to these guests when they say at home later, “Honey, did we have that great Cabernet at ABC or XYZ Winery? I can’t remember anymore what we had at each one”?

Wine glass with book, candles, wall bracket

Stories make “sticky” memories. Our brains are wired to become more activated by stories. The brain is far more capable of storing and retrieving stories than bits of facts. Stories become part of long-term memories, and they’re part of how we learn.

As you sharpen your skills conversing with tasting room guests, observe what information they respond to best and which information they are able to retain. Clues such as comments like, “Honey, did you hear what she just said about how this wine was crafted? That story about the winemaker’s mother reminds me of…” or, “Wow, I had no idea that XYZ was involved with the history of this wine,” tells you guests are listening and retaining your story.

Creating Your Personal Stories About Wine

While stories about the winery’s history and founding can be helpful to guests, they will have less meaning if they are parroted to visitors directly off a script. Even worse, if a guest asks for background, responding, “Oh, you can find the whole story on the next page of your tasting menu,” is a sure fire way to turn your guests off.

If you are supposed to tell the winery’s story when presenting the wines to guests, practice personalizing the story in your own words. Here are a few phrases that may help you “make it your own:”

  • “Let me tell you a bit about our history…”
  • “Although I haven’t worked here that long, one of the fun stories about our winery is…”
  • “When I heard this story, I couldn’t believe it. Neither could my husband when I told him about it. Let me set the stage for you…”

Creating Your Personal Stories About Wine

Whenever possible, the stories you tell guests about the wine should be personal to you. The more personal, the greater the possibility you will close the sale with your customers. Nothing deflates the guest’s happiness balloon more than hearing, “I don’t know anything about the winery, I just pour the wine for guests.” That’ll kill any possibility of selling the guests wine pronto!

What Are Your Stories About the Wine?

  • Did you apply to work at this winery because you admired their wine?
  • Did you receive it as a gift and then learn more about it, leading to your employment at the winery?
  • Is it your spouse’s favorite, making a great addition to a romantic night for two?
  • Did you just pair the wine with a fabulous dinner you cooked on your grill? Take it on a memorable picnic and outdoor summer concert?
  • Did you recently serve the wine for a reunion of friends? Did they gush about it?

These are all examples of stories you could share with guests about how wonderful the wine is and provide examples of how they could make their own memories with this wine.

What if this wine isn’t to your personal liking? That’s okay. We all have personal preferences. Your job is to find out if the guests love this wine. And if they do, find ways to support their appreciation of it. If you don’t personally consume this wine, borrow a story from someone who does:

  • “I was just hearing from Catherine, another one of our wine educators, that she enjoyed this wine with her family during a beach vacation. She said it was fabulous with the waves crashing, salty air and the salmon they grilled on the beach.”
  • “My mom absolutely LOVES this wine. She pairs it with chunks of blue cheese and honey.”
  • “The vineyard manager told me this morning that he popped this open last night over dinner. It was his wife’s birthday, and he knew this was one of her favorites.”

While these stories are “once removed” in personal experience, each one immediately paints a picture of how it can be enjoyed. Further, the basics of each story can be tweaked depending upon what you learn about your guests. If you discover they are serious foodies, stories about great food and wine pairings will inspire them to purchase it to try their own. If the guests are adventurers, perhaps you’ll want to serve a story about where bottles of it have traveled around the world.

Mastering the Winery’s Unique Stories

The guest you are entertaining may only visit the winery once and hears the story about the winery only once. But you must master the art of making it sound like you’re telling the story for the first time, even though you’ve been telling the same story to other guests over and over as the weeks and months pass. Here are a few ways to deliver the same story over and over in fresh ways:

  • Choose different words to focus on and emphasize in each sentence. (See vocabulary helpers below.)
  • Alter your cadence: If you usually begin low-pitched and end in a high-pitch, experiment with reversing the pattern.
  • Change sentences into questions. If you usually state, “This wine is 50% malolactic fermentation for an integrated, creamy flavor,” try asking, “Did you know this wine is 50% malolactic fermentation?”
  • Do you tell a story with 3 central points about the winery? Change the order of those points in your story to help you focus on a fresh approach.

Mastery requires repeat practice. If you deliver your stories over and over every day to guests, you’ll find it challenging to break your habits when freshening up the story. Slow down to focus on making those clean changes. If necessary, break down the components into pieces you can write on notecards as prompts. Practice with the cards in private until you feel comfortable enough to recount the story to visitors without your “script.”

Romancing the Grape – Vivid Vocabulary that Sells

To be remembered, upgrade your wine vocabulary to wholly unique descriptors. Here are wine words you’re likely to hear describe many wines:

  • Citrus-y, green apple, licorice, chocolate, coffee, blackberry

They may be accurate, but they’re not unique from many other wines. But what if you say, “This is so juicy and bright with tropical flavors bursting in every corner of my mouth, it reminds me of a sea breeze in bright sunlight when the waves come crashing on the shore”? Now you’ve painted a far more elaborate description for your guests.

Try evoking a familiar personality to describe its flavors:

  • “This is the Rod Stewart of Sauvignon Blancs.”
  • “This wine reminds me Lady Gaga, all big, blasting notes, followed by a soft, gentle-but-long finish.”
  • “This Pinot Noir is so elegant, it makes me think of Audrey Hepburn in the last scene of Roman Holiday, gliding across the floor to meet the press.”

Visitors come to wine country for a romantic experience. Even for an extended family of all ages, they are attracted to the “romance of wine.” Use vocabulary that paints that picture:

  • Legendary, rare, masterpiece
  • Luscious, ripe, voluptuous, sumptuous
  • Smooth, subtle, sophisticated
  • Juicy, fruity, ambrosial, creamy

For best results, copy out the winery’s own written wine description on one side of a piece of paper (divided in two). Then write your own description on the right half of the page.

  • Start by replacing 3 of the winery’s own descriptors with your own.
  • Try substituting non-wine analogies: “If this wine was a flower, it would be a rose (or a gardenia).” “If this wine was a car, it would be a Mustang because it races through the palate.”
  • Are there sports analogies? Movies? TV shows? Or books that the wine makes you think of? “This sparkling wine makes me think of that James Bond movie with…”

Engaging the Guest’s Senses to Improve Memory Retention

Guests may easily connect with your customized wine descriptors. But others may not follow your frame of reference. If you’re an avid swimmer and the guest is a golfer, you’ll have more success helping her draw a golf analogy with the wine descriptor: “I haven’t golfed in a long time. But this Syrah reminds me of the 16th green at XYZ because it was just so long, like this Syrah’s finish. Have you had an experience like that?”

  • “I’m trying to remember what the bouquet reminds me of. Does the aroma remind you of anything?”
  • “This takes me back to…. Do any particular places or events pop up in your memory?”
  • “How would you describe the flavors in this?”
  • “I’ve got the perfect song to go with this wine. Do you know….?”

By encouraging guests to engage with you about the wine, they become more invested in continuing the experience. It also cements the memory by discussing its qualities, in whatever vocabulary, that they are comfortable with.

TIPS: Write out current wine descriptions. Then rewrite them using new descriptors. Then practice verbalizing key points. Most importantly, create and practice storytelling about each wine you offer until they roll off your tongue with complete ease. Remember you are creating the Romance of the Grape for your guests. Use the vocabulary that fosters that imagery and you’ll close the sale with ease!

This article is part of the email Relationship Sales Success Series. It provides a step-by-step guide to improving wine sales and wine club sign ups. While it focuses upon techniques for those working winery tasting rooms, the principles of great sales skills can apply to any industry. Sign up for the series here.