I want to know what everyone thinks on this one.

When you goto a winery tasting room and plan on visiting many on that day, do you drink the wine you are tasting, only sip it, or spit it out ?

If you spit it out, in what way do you do this to not offend the pourer or fellow tasters ?

We had been discussing this and I would like to see what everyone thinks and what they do when tasting.

Flubis G. Twigg

if I ever encounter a tasting room rep who is offended if I want to spit, I'll deliver an attitude readjustment. After hundreds of tasting room visits, I have yet to encounter this.

-Vitis Vinifera

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Member #19
The Great Northern, out of Cheyenne, from Sea to Shining Sea

Flub- Spit?,
Is this a loaded Question????

If you don't spit you are missing the point. It's a tasting room...not a bar!

www.syzygywines.com
next PNW Soiree to be held at www.baselcellars.com
Taking names and leaving empties- so saddle up boys and girls!It's Wild on Wallyworld- next stop Disneyland.

spit unless you want to get drunk. Though it depends on the number of wines you are tasting.

Spit or plan to visit fewer tasting rooms that day.

Dick

quote:

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Originally posted by Flubis:
I want to know what everyone thinks on this one.

When you goto a winery tasting room and plan on visiting many on that day, do you drink the wine you are tasting, only sip it, or spit it out ?

If you spit it out, in what way do you do this to not offend the pourer or fellow tasters ?

We had been discussing this and I would like to see what everyone thinks and what they do when tasting.

Flubis G. Twigg

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I always spit when in tasting rooms. It has never been an issue. How do I keep from offending the tasting room person? By not missing the spitoon.

Joe

If it's great I swallow, otherwise I spit. Also I always have a designated driver, my wife.

I never spit. Swallow only a tiny amount - a second sip seldom adds anything to my tasting impression. My wife and I alternate wineries - one tasting, the other taking notes. We both taste only when there are uncertainties - or when the wine is outstanding. Sorry guys, but I find spitting to be distasteful at best, gross at worst. BTW, I have never seen someone spit at a tasting room - and I have been to a great many.

.....if you tsste 10 wines in a "day's work" ,
you're OK.
But some of these people are tasting 40+ wines, so if you do not spit, you'll loose your objectivity very quickly.
Your statement "I find spitting to be distasteful at best, gross at worst", says it all.
When we go tasting, we ALL spit , gross isn't it?

Salud!

spit and don't miss the spitoon.

Free Martha!

There's some interesting phenomena that can accompany spitting, especially when tasting exclusively red wines.

Allowing a small amount of ruby-red drool to run out of the corner of your mouth and down your chin--and particularly if you allow some to stain your light-colored shirt in a few places--accompanied by a lop-sided, wild-eyed grin, causes people to make way for you in even the most crowded tastings, even at the most popular stations. It's almost like Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea.

And a few misplaced shots at the spit bucket-- especially those shots that hit the side of the bucket and then spatter lightly upon the crowded assemblage of folks who like to congregate there-- pretty well guarantees that you'll always have easy access to them, and a place to put down your empty glass. A few misses of the bucket entirely, and occasionally even missing the table and hitting the wall beyond it, means that you'll have the entire table to yourself so that you can sit down there and write up your tasting notes in an entirely civilized fashion.

I'm glad to be able to share my experience with all of you, and hope that you will have a more tranquil and pleasant time at your next tasting room visit for having read this.

(I wrote this a couple of years ago. A quick search for "spit" or "spitting" will reveal a number of spitting, spewing, and splatting threads that haven't been visited in a long time. )

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Cheers.

Personally, I have to swallow to get the complete sensory satisfaction. However, when I fully realize it is a poor wine and have not yet swallowed, I will spit it out.

Seaquam.

I just can't bring myself to spit. Don't want to waste the wine/alcohol but for sure it affects taste buds by the time you're at tasting room number 10.

This topic sounds like a discussion for a bunch of women.

I can see it now... Crowds scattering in panic at the slightest hint of a Canadian accent:
"How boot some Chard, eh?"

Moments later, one of the pourers returns to tasting room. Now empty, but for a lone man at the counter.
"Hey Mac, where'd everybody go?"
"I dunno... How boot some Chard, eh?"

You got it, yhn!

Though the cry of "How boot smore a that shraazz, eh" is the one that really strikes fear into people's hearts, especially if they're dressed nicely.

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Cheers.

Actually, everybody knows you're *supposed* to spit. If you look like you know what you're doing, they're likely to be impressed.

Of course here in our local Santa Cruz Mountains, it's often the winemaker who's slobbering out "Hey buhdy, lehme shplor ya sh'more dat caberet..."

If I'm buying I always spit. I've been guilty of getting tanked and thinking something was really nice and ordering 1 or 2 dozen, only to find when I tasted in a more objective (i.e. sober) situation that the wine would be better used as anti-freeze.

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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer

quote:

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Originally posted by Pauly:
I've been guilty of getting tanked and thinking something was really nice and ordering 1 or 2 dozen, only to find when I tasted in a more objective (i.e. sober) situation that the wine would be better used as anti-freeze.

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So you've caught onto that marketing technique. Why do you think some wineries stay open until 6pm?

If I'm visiting more than three wineries I take along plastic disposable drinking cups. I spit into those then dump in their bucket.

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It's not over-supply. It's under-consumption. Do your part!

disposable spit buckets! i think i just found a way to retire early

Free Martha!

I always spit now as I have also bought cases of "wonderful" wine that didn't taste so wonderful when I was sober.

Other winery visitors are usually the only people that get grossed out by the spitting. Just smile at them after spitting and say "Yuck!!! Man this wine tastes like s*@t!!!!"

quote:

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Originally posted by grunhauser:
disposable spit buckets! i think i just found a way to retire early

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Actually, if somebody could come up with something that'd be good. The idea of dealing with someone else's spit and the potential health issues probably ain't worth the $10/hr TR people get paid.

Wow, I love some of the replies here!
I, personally, cannot bring myself to spit in any situation. (Except maybe a spit-take?)
If a wine is not up to par, however, I will pour the remainder into the bucket and go to the next one.

"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women!" --Homer Simpson

I feel a need to swallow the wine to fully taste it. I like the suggestion of Bob H about bringing your own disposable cup, or perhaps the wineries should have them, because it seems much more sanitary. I have been spit on on several occassions. For those of you who do spit, pick the bucket up or practice at home.

" disposable spit receptacles" - trade marked as of this afternoon!

Free Martha!