Jun 23rdHome Tasting Rooms

This one is one of the most unusual experiences we’ve had when going wine tasting.

Sometimes a winery doesn’t really have a tasting room but are open for tastings. I’m not talking about the ones who have a room with a separate entrance, like a converted garage, or even one that has a tasting room in their basement with its own door. What I mean is walking into their living room with a bar in the corner. The family bathroom is the used for visitors. It doesn’t even seem like it would be legal.

We’ve done wine tastings in each of these venues. The oddest experience was in Pennsylvania, don’t even know where we were, just on our way home from a trip. We had just finished a late lunch and thought a tasting would be a fun way to end our trip and start home. We found where the winery was supposed to be, drove up the drive and found two couples drinking outside of a house. We were sure the map was wrong and started to turn around and leave. One of the men comes to the car and asked if we wanted to taste some wine. Being adventurous we said sure and got out. What followed was one of the oddest tastings ever. Wine brought out in ice water glasses (often)  without explanation of the grapes at all; a trip to the restroom gave us a view of “the tasting bar”, it seemed more like drinking at a friends home (but we were strangers).

Interesting experience, but I wouldn’t recommend it.