There’s a quiet shift happening in tasting rooms right now, and it’s costing wineries more than they realize.
A guest walks in. The experience is warm, engaging, and thoughtful. The wines are poured with care. There’s connection, conversation, even enthusiasm. And then… nothing.
No mention of the wine club. No invitation to continue the relationship. No next step.
Recent WISE Mystery Shopping data tells a clear story: the industry isn’t getting “less pushy,” it’s getting quieter. In Q1 (January – March), our mystery shopping revealed that staff effectively presenting wine club dropped from a 2025 average of 35% down to just 13%.
That’s not a subtle dip. That’s a behavioral shift. When did hospitality get so quiet?
What We’re Hearing from Teams
When we talk to tasting room teams, the intention is clear – and it’s a good one.
“I don’t want to sound pushy.”
“Guests will join if they want to.”
“It feels salesy to bring it up.”
This isn’t about lack of care. It’s a misunderstanding of what great hospitality actually includes.
While the intention is to respect the guest, the impact is often a missed opportunity for both the guest and the winery.
The Hidden Influence: Selling with Our Own Wallets
We’re operating in a moment filled with economic uncertainty, political noise, and “doom and gloom” headlines about the wine industry. Whether we realize it or not, that environment shapes how teams show up on the floor.
We start to make assumptions:
“People probably aren’t spending right now.”
“They won’t be interested.”
And without meaning to, we begin selling with our own wallets instead of serving the guest in front of us. This is where the Platinum Rule matters most.
The Golden Rule says: treat others the way you would want to be treated.
The Platinum Rule asks more: understand what they want and respond to that.
Not every guest is hesitant. Not every guest is constrained. Many see a wine club as convenience, access, even joy. When we decide for them – without offering, explaining, or inviting – we’re not being thoughtful. We’re being assumptive.
The Data Doesn’t Lie (But It Does Tell a Story)
At WISE, we look at the Triple Score:
Asking for the order
Presenting the wine club
Capturing contact data
And increasingly, we’re seeing wine club presentation become the lowest – and now declining – behavior.
Winery DTC metrics will tell us what is happening. Mystery shopping tells us why.
If your tasting room club conversion rate is below ~6% for a seated experience, chances are very high the wine club isn’t being meaningfully introduced, if at all. Often, it’s mentioned once, briefly, or at the very end, when the guest is already mentally checking out.
When a behavior disappears, it’s rarely accidental. It’s cultural.
The Missed Invitation
One recent mystery shop in Sonoma captured this perfectly. When asked what the staff member shared about the wine club, the shopper responded:
“NOTHING. I mentioned other clubs by name/frequency/favorite wines I reorder. I mentioned allocation lists. We still don’t know if they even have a club.”
Let that sink in. The guest opened the door, and the team still didn’t walk through it.
Now contrast that with a shop in the Willamette Valley, where the approach felt natural, thoughtful, and genuinely helpful:
“Since you two don’t live nearby, joining the club is a perfect excuse to come back and see us. We have 4 club events per year & give great discounts and early access on the wine…”
The shopper’s reaction?
“Fantastic. I would never think to use DISTANCE as a selling point, but it sounded awesome and was super convincing!”
Same concept. Two completely different experiences. One is silent. One is hospitality.
The Big Reframe: Sales = Hospitality
Here’s where we need to shift the lens.
If we’re being pushy – scripted, self-serving, tone-deaf – then yes, it is pushy. But if we’re being helpful – connecting the dots between what the guest enjoyed and what would enhance their experience – then we’re doing our job.
Sales, at its best, is simply an extension of great hospitality. It’s not about “closing.” It’s about continuing.
And often, what feels like “mentioning the club” is really just hinting without ever making the invitation clear.
Teams often believe they’re talking about the club more than they actually are. Dropping hints like:
“This was in our last club shipment…”
“This is a club favorite…”
“This one sells out quickly; club members get it first…”
These build awareness. They plant seeds. But they’re not the invitation.
If We Don’t Mention It, We’re Not Being Polite – We’re Being Incomplete
Guests don’t always know what to ask for. That’s why they’re there. When we skip the wine club conversation entirely:
Guests miss out on something they may genuinely value
Wineries miss the opportunity to extend the relationship
The experience stays transactional instead of relational
Not mentioning the club isn’t restraint, it’s a missed hospitality moment.
From Pushy to Purposeful: What Good Looks Like
So what does this look like in practice? It’s not about scripts. It’s about intention.
Anchor it in the guest: “You mentioned loving the Pinot…”
Position it as a benefit: Access, convenience, insider experience, not obligation.
Make it conversational: An invitation, not a presentation.
Normalize it: “A lot of our guests choose this because…”
And most importantly: Use what you’ve learned. This is where the Platinum Rule comes to life: serving them, not your default approach.
A Simple Analogy
Think about walking into a retail store and trying on clothes. A great associate doesn’t drop you in the fitting room and disappear. They:
Bring different sizes
Suggest pieces to complete the look
Check in
Offer to take items to the register
Now imagine the opposite. You’re left alone. No follow-up. No guidance. That’s not less pushy. That’s less helpful.
A Leadership Note: This Is a Culture Conversation
This isn’t just a training issue– it’s a leadership one. If teams feel:
Unclear → they avoid
Uncomfortable → they skip
Unsure → they retreat
They need:
Clear language
Modeled behavior
Reinforcement that this is part of great hospitality
Teams don’t avoid what they’re trained on. They avoid what they’re not confident owning. People respect what we inspect. Clear goals, consistent reinforcement, and the right tools; it’s on us as leaders to set the standard.
The Invitation Matters
Guests come to wineries for connection, discovery, and experience. The wine club is simply the continuation of that experience. It’s not a sales moment. It’s an invitation. And right now, too many guests are leaving without ever being invited.