Junket
The only certainty is that the expenses of a bodega tasting increase the selling price of the product to the end-customer without any notable improvement in the quality of the wine
For many wine lovers there are few more informative occasions than when a bodega offers a tasting of various vintages of the same wine. Known ... as a 'vertical tasting', bad years are not featured since most wineries simply do not put a vintage on the market that is not up to their highest standards. But these cosy little sessions have their negative side.
Why bother? Take for example a tasting of wines from Ribera del Duero hosted by the owner of the winery, his winemaker, and two media company representatives. These kind and sincere people had travelled halfway across Spain, spent two nights in a hotel, and, one assumes, eaten and drunk splendidly. The bodega in question had paid all fees and expenses. Put simply, an expensive knees-up for all concerned, costing somewhere in the region of 12,000 euros.
The indirect results would have been positive mentions in the local, national, or even international media, photo ops that could be used not just on this occasion, but on future ones. Question: how many bottles of wine did it achieve in selling, compared with what would have been sold if the event had never taken place? Obviously, nobody knows the answer to this question, and in fact there is no way of gauging such statistics.
If a bodega holds a tasting in, say, Malaga, does it have the wherewithal to ascertain if sales increased subsequently in that particular location? The only certainty is that the expenses increase the selling price of the product to the end-customer without any notable improvement in the quality of the product.
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