Purpose
Through prompting users to tell us stories about the wine tastings they have attended, we hope to get a better idea of what motivates people to attend wine tastings, and what problems there are in finding wine tastings.
Events
To facilitate our story telling, we thought it best to attend wine tastings in person, as our experience with wine tasting events were very limited to start with. The three events we attended were mostly casual in atmosphere, though we learned that there are formal, more class-like wine tastings as well.
- Vin Fatale - Thursday, 02/16/2006, hosted by Palate Partners
- Palate Partners tasting - Friday, 02/16/2006, hosted by Palate Partners
- Andy Warhol tasting - Friday, 02/24/2006, hosted by Big Burrito
The overall mood at the wine tastings were warm, welcoming, and friendly. Several people made long-term friendships from wine tastings; one found a new customer for his business. We saw one regular helping the host create logos and T-shirts; we saw another helping the host fix the cash register. We were welcomed into the community by asking almost any question—"how did you get interested in wine tasting?" "How can you tell the difference between wines?" Several asked us why we were there. We told the truth; they were interested, and free with their knowledge and time.
Questions
Before attending these events, we came up with a set of questions so that we would know ahead of time what we would be asking each of our users. Because we talked to these users while at a wine tasting, our directed storytelling was less structured; our primary objective was to get the user talking (through normal conversation along with an occasional directed question or two) such that the user will naturally cover the point we needed.
Supporting documents: List of Questions
Users
In all we conducted directed storytelling with 21 different people, who varied from approximately mid-20s to late-60s. Of these users, 12 were women and 9 were men. Their wine tasting experience ranged from the complete novice to the professional expert to the experienced hoster. Because we interviewed these people while at an actual wine tasting, many times names were not exchanged. Instead acquaintances were made through mutual interests (e.g. talking about the wine itself).
Jennifer, late 30s to early 40s
- Began coming to Palate Partners tastings in 2002
- Comes with her husband Bruce
- When preparing to leave, she was helping Deb with logo wear for Vin Fatales and was deep in discussion with logos, T-shirts, etc, talking about some sort of promotional materials she was going to prepare for Deb (the hoster for the wine tasting)
- Has joined efforts with Deb to start a womens-only wine tasting club
- Seemed that engaging Jennifer's services was actually an extension of Deb's warmth.
Kathy, early to mid 30s
- Began coming to Palate Partners 2 years ago
- Met Jennifer through the tastings
- Got to know each other so well that they now can make recommendations for each other (or at least they think they can...they get it wrong on occasion)
- Have a visible passion about wine - speaking about it just lights them up
- Wishes Vin Fatales served 3 red & 3 white like it is done at the Friday night tastings
- Typically buys wine from Mike that she likes at the tastings
- Has joined efforts with Deb and Kathy to start a womens-only wine tasting club
Pedro, late 40s to early 50s
- A regular to this particular wine tasting (hosted 2x/month)
- Always attends with his boyfriend, who usually ends up buying at least one case of wine every month
- Talked to us 3 times throughout the evening: jovially asked us what we were doing there, and we told him; garrulously shared with us how much he loved the place. Came up to us twice more during the evening, on his own, to ask how we were doing and shared more stories.
- Was there when the whole thing started, helping them fix their new cash register (in the back of the store).
- Friend of his makes the chocolate that Deb sells in the store.
Young Couple, mid to upper 20s
- Young, fairly well-dressed, as if for a night on the town
- Fairly new to the wine tasting scene, had only been to a couple before this
- Were in town for the interim and happened to find this event & thought it might be fun to attend
Mature husband and wife, mid 50s to early 60s
- A part of the American Wine Society that meets the 1st Friday of every month for their own wine tastings
- They try to get here for the 3rd Friday
- They have been going to wine tastings for 5 years now and love it
- Wife says that the learning process is what motivated to keep coming back to wine tastings
- She loves trying new wines and learning interesting facts about them
George, the architect
- One of two late-60s men sitting on the stoop inside the store, know to the wine tasting hoster as "the stoopers" because they're regulars who always sit there.
- One of them: "There are two types of people who come to wine tastings… people who [come here to learn], and people who drink. I'm a drinker." Big guy, putting his oversized nose into a smallish wine glass, swirling the red wine around without wetting his thick moustache.
- I asked: "How can you tell the difference [among wines]?"
- He replied: "Each wine has its 'indicators'"… still mulling over his wine
- Though a self-proclaimed "drinker", he clearly enjoyed paying attention to the finer details of the wine
- His wife--who periodically came trundling through the store with yet another three glasses of wine in one hand--is president of the "American Wine Society, East Pennsylvania branch."
- Ended up buying half a case of wine with other people at the wine tasting.
Woman Studying to be a Wine Taster, late 30s
- Taking notes about each of the wine and trying to determine which one she likes best
- Seemed happy with what she was learning about
- 6'1" African-American, mid-40s, smiling gently
- Preparing herself to be a "wine connoisseur"
- She was really interested in one of the wine classes that the wine tasting hoster was offering
- Loved the tasting experience, both the people and the wine
Marking Director of a Non-profit mental health organization, Mid 50s
- Another one of the regulars that the wine tasting hoster knew by sight.
- Loved to try the different wines and was very social, wanting to meet new people often
- One of two people who approached us (vs. us approaching them)
Financial Advisor, mid 50s
- Gray stubble-beard, 5'6", quiet demeanor, smiling intelligently
- The other person who approached us on his own, asking us "May I ask what you've learned?"
- Asked why he liked this particular wine tasting, he replied with: "Very warm environment--you feel like you know everybody." I looked around, and it was very clearly true: a long line of people waiting for more wine, winding sinuously from the wine table to the back of the store around the many shelves of gifts, wine bottles and glasses, cards and toys; everyone was talking comfortably, standing fairly close together. I fed back to him: "It's more comfortable here than at… a party thrown by a friend you don't know that well." "Yes, exactly," he enthused. "Have you made any long-term friends here?" No, but then he laughed, almost in surprise: "one of them just became my client."
- He was exactly as warm and welcoming as he represented people here to be.
Amy and Terry
- Have been tasting and really getting into wine for 5 years now, though they say they can "learn for a lifetime"
- She had her 'aha' moment at an event where she tasted 3 red wines, from cheap to expensive. She noticed how the taste changed as the price increased, and then realized there is really more than she realized to it all.
- They are part of a California wine club
- Monthly received wine shipments
- Eventually had too much wine for the two of them
- Hosted a wine tasting with friends to use all the wines
- Bought small sample glasses for everyone
- Their game: Bacchus
- Kit that has a bunch of smells that you are supposed to try with certain wines to help you guess what the wine is, what year it is, etc. You smell the wine first, then sniff one of the flavors, then smell the wine again and taste it.
- They aren't that good at it, but have fun with it
- They believe that some people can really learn from this and over time say every detail about a wine just by smelling/tasting it
- They just recently moved here, so this was their first time to the Andy Warhol tasting
White boot lady, the ex-caterer
- Caterer in the past: her company paid for her to go to related events (food and wine)
- Found out about the Andy Warhol tasting through the city paper
--> asked her friend to join her
- Started going to wine tastings with one of her boyfriends
- Went to Seven Springs and now goes every year
- Seven Springs is a large scale tasting where tons of distributors bring their wines and everyone can get small samples of any of them
- She has been to a variety of wine tastings
- Another example is the Heinz field tasting, $200 event that she got into for free (one of her guy friends involved with the event got her a ticket)
- Her opinion prior to starting the Andy Warhol tasting was that it was "more intimate"
Two Pitt graduate students, Mary & Libby
- Mary - LOVES wine/tastings and has been trying to get someone to go to a wine tasting with her for quite a while
- She's relatively new to wine tasting, but was eager to drop in on it, and she generally loves wine
- Libby - dragged along by Mary
- Her first time having wine
- Actually found that she likes it
- Both thought it was kind of difficult to find wine tastings in Pittsburgh - asked us if we knew about any
Susan and Kathy
- Susan is the woman who hosted the Vin Fatales tasting at her house
- Kathy is one of Susan's friends
- Her husband is very experience/knowledgeable about wine (see his answers to our email questions for more info)
Carl, Mike, and Patrick
- Older men, very knowledgeable
- Mike - very talkative, offering us wine advice for types of white wine we would like
- Mike and Carl now own a Bed and Breakfast together, which they opened about 2 years ago
- Used to do wine tastings together, but haven't really had the chance to do any since they've been so busy with the B&B
- Patrick - computer guy who graduated from Carnegie Mellon back in the day
- Likes to go to the local college hang outs and strike up conversation with the students there about the latest programming trends
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IID.2006 - Project 3 
