by Dave Williams

I have seen a number of new faces at some of our recent tastings, some even joining PWS. In particular at the Galen Glen event many of those new to PWS thanked the team for such a wonderful and educational event. How often do you get to go behind the scenes of a winery with key personnel who actually make the wine? The stories and their passions come through to connect you to the wines we later enjoyed. This relationship of soil, people and place is what constitutes “authenticity” in wine. It is definitely not a soulless, mass-produced production line product.

From my perspective most new attendees at PWS events are pleased, if not delighted, with their experience and plan to attend future events. If that is so, then why are people curious about wine not beating a path to our door, so to speak? I suspect it is because we do not have a large public profile. Most first time guests attend our events at the invitation of a current member. This one-on-one approach has been our most effective recruiting process. Given that, I am going to ask each one of you to invite a friend or friends who have some degree of curiosity about wine to join you at an upcoming PWS event. We host a range of events from more introductory to graduate level tastings. We even host several social events like our August and September’s at The Inn at Herr Ridge. Our aim is to control prices as much as possible. However, facilities, quality foods and wines dictate costs. Pick one that appeals to your friend(s) and introduce them to fun way to learn about wine.