Why Most Wine Training Fails to Increase Sales
The difference between teaching wine knowledge and creating confident staff who sell more wine.
Many venues invest considerable time and money in wine training.
A supplier visits. The team tastes a selection of wines. They learn about grape varieties, regions, vintages and tasting notes. Everyone leaves knowing more about wine than they did an hour earlier.
Then nothing changes.
Wine sales remain flat.
The problem isn't wine training. It's the purpose behind it.
If your goal is to improve profitability, training should change behaviour, not simply increase knowledge.
Knowledge doesn't sell wine
Understanding wine is important, but it isn't what drives sales.
Guests rarely ask for detailed explanations of soil types or winemaking techniques.
Instead, they ask questions like:
"What would you recommend with the lamb?"
"What's your favourite by the glass?"
"We're looking for something around $90."
The staff member who answers those questions with confidence is far more likely to make the sale than the person who knows the most about Burgundy.
Confidence is what guests respond to.
Hospitality first. Selling second.
In Setting the Table, Danny Meyer explains that great hospitality begins with understanding the guest.
That principle applies perfectly to wine.
The best recommendations don't begin with the wine list. They begin with the person sitting at the table.
What do they normally enjoy?
Are they celebrating something?
Are they looking to explore something new or stay with a familiar style?
Once you understand the guest, recommending the right wine becomes part of great service rather than an attempt to increase the bill.
Guests appreciate recommendations that feel genuine.
Selling should feel like helping
Jim Sullivan and Phil Roberts explore this idea further in Service That Sells!
Their philosophy is simple: the most successful restaurant staff don't pressure guests into buying more expensive products. They ask thoughtful questions, listen carefully and make recommendations that improve the guest experience.
That's exactly how successful wine sales should work.
The recommendation should never feel like an upsell.
It should feel like good advice.
Train for conversations
Most wine training focuses on information.
The most effective training focuses on conversations.
Instead of asking staff to memorise tasting notes, teach them how to answer the questions guests ask every night.
For each featured wine, your team should know:
who is most likely to enjoy it;
how to describe it in simple, everyday language;
which dishes it complements;
why it represents good value; and
when it should be recommended.
That's far more valuable than memorising technical details that rarely come up during service.
Let your reports decide the training
One of the biggest mistakes venues make is deciding what to train based on opinion.
Your POS system already tells you where the opportunities are.
Is your premium Chardonnay underperforming?
Do guests regularly buy one glass of Shiraz but never trade up to a bottle?
Has one Pinot Noir quietly become your best-performing premium wine?
Those are the conversations your next training session should address.
The most successful venues don't train everything equally.
They train the areas that will produce the greatest commercial improvement.
If your POS system can produce product mix reports, by-the-glass sales reports and sales by server, you're already holding the information you need. Share those reports with supervisors, managers or your wine consultant before each training session. They often reveal opportunities that aren't obvious during service.
It's rarely what you think. It's often what you know.
Work with your suppliers
Your suppliers have a vested interest in helping their wines succeed.
Many are happy to provide tastings, educational material and staff training.
The most successful venues don't simply hand training over to suppliers. They set clear objectives first.
Perhaps you want to increase premium wine sales.
Perhaps you've introduced a new producer.
Perhaps you want to reduce stock of a slow-moving line.
When everyone understands the objective, supplier training becomes far more effective.
Recognise success
Recognition doesn't always have to be financial.
Reward the staff member who consistently recommends wine with confidence.
Celebrate the waiter who successfully introduces guests to a new wine.
A thoughtful reward can reinforce the behaviour you want repeated.
Books make excellent prizes because they recognise achievement while encouraging further learning.
Wine Folly: Magnum Edition is ideal for building confidence and understanding, while The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson is one of the finest reference books any wine professional can own.
The objective isn't better wine knowledge
The objective is better commercial performance.
Knowledge is valuable.
Confidence is essential.
Consistent training, supported by sales reports and focused on guest conversations, will almost always outperform occasional product tastings filled with technical information.
Your guests enjoy better recommendations.
Your staff become more confident.
Your suppliers become more engaged.
Your wine sales improve.
That's the purpose of wine training.
Not to create experts.
To create better results.
Recommended Reading
If you're responsible for training restaurant staff, these four books deserve a place on your shelf.
