Alan A. wrote:I have a question concerning tipping your server at winery tasting rooms. What's the appropriate etiquette? In the past, if there was a tip glass I would throw in a dollar or two, but if there wasn't a glass, I didn't know if I should tip or not. If so what is an appropriate tip? How does everyone handle this?
Alan, I have never seen a tip jar in a winery tasting room, and it honestly has never occurred to me to tip the server. I'm not anti-tipping. In fact, I tend to overtip substantially in restaurant settings because I know enough about the business to understand (if not to approve of) its economics.
But in many years of wine travel to most of the world's wine regions, I don't believe I've ever noticed a tip jar, and my instinct would be to say it's not necessary or even appropriate. Mind telling us where you've seen this? I'm occasionally oblivious ... and as a wine writer, I'm usually visiting wineries on an interview basis rather than as a tasting-room drop-in, so I may have missed something.