Winedotte Wines Hosts 'Sampling Saturdays'

As the owner of , David Reno understands the business side of his operation.

But he also understands the customer service side. And if that means he gives away some of his inventory for free, it's all worth it to him as long as people are becoming better educated on the intricacies of wine.

For the last six weeks, he's been hosting where people can stop in, chat with him about the type of wine they enjoy and taste a couple to see if they're to their liking.

“I really feel like when people have the opportunity to taste and when I have the opportunity to taste with them, I can really do my job in discerning their flavor profile,” Reno said. “What they’re tasting in the wine will allow me to make better suggestions for the different things we have; not only the wine that we’re tasting, but other wines that are in the store that we are not sampling.”

From noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays, Reno opens up some bottles of the newest flavors to arrive at his store. That way, he said, regular customers always have something new to sample. And new customers, well, they just like the chance to try something for free.

“I’ve always said the wine business is a laboratory science,” Reno said. “That’s kind of what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to help people develop verbiage for what they’re tasting in the wine so they can explain what their flavor profile is, which will help them in picking out wines when they go to restaurants and will make their purchasing at a retail level more precise.”

Reno said is working personally with his customers, going so far to where some call him to talk about what they're cooking for dinner that night to determine the best wine to pair it with.

“Knowledge is power and in terms of wine, wine knowledge calculates into making better wine purchases,” he said. “They’re trying different things, but understanding what they like in the wine and what they don’t like.”