Some Greater Des Moines wine enthusiasts are finding the best tasting rooms of all are located right in their own homes, by hosting organized wine-tasting parties.

“You truly get personal attention,” said Janine Schochenmaier. Since June, she and her friends in Norwalk have gotten together about once a month for tastings in each other’s homes through a wine-tasting program known as The Traveling Vineyard.

In-home wine tastings, guided by wine consultants who provide a half-dozen or so bottles for a small group to sample, are catching on as a relaxing way for people to learn more about wines while having fun with their friends. In some cases, there’s not even an upfront cost to the host, just the requirement to gather a group of six to 20 people who enjoy wine and who are likely to order a bottle – or a case – at the end of the evening.

“We tell people: ‘You need to invite wine-drinking, wine-buying friends,’” said Bonita Crowe, who signed on as the first Traveling Vineyard wine consultant in Greater Des Moines a year and a half ago. The Massachusetts-based company, which is a marketing channel for Geerlings & Wade, a direct-to-market wine distributor, has an estimated 1,600 consultants who work on commission to arrange private tastings.

“It’s been so popular that my team has grown to 16 people,” said Crowe. Demand has grown quickly by word-of-mouth, she said.

“Normally, when you go into someone’s home, about half those people will want a tasting. So we literally cannot keep up with the demand,” she said.

Traveling Vineyard representatives are not wine experts; they provide information about the wines from written materials provided by the company. Neither are they licensed to sell wine. Guests fill out an “interest to order” form at the end of the evening, which is then sent to the Traveling Vineyard for mail-order delivery.

Guests at a wine tasting will typically order anywhere from $500 to $1,000 worth of the products, which range from about $10 to $18 per bottle, Crowe said.

“Our wines are award-winning wines from all over the world,” she said. “(The company’s buyers) taste 100 wines for every wine they buy and they buy the entire vintage, so you cannot get these wines at The Wine Experience, for instance.”

There are other approaches to hosting a wine tasting. Sandra Taylor, who launched World of Wine LLC a year ago in Ankeny, specializes in organizing both in-home wine tastings as well as a variety of corporate events.

“The home parties really are a significant part of my business,” said Taylor, who is a licensed retailer and holds the Certified Specialist of Wine designation from the Society of Wine Educators. “And I find the home parties often lead to some kind of business (event) commitment.”

For those who have never hosted a tasting, “often times they don’t know exactly what they would like,” Taylor said. “Budget always plays into the picture. Once we establish what the average bottle price will be, then the cost can be determined from that.”

Taylor charges only for the cost of the bottles that are sampled, which generally are $25 or less per bottle. So depending upon the value of the wines poured, most events range from about $100 to $175 in cost.

“I just charge for the wine,” she said. “I hope that people will choose to purchase either wine or accessories from me.”

Though some people request all one type of wine, most opt for a variety, she said. “My standard variety is one sparkling, three whites and three reds.”

As a licensed retailer, she can buy from any of the distributors, which provides choices from thousands of wines. “What I shoot for are wines that are not going to be on every grocery shelf, that are a little unusual,” Taylor said. For example, she recently presented a pinot noir from a small winery in Oregon.

Taylor keeps a record of what each group likes during a tasting, and uses that information as a starting point to work with repeat customers, she said.

Some wine retailers also arrange in-home tastings as a service to their clientele.

“I’m starting to do more of them,” said Howard Bernstein, who opened Casa di Vino in Johnston a year ago. “I used to do a ton of them in Michigan,” he said.

Bernstein, who has 12 years of experience in the wine business, said he tries to choose the four to six wines for a tasting based on the level of the group.

“If it’s more beginners, you do more fruity wines,” he said. “Basically it just depends on the feedback you get from the group.” In some more sophisticated tastings he’s arranged, guests will taste through a vertical, which is multiple vintages of one particular wine or producer.

For those first-timers looking into hosting a tasting, “I would say the most important thing is to have a budget, and to plan ahead,” he said. “Make sure you give yourself a couple of months’ lead-in time – because whoever’s going to be doing it for you will need time to get the wines together.”

Also, Bernstein advises that if you’re paying upfront for the wine, make sure everyone in the group is committed to attending. “If some couples back out at the last minute, someone’s going to get stuck for a lot of wine,” he said. “And I’d also talk to who’s going to do it; you don’t want somebody to come out who’s kind of clueless.”

CONTACT INFO

To find a local wine consultant through The Traveling Vineyard, contact Bonita Crowe at 277-1657, or e-mail her at afinetime4wine@aol.com. For more information about World of Wine, call Sandra Taylor at 964-5775 or visit www.worldofwine-ia.com. To arrange a Casa di Vino tasting, visit the store at 8805 Chambery Blvd., Suite 250, in Johnston or call 253-9463.