I'm interested in starting a wine tasting business; here is my thought - I'd work with wineries to pour their wine at people's homes as a tasting party. People can then purchase wine and/or join the wine club. I could even pick up and deliver their wine club shipments to their homes for a nominal fee. Would this be legal to do? Would I need to have any kind of a license? Thanks!
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
In fact, there already are several entities which offer in-home wine tastings along different themes. You may find that, after you look into the options, joining one of these existing tasting operations might make more sense. At the very least, gaining experience could be very helpful so you can understand how this approach works, prior to deciding if it would be worthwhile to set up your own business. I suggest you investigate Boisset Wine Living (boissetwineliving.com) and see if you might want to become one of their so-called "ambassadors." The advantage is that there is an infrastructure already in place, and a means to have wine delivered from their California wineries (to certain but not all states). Another version is Wine Shop at Home (wineshopathome.com) which calls their representatives "home wine consultants." The websites for both companies are very easy to use and clearly explain their models. Another advantage is that I am sure they have already worked through the legal nuances, which can always be tricky in the beverage alcohol industry. I hope this will at least give you a starting place so that you can learn more about the in-home concept.
