Wine, With the Story Behind It
Hosted wine tastings for private homes, executive retreats, and client appreciation, across Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and beyond.
Hosted by Patrick R. Dunn. WSET Level 3 certified, author, and former National Park Service interpretive ranger.
“What you captured so beautifully was something much larger: the care, intentionality, and genuine hospitality that our team strives to deliver every day.”Michele Smith, Director of Marketing, Edgewood Tahoe Resort
How I host a tasting
No tasting cards, no quiz
A tasting card tells a guest what they are supposed to find and turns the next forty minutes into a test they might fail.
I do not use them. I select the wines and bring the story of each one: who farmed it, who decided when to pick, what the year did to the fruit and what somebody did about it in the cellar. A room usually holds someone on their first flight sitting next to someone who has been drinking seriously for thirty years, and the stories work for both of them.
Every tasting includes a charcuterie or chocolate pairing. I bring the glassware and spit buckets.
Tastings
For your team or your clients
Corporate and Executive
Board retreats, client appreciation, team offsites · Up to 25 guests · Ninety minutes
Built for a room where some of the people are there because it was on the agenda. Each wine carries something worth hearing, so nobody has to perform enthusiasm about a tasting note they cannot find. No AV under thirty guests.
From $2,500
Larger groups up to 60 from $3,500. Second same-day session by arrangement.
At home
Private In-Residence
Dinner parties, milestone birthdays, anniversaries · Up to 12 guests · Ninety minutes
An evening in your home built around a flight I select for your group. Guests leave knowing why they like what they like, without it having felt like a class.
From $1,500
Wine billed separately by the shop or winery, usually $150 to $300 for the flight.
From anywhere
Virtual and Online
Distributed teams, family spread across the country · Group size flexible
Everyone joins by video. The wines ship to each home from a licensed shop or winery near the guest, and I lead the tasting live.
From $750
Wine shipped and billed directly by the retail partner.
How the wine works
I host and teach. I do not sell wine, I am not a licensed alcohol retailer, and I am not affiliated with any winery. Nothing is poured because someone needs to move it.
I select the flight
Built around your guests, the occasion, or what you want to learn about your own cellar.
You buy it directly
The wines are ordered from a licensed local wine shop or the winery at retail, with no markup. You pay them directly.
I handle the rest
Delivery timing, getting the wines to the right temperature, glassware, the pairing, and the tasting itself.
Partner program
For real estate brokers, private aviation, and wealth advisors
A closing or client gift · Hosted tasting for six
Give a buyer or client a hosted tasting for six in their new home. It arrives as a co-branded gift box with a wax-sealed invitation in your name, and they book the date once they are settled.
I handle the wine selection, the scheduling, and the evening. You hand over the box.
Partner rates
Available to brokerages and firms. Ask for the program sheet.
- A gift that gets usedYour client books the date when it suits them, in their own home, with their own guests.
- Your name on itThe box and the invitation carry your brokerage, firm, or name.
- Nothing to licenseThe wine is bought from a licensed retailer, so neither of us is selling alcohol.
- Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and TruckeeOther areas by arrangement, with travel billed at cost.
Hosted wine dinners
Your home, a restaurant, or a private dining room
A dinner built course by course around the wines. I work with your chef, caterer, or the restaurant on the menu, select a wine for each course, and host the table, telling the story behind each bottle as it is poured. Where the calendar allows, a winemaker can join.
You buy the wine from a licensed shop, the winery, or through the restaurant, and the food is billed by whoever cooks it. My fee covers the planning and the evening.
Custom pricing
Quoted after the first call.
Who the tastings are for
Executive teams and boards
A retreat or an offsite afternoon where the room is a mix of people who care about wine and people who are there because it was scheduled.
Firms hosting clients
Law, finance, real estate, and wealth management, where the evening has to be good enough to be worth the invitation and not so formal that nobody talks.
Private hosts and milestones
A birthday, an anniversary, a group of friends who have been meaning to do this for two years.
Groups that have already tried the standard version
Somebody hired a sommelier, everyone got a scoring sheet, and it felt like a class.
Tasting formats
One place, four makers
Four wines from a single AVA, each from a different producer. What the ground does, and four answers to it.
One maker, four places
A single winemaker's work across four sites. The clearest way to show a person's hand.
Vertical
One wine, four vintages. Weather as a character.
Built to a theme
Send the occasion and I will build the flight to it.
The travel half
Wine country itineraries
Most wine country itineraries are a list of the five wineries that answer the phone. By the fourth stop your palate has stopped reporting accurately and you cannot remember which wine was which.
I build the day with fewer stops, so you have time to learn each winery and its story. Couples, families, and small groups. No buses.
Curated Itinerary
Single or multi-region · Three to four stops a day
Route, appointments, pacing, and notes on what you are about to taste and why it is on the list. I book the winery appointments. You travel on your own and the plan does the work.
$350 for a one-day itinerary
Multi-day and multi-region trips are quoted after the first call. You pay the wineries directly and book your own lodging, and I will tell you where I would stay. Hosted trips, with me on the ground, are available on request.
How an itinerary gets built
A thirty-minute call
Who is going, when, what they drink now, and what a good day looks like to them.
A draft route
The stops, the order, the drive times, and a line on why each one is there. You push back on anything that does not fit.
Appointments booked
I make the winery appointments. Where a relationship gets you a different visit than the public tasting, that is the visit you get.
The final plan
Times, addresses, who you will meet, and notes on each producer and what is likely to be poured. Readable on a phone in a parking lot.
A Friday in the Russian River Valley
10:00
A small producer that only opens by appointment. Before anything is poured, a walk out into the block the wine comes from, with whoever farms it. Ten minutes standing in the dirt changes how the wine tastes an hour later.
12:30
Lunch somewhere that is not on the tasting route, with a bottle bought rather than sampled. This is the stop most itineraries treat as a gap to fill.
2:00
A larger, well-known house, in the back rather than the public room. Worth including on purpose, because the contrast with the ten o'clock stop is the education.
4:00
A seated tasting with a producer who has no public tasting room. Four wines, an hour, and time for the questions that occurred to you at ten in the morning.
5:30
Done. Three tastings, one lunch, nothing after.
Regions
- Napa Valley
- Sonoma County
- Russian River Valley
- Paso Robles
- Amador County
- Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and Northern Nevada
Other regions by arrangement. I design the itinerary and book the winery appointments. I am not a tour guide or a travel agent, and driving is yours to arrange. Hire a driver if anyone in the group plans to taste.
Lead time. Private tastings usually need three weeks. Corporate dates book four to twelve weeks out. Itineraries need three to four weeks, and September in Napa books earliest of all.
I take a limited number of tastings and trips each year so each one gets built rather than reused.
Questions
Do you sell the wine?
No. I select it and coordinate the order, and you buy it at retail from a licensed wine shop or the winery, with no markup. For corporate events the wine can go on the venue's beverage program instead. The money for the wine never passes through me.
What does a flight usually cost?
For a private tasting, usually $150 to $300 for the wines, depending on what we pour. I will give you the number before anything is ordered.
How does the partner gift box work?
Your brokerage or firm buys the gift. Your client receives a co-branded box with a sealed invitation, and contacts me to book a hosted tasting for six in their home when they are ready.
What if our group knows nothing about wine?
Good. Every tasting is built for a mixed group. Nobody is asked to identify anything.
How far do you travel for a tasting?
Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and Northern California without question. Further by arrangement, with travel billed as itemized line items.
Can a winemaker join?
Sometimes. It depends on the calendar and the season, and harvest is harvest. Ask early.
Can you work with our planner or DMC?
Yes. If you already have an event planner or destination management company, I handle the wine side and work alongside them.
How it starts
Tell me who is coming, roughly when, and what a good evening looks like to them. That is enough to start.
patrick@vianarra.com · +1 (650) 418-0507