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This article evaluates the impact of non‐purveyor‐instructed wine training on the waitstaffs of restaurants. The instruction consisted of product knowledge, sales training and service techniques. Specific questions of this study include: 1. What factors contribute to the amount of wines sold by the waitstaff? 2. What effect does wine instruction have on the sales of wine in restaurants? 3. What effect does wine instruction have on the participants' product knowledge, selling skills and service techniques? 4. What are the attitudes of the food servers toward wine instruction? 5. Is a wine instruction programme cost‐effective for a restaurateur?

The selling of wines is usually performed by a sommelier in the context of an upmarket restaurant. However, many restaurants cannot afford to employ a sommelier and must rely on the food and beverage service personnel to assist customers with the selection of wine. The food and beverage service personnel are generally not qualified to do this. Restaurants usually do not provide training with regard to wine knowledge, wine service skills and wine selling skills. The purpose of this paper was to establish whether wine service training had an influence on the wine sales of a restaurant.

A quasi-experimental research design used two restaurants from the same franchise. One restaurant was the control group while the other was the experimental group. Wine sales were monitored and recorded for a period of three months, the second month being used for the training intervention of the experimental group.

Although the results were not statistically significant, the results indicated that wine service training increased the wine sales in the restaurant of the experimental group.

This study contributes to the literature in the South African hospitality sector and establishes that wine service training is a necessity for wine sales to explore further in the restaurant industry.

The purpose of this mixed-methods explanatory sequential study was to assess the effects of an external wine education and certification program on trainee reactions, learning, transfer and financial results.

The quantitative phase was a mixed experimental design in which the training intervention was between-subjects and time was within-subjects. The sample comprises 91 employees (N_Training = 43; N_Control = 48) from 12 units of a fine dining restaurant group. The qualitative phase, comprised of semi-structured interviews with training group participants (N = 12), was implemented after the experiment.

Training group participants reported high scores for attitude toward training content, instructional satisfaction and transfer motivation. Financial metrics, tracked up to 60 days post-training, demonstrated the wine education program was effective in increasing wine knowledge but not wine sales. Four themes emerged from the qualitative data: sense of accomplishment, enhanced guest interaction, tips and gratuities and defeat. Integrated findings revealed increased wine knowledge led to personal financial impact (increased tips) rather than organizational impact.

This research builds on existing training literature and human capital theory by examining external training programs. Further, the use of a mixed-methods design and integration of the quantitative and qualitative findings offers a previously unidentified explanation for why wine training, although effective in facilitating positive reactions and learning, fails to result in transfer behaviors which generate increased wine sales.

The Academy of Wine service was founded in 1988 to raise the standard of education and skills in the service of wine in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry. In September 1991, the Academy launched its ‘Professional Wine Service Training Package’, which was specifically designed to satisfy waiters' wide‐ranging needs and time constraints. The programme provides a single, open and flexible learning package to develop trainees competence and thus help them secure a national vocational qualification (NVQ). Following extensive field trials, the success of the Traning Package is clear to see: volume sales and average spend per head rose substantially, with sales up +18% in participating Forte Hotels and +16% in participating independent hotels and the investment in training was recovered with an avarage 15 weeks. Additionally, the Academy of Wine Service has organised an annual programme of tutored tastings, produced a bi‐monthly newsletter, “Wine Line”, set up awards, scholarships and national competitions, and expanded its membership benefits. Five years on, The Academy of Wine Service is now recognised as the national education and training authority for professional wine service and is now being developed into The Academy of Food & Wine Service to provide a total training package for the entire industry by the beginning of 1994.

This paper seeks to explore whether a wine steward can affect wine sales in a restaurant, and to explore a theoretical framework that may eventually lead to more efficient application of wine stewards.

The authors reviewed ten months of wine sales from Houston‐area restaurants during 2004, and found that restaurants with wine stewards tend to outsell restaurants without wine stewards, sometimes by a wide margin.

To provide a further understanding of this effect, the authors reviewed the literature on personal selling and developed a preliminary model of how the wine steward may provide such a profound impact on sales. Our tentative model proposes that wine stewards have both an indirect and direct influence on sales.

The initial research did not study the effect of the wine stewards' level of education and certification in regards to wine sales; nor were the wine education programs in “non‐wine steward restaurants” accounted for. Future research will control for wine steward certification levels and type of training programs at non‐wine‐steward restaurants.

Restaurant owners/managers may want to consider employing a wine steward to strengthen the restaurant's wine program. This study is the first in a series that will attempt to quantify the sommelier effect and to create a taxonomy of wine stewarding with the objective of creating tools that will allow restaurateurs to identify the prudent level of investment in this activity.

The aim of this paper is to examine the existing literature circa 2010–2023 of introductory wine education involving sensory experience components in an objective, transparent and replicable manner. Sensory experience education normally involves the usage of the five senses (smell, taste, sight, feel and hearing) as means to demonstrate, scaffold and illuminate introductory-level wine curricula. This study identifies the methodologies used in existing in educational wine sensory experience literature, identifies the pedagogical utilities of current wine research and explores findings useful for wine educators.

This paper uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) for literature review reporting.

From the existing body of literature involving wine sensory experience in education (N = 20), five pedagogical utilities emerged from the dataset: wine sensory experience training (n = 7), wine sensory analysis techniques (n = 5), teaching environment (n = 5), wine and food pairing (n = 2) and psychological context (n = 1). Furthermore, experimental design is the preferred method (n = 14) of research related to wine sensory experience in education.

This study provides utility for wine educators at the college and university level and may provide perspective and tools for firms seeking consumer engagement through wine education.

To the researchers' knowledge, there are no literature reviews that explore wine sensory experience in education. Thus, the primary contributions of this study are threefold: identification of current gaps in wine education research, identification of future research questions and avenues of study, and resources for curriculum improvement of introductory wine courses.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how sommeliers influence wine sales in US restaurants and to understand how US restaurant sommeliers sell wine to customers, select for the wine list, and keep current on wines.

Data from 250 telephone interviews among people at fine restaurants who were in charge of the selection and recommendation of wines for customers was reviewed. Fine restaurants were selected from wine spectator's “Gold Medal Winners” list and supplemented by Zagat's top 2,000 restaurants. The interviews averaged 29 minutes in length.

On an average, customers ask a sommelier to provide wine recommendations 38 per cent of the time and sommeliers volunteer wine recommendations 42 per cent of the time. While wine is becoming increasingly popular and consumers are more knowledgeable, sommeliers play an important role in identifying best products available to meet restaurant customers' expectations.

Sommeliers play an important role in influencing the sale of wine in restaurants, in particular, in smaller restaurants and in fine dining restaurants. Focusing on value for money, winery reputation, type of variety and tracking customer preference are all critical factors that respondents considered when selecting wines and when recommending wines to customers.

This paper addresses the advantage of employing a sommelier in fine dining restaurants, given that when there is a designated sommelier more parties order wine (an average 76 per cent vs an average 70 per cent), the average check is higher ($62 vs $55) and the wine list is updated more frequently. Fine dining restaurant managers, owners and sommeliers will find value in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of perceived risk and implementation of risk‐reduction strategies (RRS) regarding the consumer wine purchase decision in the fine dining restaurant environment. The study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of elements within the control, or influence of the restaurant (staff, reputation, previous visitation and previous consumption) on reducing the perceived risk of consumers.

Data are collected through the use of a self‐administered, highly structured questionnaire in a well established fine dining restaurant in central Adelaide, South Australia over a three week period in April and May 2008. The sample consists of restaurant consumers who made a wine purchase decision at the restaurant during the collection period. A response rate of 85 per cent is achieved resulting in 105 useable questionnaires.

A low overall level of perceived risk is noted in the wine purchase decision‐making process in the fine dining environment. The restaurant's reputation and advice from staff are found to be important RRS with a high incidence of utilisation. The reputation of the restaurant, incidence of previous visitation and previous consumption of the wine ordered in the restaurant, are all found to reduce the level of perceived consumer risk. A significant incidence of customers engaging in risk‐seeking behaviour through selecting wines with which they are unfamiliar, is also noted.

The findings of this research suggest that the overall level of risk associated with the consumer wine purchase decision may be lower than previously observed and can be reduced through measures within the restaurant management's control. Although tentative due to the exploratory nature of this study, these findings may provide useful insights to the wine and restaurant industries and would benefit from further investigation on a larger scale.

This study is of value to academic researchers, restaurant managers/sommeliers and the wine industry as it highlights important aspects of consumer behaviour with regard to wine purchases in a growing and lucrative sector of the on‐premise trade.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in wine consumption in UK public houses, and to consider if the sector is maximising its sales opportunities.

This study has used both secondary and primary sources. Existing surveys have been used to gain details of the growth in wine sales and possible explanations for this. The trade press has suggested how licensees could improve their wine sales. Suppliers have been approached to discover to the level of assistance they offer individual outlets. Finally, surveys of the public houses and their customers were undertaken to discover the proficiency of their wine service.

The level of wine sales in the UK is growing rapidly. Much of this is consumed at home, but public houses could benefit from the trend. Some have done so, but the surveys suggest that many do not market the product effectively.

The study is a very limited one, and only considers one town, one area of another town and their customers.

The results of the survey suggest that all licensees could consider the possibility of improving sales by offering a higher quality service to their customers.

Any research which may assist the quality of service offered in the licensed trade should be of interest to all stakeholders.