F&W Beverage Seminars

[Pioneer Hall]

Does anyone have any opinions on the low cost beverage seminars that are held in Wonders of Life during food and wine? Interested in hearing some reviews and if you thought they were worth it. I know about the culinary demos, but want to hear more about the beverage ones.

Thanks

 

[xdan0920]

Does anyone have any opinions on the low cost beverage seminars that are held in Wonders of Life during food and wine? Interested in hearing some reviews and if you thought they were worth it. I know about the culinary demos, but want to hear more about the beverage ones.

Thanks

My wife and I did two of them last year. Both were wine tastings. Here is my take...

Positives
- The ability to try 3 different wines.
- A nice cool place to sit and rest for a bit.

Negatives
- They are too long. The two we did each lasted around 45 minutes. That is too long to be holed up.
- The pours are miniscule. As you can see in the picture below. Like maybe 2 sips of wine.
- Depending on the speaker, you could be in for a very boring seminar. The second one we did nearly put me to sleep.
- If any of the wines are not to your liking, then your already limited amount of wine for your money shrinks even further.

Overall, I would hesitate to recommend going to these seminars. Unless there is a particular wine maker you really want to meet. If not, if you are just going to go, you are better off staying out in the WS.

We will be back this year, and will not be doing any seminars. The cost/time to satisfaction ratio is just not good enough.



Quack

 

[Tiggerish]

I have an opinion--as someone who's attended the F&W Fest for ten straight years, they're not what they used to be.

"Back in the day" (as recently as four years ago) you'd get the winemaker or the winery owner presenting anywhere from 3-5 wines and you'd get a pretty decent wine education for free, as they would tell you a lot about how they made the wine and why it came out the way it did in the 30 minute time period. This was amazing, considering it was free.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, some very rude behavior started up--certain people would be seated for the seminar, toss back all 3-5 samples, then get up and get in line for the next seminar, where they would proceed to do the same thing again. Enough of these rude people existed that they would fill enough of the seminar capacity that it was difficult to get in to a seminar without standing in line for 45 minutes.

In order to manage that problem, WDW started to charge for the seminars, and they increased them to 45 minutes in length and standardized them at 3 wine samples. The discounted price for DVC/AP/TiW members was $5. It was a reasonable price for what you were getting, although the presenters started to change--instead of someone closely associated with making the wine, much of the time the presenter would be a marketing person, often from the conglomerate that owns the winery, and they show you a powerpoint presentation about the winery, and the terrior, and often the bed-and-breakfast that is run at the vineyard. Then, in the last 15 minutes, they rush through tasting the wines, telling you what they can about them (which is often not that much). Still, for 5 bucks, it seemed a good value. Last year, however, they raised the discounted price to $8. A small difference, but a dealbreaker for me. I won't be attending any wine seminars this year, I booked only culinary demonstrations which (IMO) continue to be a good value, especially if they continue the practice they started last year of bringing a wine presenter into the culinary demo, turning it into a food & wine pairing, complete with explanations of why the wine and the food go well together).

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer--I'm sure I would have a better opinion of the wine seminars if I had no idea what they used to be like!

 

[xdan0920]

I have an opinion--as someone who's attended the F&W Fest for ten straight years, they're not what they used to be.

"Back in the day" (as recently as four years ago) you'd get the winemaker or the winery owner presenting anywhere from 3-5 wines and you'd get a pretty decent wine education for free, as they would tell you a lot about how they made the wine and why it came out the way it did in the 30 minute time period. This was amazing, considering it was free.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, some very rude behavior started up--certain people would be seated for the seminar, toss back all 3-5 samples, then get up and get in line for the next seminar, where they would proceed to do the same thing again. Enough of these rude people existed that they would fill enough of the seminar capacity that it was difficult to get in to a seminar without standing in line for 45 minutes.

In order to manage that problem, WDW started to charge for the seminars, and they increased them to 45 minutes in length and standardized them at 3 wine samples. The discounted price for DVC/AP/TiW members was $5. It was a reasonable price for what you were getting, although the presenters started to change--instead of someone closely associated with making the wine, much of the time the presenter would be a marketing person, often from the conglomerate that owns the winery, and they show you a powerpoint presentation about the winery, and the terrior, and often the bed-and-breakfast that is run at the vineyard. Then, in the last 15 minutes, they rush through tasting the wines, telling you what they can about them (which is often not that much). Still, for 5 bucks, it seemed a good value. Last year, however, they raised the discounted price to $8. A small difference, but a dealbreaker for me. I won't be attending any wine seminars this year, I booked only culinary demonstrations which (IMO) continue to be a good value, especially if they continue the practice they started last year of bringing a wine presenter into the culinary demo, turning it into a food & wine pairing, complete with explanations of why the wine and the food go well together).

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer--I'm sure I would have a better opinion of the wine seminars if I had no idea what they used to be like!

Maybe not, I attended my first F&W last year, and as I stated above, I was very unimpressed with the seminars.

And oh are you right about the power points, and the Bed and Breakfast sale. It was just the most boring thing you can imagine. I was itching to get out of there. Maybe I should have taken after those rude people you mentioned and just bailed. :lol:

 

[Tiggerish]

Maybe not, I attended my first F&W last year, and as I stated above, I was very unimpressed with the seminars.

And oh are you right about the power points, and the Bed and Breakfast sale. It was just the most boring thing you can imagine. I was itching to get out of there. Maybe I should have taken after those rude people you mentioned and just bailed. :lol:

I was very interested to note that you felt pretty much the same way I did on your first seminar!

- 45 minutes is too long, I think they did that just to give the illusion that you were getting something "extra" in return for the price of admission.

- The three pours are supposed to be 1 oz each, which is a pretty standard tasting portion, but I think some of them stop pouring before the 1oz mark, which, you're right, makes for a very miniscule sample.

I don't feel quite so crabby now. :lol: :wave:

 

[fillerup]

I have an opinion--as someone who's attended the F&W Fest for ten straight years, they're not what they used to be.

"Back in the day" (as recently as four years ago) you'd get the winemaker or the winery owner presenting anywhere from 3-5 wines and you'd get a pretty decent wine education for free, as they would tell you a lot about how they made the wine and why it came out the way it did in the 30 minute time period. This was amazing, considering it was free.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, some very rude behavior started up--certain people would be seated for the seminar, toss back all 3-5 samples, then get up and get in line for the next seminar, where they would proceed to do the same thing again. Enough of these rude people existed that they would fill enough of the seminar capacity that it was difficult to get in to a seminar without standing in line for 45 minutes.

In order to manage that problem, WDW started to charge for the seminars, and they increased them to 45 minutes in length and standardized them at 3 wine samples. The discounted price for DVC/AP/TiW members was $5. It was a reasonable price for what you were getting, although the presenters started to change--instead of someone closely associated with making the wine, much of the time the presenter would be a marketing person, often from the conglomerate that owns the winery, and they show you a powerpoint presentation about the winery, and the terrior, and often the bed-and-breakfast that is run at the vineyard. Then, in the last 15 minutes, they rush through tasting the wines, telling you what they can about them (which is often not that much). Still, for 5 bucks, it seemed a good value. Last year, however, they raised the discounted price to $8. A small difference, but a dealbreaker for me. I won't be attending any wine seminars this year, I booked only culinary demonstrations which (IMO) continue to be a good value, especially if they continue the practice they started last year of bringing a wine presenter into the culinary demo, turning it into a food & wine pairing, complete with explanations of why the wine and the food go well together).

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer--I'm sure I would have a better opinion of the wine seminars if I had no idea what they used to be like!

You nailed the situation pretty completely.

Just for clarification though (not that it matters), last year's discounted price was $6 but they've gone up to $8 for 2011. And yes, a definite dealbreaker.

 

[Tiggerish]

You nailed the situation pretty completely.

Just for clarification though (not that it matters), last year's discounted price was $6 but they've gone up to $8 for 2011. And yes, a definite dealbreaker.

Pretty much all I remembered is that they'd gone up to more than $5 last year. I went to only two, I think, and decided then that they would be my last. If I judged them not worth $6, it's no wonder that I find $8 outrageous! :lol:

 

[xdan0920]

Pretty much all I remembered is that they'd gone up to more than $5 last year. I went to only two, I think, and decided then that they would be my last. If I judged them not worth $6, it's no wonder that I find $8 outrageous! :lol:

I went with no discount. Can't remember exactly what we paid, but it was definitely too much.:hammer:

Your not crabby at all. The seminars were very disappointing.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Thanks for the honest opinions everyone. Sounds like I don't have to worry about booking these then.