These annoucements have been moved to Homebase. 

See this link.

LOW BOOK CLUB

In order to increase our knowledge of different areas of business and personal development LOW has established an initiative called Book Club.

The idea is to promote the habit of reading/listening and interpreting the different contents of books, videos or podcasts.

These are some of the regulations around the book club:

• Any staff members or contractor associated with LOW could present the summary during our monthly staff meetings.

• Summary presented could be from a book, video or podcast.

• Book or video  must be related to Business or personal growth 

• Presentation will not be longer than 15 minutes ( exceptions apply e.i book has some interesting dynamic exercises) , talk to management.

• If the presentation comes from a book the staff member will receive $100 included in the next paycheck.

• If a staff member presents from a video or podcast, he/she will receive $75 in the next paycheck.

• Presentation content has to be applicable to our daily activities at LOW.

• Please sign  up with Eduar or fill up  your information in the attached file with your name, your book (if you choose one that is not on that list just add it to the bottom of the table), and the date of your presentation. Remember our staff meetings are the first tuesday of every month.

Link : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15_xptHl8k1pOV4atZb8gjj_Wh0TSEt7i4JGr0p5qFsE/edit#gid=1015163033

2022 National Drink Wine Day  

Hi Team, 

Friday, February 18th is National Drink Wine Day! We will be offering 10% off all wine sales for the day. This includes bottles and glasses of wine. This discount can be redeemed in person, or on our website. The 10% off discount will not stack with wine club members. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Brooke or Eduar. 

Have a great day!

2022 Cellar Select Sale  

It is time for our annual Cellar Select Sale! This means we are pulling out special wines from our past inventories and putting them in a special sale for all to enjoy again. After all, wine gets better with age! ;)

The sale will begin on January 26th for wine club members ONLY! Wine club members will be able to shop exclusively until January 29th. Wine club members may receive their normal discount for these purchases. Beginning on January 30th, the sale will open up to the public. 

Beginning on February 6th, any wines left in the sale will then become 50% off until February 9th. Once these wines go on sale, Wine Club members WILL NOT be able to stack their discount with the 50%. February 9th will be the last day of the sale. Wine included in the Cellar Select sale can only be purchased in the tasting room. These wines will not be offered online. 

A quick breakdown: 

January 26 - January 29 (Wine Club ONLY)

January 30 - February 9 (Everyone may shop)

February 6 - February 9 (50% off any wines that are left)

Please let us know if you have any questions about this sale. We are happy to help! 

Omicron Variant COVID 

All, 

We want to keep you safe and understand you may be concerned about the new Omicron variant that seems to be more contagious than other variants of the coronavirus. Please, if you are sick, stay home. If you feel better, please come back. We realize it's very difficult to get tested these days for COVID so do your best. If you are sick and think you have it, again, stay home. The CDC has put out new guidelines for quarantine. They say you should stay home for 5 days, then you can go back to public spaces but wear a mask for 5 days. If you still don't feel well after 5 days, stay home. I hope this helps give you some guidance. Let us know if you need more information. 

www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html 

Innovation Idea Survey

COVID UPDATE

COVID 7.0  - Susan Brayfield

August 24, 2021

As the Delta case counts are increasing in our community, we have adjusted our policies regarding COVID.  

• All staff and guests are encouraged, but not required, to wear a mask when in the tasting room or with groups of individuals whose vaccine status is unknown.

• All staff members are encouraged, but not required, to acquire the COVID vaccine.  Lost Oak has offered paid time away from work to get vaccinated. 

• Lost Oak Winery staff will continue to maintain all cleaning protocols, as outlined previously, to keep staff and guests safe.

• Through this blog and other mainstream media, all staff and hopefully our guests, understand the inherent risks associated with not being vaccinated against COVID 19.

Much information has recently been published regarding the safety and efficacy of the current vaccines.  Below are several well-written articles which better explain how these vaccines are safe to use. 

1. This well-written article by UT Southwestern Medical Center describes how vaccines are a one-and-done treatment that gets eliminated quickly, thus eliminating potential side effects.  Also, all  post-vaccine side effects are being carefully monitored through the  V-safe After Vaccination Health Checker, which is the most extensive long-term monitoring database ever created.  

2. Hopkinsmedicine.org explains in this article how virologists have determined that the proteins in the vaccine are in no way able to cause infertility.

This article from the CDC explains the severity of the Delta variant compared to the early form of the COVID-19 virus.  The newer variant not only causes more infections and spreads faster than previously, but also appears to cause more severe illness in unvaccinated people.  

At the time of this writing, Johnson County, Texas is experiencing an increase in COVID infection and hospitalization rates similar to those of early spring, 2020.  This dashboard from the State of Texas Health and Human Services reflects the severity of the current outbreak.

Sources:

JohnsHopkinsMedicine.org

Event Center Bar Gratuity 

Effective September 1st, the Event Center will begin including a Bar Gratuity for all of our newly booked events. As you know, our Premium Blend Cocktail upgrade has a mandatory gratuity included in the price. Now, all events booked after September 1st will have a gratuity fee added with or without a bar service. The gratuity amount is based on the number of guests attending the event and averages to about 23% in gratuity. If you have any questions, please reach out to Brooke. 

Thanks again for all you do! 

Brooke

Tasting Fee Increase

Team . As we have communicated several times in our meetings, beginning on July 13 our GUIDED TASTING fee will increase to $14. Also I would like to touch base one more time in the fact that our self guided tasting will be in the system as a wine flight. Our wine club members have the benefit of complementary GUIDED tastings , no Wine Flights.

Any questions please feel free to reach out.

Thank you.

Eduar 

Premium Blend Cocktail Upgrade at Event Center    

As many of you are aware, Lost Oak Winery resides in a dry precinct. In a dry precinct, you cannot sell alcohol, except if you hold a winery permit which is the permit we carry.  We do not allow outside alcohol at the tasting room because we want people to drink our wine. We cannot sell alcohol other than alcohol made from fruit, like cider and wine.  That being said, at the event center, we follow different rules.  It is hard to book the event center with only wine service.  It quickly became clear to us that we needed to allow outside alcohol to make our venue more attractive for private parties.  So, we allow guests to bring in beer with restrictions. We do not sell it. We do not allow people to bring in liquor because there is too much liability for the winery.  

Recently, we learned of a "wine-based" premium blend that tastes like rum, tequila, whiskey, etc. but is made like wine (from fruit). We have developed great cocktails and have launched a menu that I think you'll be excited about. These are legal to sell and serve because they are wine-based and the alcohol by volume is lower than traditional liquor. We ask for your support in this new endeavour and at the next opportunity, we'll let you try them.

The event center now has the option to include full bar service to the events booked. We are offering wine-based liquors such as: vodka, whiskey, rum, and tequila. The price of this upgrade depends on the number of attendees coming to the event. This upgrade will include a mandatory 18% gratuity on the cost of entire event that will go to staff that work the event where these cocktails are served. With this upgrade, clients will get to choose 4 crafted cocktails from a menu of 17 options. The chosen cocktails served at the event will be considered bottomless for guests. 

If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to reach out to Brooke. 

Adult Easter Egg Hunt   

With Easter just around the corner, we will be having an adult Easter Egg Hunt! This is an online only event taking place from March 22 - April 4th. With the purchase of 4+ bottles, we will be placing easter eggs filled with coupons for cheeseboards, tours & tastings, & premium tours and tastings inside the shipping boxes before they are sent. 

Again, this is an online only event, so anyone interested in this giveaway, will need to purchase 4+ bottles online in order to receive a coupon. *Coupons will be prepackaged in eggs, and will be selected at random by the staff member packing the orders. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Brooke! 

Wine Society of Texas Virtual Tasting  

Hi team, 

Wine Society of Texas is featuring the Permian Basin this month and has asked Lost Oak Winery to participate in their club virtual tasting. The virtual Tasting will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, March 23rd from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. This is a special virtual tasting that will include Roxanne, Angela, Jim & Gene! They are allowing us open this event to our Wine Club members and the public. 

The wines selected for this virtual tasting are: 

2019 Petit Verdot

2017 Cab. Sauv. Reserve 

2019 Texas Duet 

Anyone is able to purchase the virtual tasting kit on our website. 

Deadline of purchasing these kits will be March 18th. 

State of the Union, #LostOakLIfe

Bud Break Wine Trail 

Hi Team, 

Lost Oak Winery is participating in the Bud Break Wine Trail for the entire month of March. 

A little about this event: 

Each ticket will include a custom QR Code for each ticket older that serves as your Digital BudBreak Wine Trail ticket. This QR Code will be part of your ticket which will be emailed to you upon completing your purchase and will be scanned and validated at each of the participating winery you visit. Each day you can get scanned at as many participating wineries as you would like, with a limit of one scan/Wine Tasting per winery during the event. You have 31 days to enjoy 30+ wineries in the beautiful North Texas Wine Country. This is too good of a deal to pass up, so tell your friends to get tickets, too! 

How does the trail work? The wine trail is self-guided. Present your ticket, via cell phone or paper, at each winery for your Wine Tasting. Guide yourself to each of the wineries over the scheduled time. You will get a minimum of 3 tastes, and sometimes a special flight of wines at 30+ wineries and 31 days to complete the trail! Due to the limitations put on the wineries we have limited our offerings and number of tickets to sell and there are no refunds.

30+ Wineries / 31 Days / $49.95* 

We are currently working on getting the app installed on the ipads so that we can begin scanning the QR codes for ticket holders. In the meantime, Roxanne has requested that we keep count of how many ticket holders come to our tasting room. 

For more information on the Bud Break Wine Trail, please visit the website  here.  

Wine Inventory Update

We are out of the following products in the back barn storage area:

Crimson Oak 2019

DD Merlot 2018

Meritage 2018

Petite Syrah 2019

Blanc du Bois Sweet 2019

Sweet Moscato 2019

We are also almost out of Dolce Rouge (NV20), but the new bottling (NV21) is ready to go. It does not need to wait for a wine club release date, it can go to the Tasting Room as soon as the old one is gone.  

There is no more of the 2018 Mourvedre Rose in the back barn but the 2019 is ready to be released with the April wine club. 

COVID Safety and Stepping up

Dear All,

Four of our staff are out because of close calls with COVID.  We are running on a slim crew and cases are surging. We are still open for business. 

The governor has not mentioned another shut down. We can continue to operate. We need to continue to operate. We are working on a menu to fulfill the food requirement that was asked of us during COVID 4.0.  For the safety of our staff and our guests, we are going to self-regulate our capacity limits. We will limit public events to only 100 guests; Eduar will organize how that is monitored.  Private events are booking smaller and smaller crowds; this seems to be self-regulated also.

That said, we need you all to pitch in.  If someone needs their shift covered, it is likely not because they don’t want to work but probably because they can’t work. We need all hands on deck to keep this business going and you are vital in that mission. Thank you in advance for stepping up and helping out.

Wear masks while around anyone at work and stay 6-feet away from each other where possible. Please wear masks with guests, with staff, in the bathroom, when outside. Our cleaning protocols are more important than ever. We can’t be too careful. 

Thanks in advance for all your cooperation. Remember, here are our guidelines.

Sincerely, Roxanne

Notifications from Homebase

Team, 

I know many of you have expressed that the notifications received from our new software system Homebase is rather annoying. Below are steps on how to adjust those settings to make them less frequent. 

You can customize which email, text, and push notifications you receive from Homebase.

Web

1. Sign in to your Homebase account.

2. Select the Settings tab in the top navigation bar.

3. Select Notifications from the navigation bar on the left.

4. Check and uncheck the notifications you would like to receive.

5. Click Save Changes in the upper right corner of the page.

Mobile

1. Open your Homebase Employee Scheduling app.

2. Tap More on the lower right side of the navigation bar. (or top corner for phones that are not IPhone) 

3. Select Settings.

4. Click Your Account in the navigation bar on the left.

5. Select Notifications.

6. Select a category to customize your email, text, and push notifications.

7. Any adjustments will save and sync automatically

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We are happy to help!

4.0 Cellars rebranding

This message was sent to all our guests at 4.0 Cellars. I want to make you all aware. From, Roxanne

We are thrilled to share with you that over the coming weeks, 4.0 Cellars will become the Texas Wine Collective! Our mission to provide you with the ultimate Texas wine experience hasn’t changed, but with the new name, comes new, ambitious goals that are intended to make you love us even more. Moving forward, we will enhance our vintner collaboration, expand our tasting room capacity, add new guest experiences, and develop innovative wine brands that express our region’s unique character.

As the Texas Wine Collective, we will strive to build upon the exceptional wines and experiences you have come to love and expect from our team, all the while maintaining the world class hospitality that you deserve. Click here to read the details of this exciting new chapter!

We can’t thank you enough for helping us get to where we are today. We are humbled, grateful, and inspired by your patronage and praise. The Texas wine community has its best years ahead of it, and we look forward to you being a part of our bright future!

2020 Holiday Offers 

Team, 

We are rolling our our new 2020 Holiday offers starting today, Nov. 27th. From Nov. 27 - Dec. 12, we are offering 20% off all cases. These cases can be mix and match, or a single selected wine. Customers can take advantage of this sale either online or in the tasting room. This discount does stack for out wine club members. 

For Cyber Monday (Nov. 30th only), we will be offering 20% off of purchases of 3, 6, or 12 bottles. This includes online or in person purchases. Discount does stack with our wine club members as well. 

Dec. 18 - Dec. 20th, we will be having a 20% off Late Harvest Roussaane. Again this sale can be purchased online or in person in the tasting room and does stack with our wine club discount.  

If you have any questions about these sales, please reach out to Brooke. 

Thank you for all that you do! 

Gewurztraminer 2019

Dear All,

The Gewurztraminer 2019 is cloudy. It is not 100% heat stable therefore you are seeing proteins precipitate out.  The quality of the wine is not affected and is drinkable, safe... and delicious.  I'm sorry it's not as clean as it should be.

Stabilization is part of the process of making the wine clear ( Specially for the American market).

In wine tasting, a wine is considered "clear" when there are no visible particles suspended in the liquid and, especially in the case of white wines, when there is some degree of transparency. A wine with too much suspended matter will appear cloudy and dull, even if its aroma and flavor are unaffected; wines therefore generally undergo some kind of clarification.

In winemaking, clarification and stabilization are the processes by which insoluble matter suspended in the wine is removed before bottling. This matter may include dead yeast cells (lees), bacteria, tartrates, proteins, pectins, various tannins and other phenolic compounds, as well as pieces of grape skin, pulp, stems and gums.

Thank you,

Eduar.

Changes to Payroll (Event Lead Pay) 

Dear All,

I hope you all are doing well.

In preparation for the new payroll period and the new system of reporting due to the change in the app that we use to clock in - out and calculate payroll and hourly pay ( Homebase) you will see some changes in the way we calculate the pay for our event leads. First of all the leads payments for Event Center and Tasting room had been unified , this means that both event leads in both areas of business will have the same additional pay during the times they are leading an event. Second in adaptation to the way the new platform calculates the pay for each one of our staff , lead pay will not be received as an additional bonus to your pay check anymore but will be calculated as a higher hourly rate during the hours you are acting as a Lead.  There will be 3 different hourly rates depending on the size of the event that  had been calculated based o the previous bonus but divided for the average amount of hours that you guys were clocked in during different events.

Small event: (Minimum 6 hours. Maximum 8 hours)

Hourly pay + $3.50/hr. (6hrs = $21) (8hrs.=$28)

Original was : $20/ event <50 people 

Medium event: (Minimum 6 hours. Maximum 10 hours)

Hourly pay + $3.75/hr. (6hrs = $22.50) (10hours= $37.50)

Original was : $30/ event 51 - 150 people 

Large event: (Minimum 8 hours. Maximum 11-12 hours)

Hourly pay + $4.25/hr (8 hours = $34) (12 hours = $51)

Original was $40/ event 151 + people

So if you were a lead in any of the events , you will see this a an hourly wage and not as a fixed amount. The longer you have to deal with the event the more you will get paid.

Any questions , please contact Eduar or Brooke.

Thank you .

COVID Cases are rising

Dear All,

COVID cases are surging. I want to make sure you, your family, your friends and our guests remain as safe as possible. We have protocols about what to do while at the winery, wear masks, clean often, health screenings, etc. Please try to stay as safe as possible when offsite. Wear masks, avoid large crowds, use hand sanitizer, and stay safe. All that being said, we know that COVID is close to home and some of you have already been tested. If you are sick, please don’t come to work. If you have been in contact with someone that has been diagnosed with COVID, please call us and put on a mask immediately. We can help you get tested before coming back to work. In the case of anyone that works here full-time, we will reimburse you for the expense of the test. 

• CVS has drive through testing.

• Care Now has testing if you schedule an appointment.

• The BRICK in Burleson is testing.

We ask that you stay home, and self quarantine until you get your test results. Once your results come in, we can talk through options. If you test positive and worked at the winery, we will likely ask who you worked with to get tested and self-quarantine also.  We will do the same for everyone involved.  If you test negative, WHEW, please come back to work.

Thanks for your cooperation. I hope this helps as we move forward.

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!

Roxanne

REMINDER about the new HomeBase Software System 

Hi Team

** Just as a reminder.

The new schedule for week Nov 9 - 22 was posted this week using the new app Homebase. You should have received an email and text messages with a link to access the app and create your account.

(EJ, Seth, Stephen, and Zack) Please complete your profiles, time off requests, and availability.

Officially on Monday Nov. 9, we will be using this app to clock in and out of work. Until then use time works plus as you have been. Please study the app and get familiar with it. 

Once you are logged in, on the bottom right corner of the screen you will find options for support and FAQ. 

Due to the fact that the system we have been using up to now to post the schedule is a google document, it will be very difficult for us to publish the schedule in the current way, so from now on your schedule will be visible only in the app. I am linking the login page here for you guys, but you will need to know your user and password to access the schedule. We have used your contact information given to us that is listed on our directory that is used for your login. 

Monday Nov 9, I will send a more detailed email with some useful link to learn more about the app.

If for any reason you forget to clock in or out, like in the old system, please feel the same google document we were using to register your time in and out.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o7SRh35AsFE1n4zqaZE9HCJbCRDC7nMOsa61NcZvzYA/edit#gid=2098808561

Thank you , any questions please feel free to contact Eduar or Brooke.

Have a great rest of the evening.

New HomeBase Software System 

Hi Team! 

We want to make sure everyone is on the same page with the new software system we will begin using with HomeBase. Starting on Nov. 9th, we will begin having everyone start clocking in and out for shifts on the HomeBase app. We will also publish the next schedule on the first week of November that will show the Nov. 9th - Nov. 22nd schedule. 

Please take the time to update your profile, availability, and time off requests by the end of October on HomeBase so that we can schedule accordingly. 

If you have any questions over anything, please feel free to reach out to Eduar or Brooke.

The link to sign into HomeBase is linked here. 

Thank you for all that you do! 

October 20, 2020 | Roxanne Myers

COVID 4.0

Hi guys, Me again with yet another COVID update. Let’s call this COVID 4.0.  I’m loving this. I can’t wait to see how this evolves… again.

Governor Abbot has announced that Bars and Other establishments can now reopen at 50% capacity so as long as your local judge authorizes it. Thanks to Judge Roger Harmon and our Precinct 2 commissioner Kenny Howell, they have allowed Lost Oak Winery to reopen, safely.

Lost Oak Winery is dedicated to the safety of our guests attending wine tastings and tours in our inviting wide-open spaces. Our staff follows CDC recommended safety protocols including mask wearing, frequent facility sanitizing, and appropriate social distancing. When you arrive, you’ll enjoy a safe experience designed for your comfort. We also offer personalized virtual wine tastings you can enjoy from the comfort of your home.

See our commitment to best practices for safety here. Scroll down a little for tasting room.

You can always choose curbside and delivery options. from our online store.  Get outside! Enjoy our Hike & Bike Trail.

So, here is what has changed since my last update.

Food

We now let you bring your own food in to the winery.  We are currently working on a better food menu to offer more options but we are still selling sweet items from Black Bear Bakery, Boar’s Head cheeses, various cheeseboard options, a snack pack to go and kids pack. (Menus are being updated on the website.)

We have added live entertainment Thursdays and Saturdays and will continue to do this until the weather does not permit. Stay tuned to our calendar.

Life is different now.

You need a break from everyday stresses, but your normal travel plans might have to wait.  Lost Oak Winery provides all the allure of travel, without the usual time, expense, and concerns of traveling. Take a break wandering our picturesque grounds, listen to live music, sip wines curated just for you, and learn more about the art of winemaking. A perfect staycation... respecting just a few safety precautions.

• We ask you please wear a mask inside the tasting room.

• We are serving wine in glass unless it’s an event with lots of children then glass will be available by request.

• We are offering tastings on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Our tours are a huge hit now where you can get outside and get to know Texas wine. Tours are limited to 6 people and social distancing guidelines will be respected.

• During events, we will be serving wine through our outside bars to avoid too many guests loitering in close quarters.

• We encourage the use of outdoor space; there will be limited indoor seating.

• Outdoor seating area layouts will be modified to comply with the appropriate social distancing guidelines and tables will be limited to 10 or fewer guests. You can pull up your own chair to the table so as long as there are only 10 per table.

• If you choose to use your own chairs, you may sit out in the lawn beyond the Lost Oak seating area. We ask that you maintain social distancing, 6 feet between chairs.

• Floors will be marked to indicate standing areas so as to respect social distancing guidelines for staff and guests.

• We encourage contactless payment.

• We adhere to all food safety standards set forth by the Department of State Health Services.

Cheers! And a huge THANK YOU for your support.

Roxanne, President

Notes about COVID and tasting room operation 

Lost Oak Team !

As some of you had noticed our customer traffic has increased for almost everyday of the week  and we are somehow  conducting what we could call " regular business"  that is why I would like to touch some  points that we consider important for all of us  to  remember  and that will answer some questions that came up lately.

• COVID is still here , is present and social distancing and mask use are required for staff when facing  customers and is required for customers when they are inside the building.

• Cleaning protocols still are in place so do not forget to wear gloves when cleaning or picking up glasses from the tables. We are getting surgical gloves for cleaning.

• We are going back to the use of glass for our customers, the exception  will  during big events like "Concerts at the lawn" when we will serve in  plastic unless a customer specifically ask for glass. This will continue until we have the capacity to safely wash and disinfect  a big volume of glasses. Our new glass washer works with lower temperature but requires some chemicals. I want to make sure that It is safe and that they are COVID approved. 

• We are running  business as normal in the tasting room, this means that we are serving wine by the glass, wine by the bottle, and we are conducting tastings. Due  to COVID occupancy restrictions  inside the building we are  limiting  to 20 customers at a time : 8 in a regular sitting area and 12 in the tasting area  that has been prepared  with 3 barrels for standing tastings and a table (4) for sitting tastings.

• Tastings are being scheduled  on the "first come first served" bases. This includes tastings for the North Texas wine trail or any other customers or groups. So no previous reservations will be taken. Exceptions will be authorized by Roxanne or Eduar.

•  Last call will happen 30 minutes before closing time. After last call customers will have the chance to buy their last drinks  in glass or bottle,  for on premisses consumption or To go,  until closing time.

• By TABC regulation if customers  are taking open containers home , we need to make sure that those containers  are closed or corked . Please let's give those customers time to pack up their things, wind down  before we ask them to leave or communicate the need to cork their bottles. That is part of the reason why some of you are scheduled up to 1 hour  after our closing time. This will allow us to conduct cleaning and closing procedures and let customers transition slowly and on their own to " Go home mode". Of course there will be times in which some groups are having too much of a great time that they are taking too long to leave so please use your best judgement in these  cases.

• According to the  commitment with TABC that allowed us to re-open for business, our sales should be at least 51% in non alcohol sales. In order to achieve this, we've added more food options, disallowed outside food and we have chosen to add a cover charge for live music. With these three simple measures, we have been able to achieve this minimum.  Because we are not allowing outside food or drinks, we need to ensure guests don't bring in picnic baskets or coolers. Only exceptions will be permitted in the case of severe allergies to the products that we offer to our customers but use your judgement case by case and ask these  customers to the as discreet as they can ( do not make obvious  that it is outside food). I will update you on this during our next staff meeting .

•  As a reminder, there are consumption limits in place by TABC. If one person comes up to buy a bottle of wine for themselves, TABC allows us to serve no more than 12oz to one person and does not allow to serve more than a glass at once. The procedure would be to encourage the customer to buy wine by the glass or to offer he/she to retain the bottle at the bar so we can pour one glass at a time. The general Idea is to control how much the alcohol is affecting the customer. We will chat Pros and Cons based on you experience during our next meeting.

• Our Hours of Operation for the reminder of the month will be :

  • Monday : Closed

  • Tuesday and Wednesday : 2pm - 8pm

  • Thursday and Friday : 1pm - 8pm ( live music days until 9pm ) 

  • Saturday : 12pm - 8 pm ( Live music until 9 pm)

  • Sunday : 12pm - 7 pm 

Hours will be reevaluated for the winter months :

We are planing to schedule aging a monthly staff meeting/ training .Our next one will be Tuesday Oct 20, at 7 pm. Tasting room. 

If you have any additional topics or questions, please e-mail me to salud@lostoakwinery.com

Hiring and Promotions 

Key holder:

Hi Everyone ! As announced a few weeks ago the position for Key holder was posted , a final decision was made so I am going to ask you to join us to welcome  Melissa Davis as our new Key holder! Melissa has shown during her time at LOW great commitment, excellent customer service , organization skills and many other competencies that are a great addition to our team. Additionally Zack has agreed to be our "Pro-tempore" key holder when necessary, Zack's outstanding Knowledge and customer service made him a great candidate for this need.

Tasting room specialist : 

@ new members to our team will begin training this week . They will be formally introduced once their on-boarding and training is complete.

Key holder and tasting room specialist position open.

Key holder

Hiring process for a key holder position is on , we will be hiring one  key holder for the moment. This position is being posted internally only, if none of our internal candidates is not selected then the position will open to outside of LOW  candidates.

Please read the job description in the  link and if you are interested let me know with e-mail to Salud@lostoakwinery.com , apply by Sep 18. Interviews will be conducted Sep 18 to Sep 20. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GLiIgnVmYERsraYEiNulmB95xkLGWmxY2DJk4fL-WtQ/edit.

Tasting room specialist : 

We are looking for 2 tasting room specialist , this is a part time position. If you know anybody interested please ask them to e-mail their resumes by Sept  20 to salud@lostoakwinery.com. This is an external posting.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/149etu060RsOxSXdip0LfIvG6XAbpz_emBsIWARHI5JU/edit

Events for Back to School celebration 

TEACHER DISCOUNT

Starting 8/25/20, teachers and administrators can get 10% off their entire purchase if they show their ISD / ID in the Tasting Room. This includes public & private school teachers, homeschooling parents, & other school administrators. This offer is valid until the end of September.Discount does not apply on top of other discounts.

COLLEGE NIGHT

Starting Wednesday, 8/26/20, we will be having College Night on Wednesday nights from 5-8 PM. Students 21+ will get happy hour priced glasses when they show us their student ID. This will go through the end of September at which point we will re-evaluate and decide whether to continue college night or not.

Discounts offered at the tasting room all the time 

Employee - 50% off everything

Miliary - 10% off everything

Family - 35% off everything

Industry - 15% off everything

4.0 cellars wine club members - free tastings

To make sure these people get their discount, go to point of sale, search contact, manage contact, contact type and select the appropriate contact type. 

Read about the Adopt a Row Program here

www.lostoakwinery.com/Visit-Us/Adopt-a-Row

Music and TRM Event Plans 

Music from August 22 - September 29th will be from 6-9 p.m. on Thursdays and Saturdays. We will charge $8 cover. Thursdays will include chips and salsa. Saturdays will be a bigger band, like a concert.

We send the following email to all musicians at the winery.

• • Your contact person for the day is: (event Lead or Special Event Coordinator) Please allow 1 hour before your start time of 5 p.m. to set up.

  • Please plan to have an ipod/mp3 plugged in and to put on intermittent music between sets.

  • To unload, please drive down delivery drive and behind tasting room and unload behind patio. Please do not drive on grass; it is too easy to damage sprinkler heads. Afterwards, please park your car in overflow parking. (Ask someone in the tasting room to point you in the right direction.)

  • The band is welcome to wine. We have set a limit to 2 glasses of wine per person. Any of our staff can get that for you at the bar.

  • We aim to provide an optimal guest experience at all times. We may ask you to turn up or down the volume of the music at any time to accommodate our guests.

  • Please ask anyone at the tasting room for your check once you have finished.

  • Each band member is allowed 1 complimentary guest. Please send us a list of names so that we can add it to our list.

Chelsea is booking the music on the event plan on the intranet site, Tasting Room calendar/Lost Oak Event Details.  

• Lead/Keyholder needs print event plan.

• Lead/Keyholder needs to  make sure the entrance sign reads "Concert on the Lawn.

• Print RSVP / ticket list, Wine Direct Admin Panel/Reports/Sales/Page 2/ “Concert Ticketholder List”, Make sure dates are adjusted to allow a wide search time frame, Manage Filters/Change SKU for current event (see event plan).

• Pay the band. The check for musician, and any other vendor for that matter, can be found in the drawer in the tasting room.

• Fill out Event Recap, pull report for ticket sales too, Wine Direct Admin Panel/Reports/Sales/Sales Summary by Product, Make sure dates are adjusted to allow a wide search time frame, Manage Filters/Change SKU for current event (see event plan).

Band will set up on the stage.

COVID 3.0

• Hi Team .

I have the pleasure to communicate to you that we have been authorized by TABC to reopen our tasting room under the rule of 51% . Than means that basically we can operate as long as our sales are 51% or more in NON ALCOHOL . (Weird for a winery ) But anyway , the important thing is that we can resume business operations and that we can serve our customers in a better way than during the last few months.

I would like to invite you to an all staff meeting on our patio , next tuesday Aug 18, at 7 pm so we can communicate details of our operation and plans for the future. If you can not make it in person , let me know and I will send you also a zoom link so you can attend. It is very important to count with your presence. 

Our next events will be LIVE MUSIC on Saturday Aug 15 and Thursday Sangria on Aug 20. 

Additionally  I would like to apologize for the delay in the publication of the schedule but it has been not fun to try to juggle all the pieces with state government and TABC decisions changing constantly. I would like to offer you to make my best effort to have the schedule posted the Friday after payday but I also would like to ask you to request time off in the case you need it at least 3 weeks in advance so we can plan better according to your availability and our business needs.

So this is part of the plan for August:

Wine by the glass , and wine by the bottle will be served , quick tastings ( to help customers decide on the wine they want) is allowed. Plastic cups will be provided. Wine will be  served only for consumption in outdoor areas.

Every week we will plan on 2 different events :

Sangria Thursdays :  $8 dollar ticket that will include a bag of chips and Salsa . ( Chelsea to work and contact with Frescos in Burleson) 

Saturday evening  5 - 8 pm : Live music events , promoted as concerts . $ 8 dollar ticket.

Additionally we will make a sustained effort to promote sales of more food during our regular days and during events . For certain kinds of events, buying food with every glass or bottle of wine could be a requirement.

Sipping 65s will be Fridays from 2-5 p.m. designated patio seating.

Our food selection will be :

- Kids Cheese and fruit tray (Current)

- Individual Cheese and food tray ( Curent)

- Regular Cheese platter ( Current)

- 2 options of Sandwich - salad combination. 2 Salds

- 2-3 different pastry  pieces.

So for the moment , no outside foods or drinks are allowed in our premises. No coolers or any other kind of food container. Customers are required to purchase it from us.This is part of our commitment with TABC and the business model required to stay open. All other TABC rules apply as well as any other State or local government COVID related regulation like Mask use , social distancing and small groups gathering. 

Other areas that we will reactivate are regular tours on Fridays 1 pm , Saturdays  1pm and 3pm for regular tours and 5pm for premium .

Sundays 1pm regular tour, 3 pm for premium tours. Groups will be limited to 6 people and will keep all recomendacion about social distancing.

Thank you for working hard with us during these difficult times and for pushing this boat forward !

Annual Evaluations

Lost Oak Winery wants all employees to do well in their jobs. Evaluations are a tool we use to set goals and measure performance.  Under normal circumstances, we would be evaluating everyone's job performance at this time of year.  However, due to constant closures, we are going to do a modified version of this this year.

Tasting Room

• If you work full time in the tasting room, we will be conducting your evaluation now. 

• If you work part time, we are going to postpone this evaluation until the fall or when business resumes to some resemblance of normal.

Event Center

• If you work part time in the event center, we will be conducting your evaluation now. 

Full time and Office Staff

• All full time staff will get annual evaluations now. 

News regarding opening, COVID 3.0

Yesterday we applied for a modification to our premise  with the TABC. We have some updates as to what we are allowed and not allowed to do. 

As of today, we can service outside areas all around the property. Guests can come in the tasting room and purchase a bottle to-go and enjoy the wine in any outdoor space. 

To clarify, we will not be doing tastings or wine by the glass at this time. You must serve guests in a closed bottle and they can open it on their own. We have plenty of bottle opener’s for sale if they don’t have one with them.

All social distancing and health safety measures are required.

Beginning on Tuesday July 21st, our new hours of operation at the tasting room are:

• Tuesday to  Saturday  from 2 pm - 8 pm

• Sunday  from 2 pm - 7 pm 

Tours at our location will resume on August  1, 2020. 

(The details that were submitted to TABC will be found in a file folder at the tasting room, so if you get any questions, please contact Eduar or myself.)

COVID 19

Due to the governor’s most recent announcement (June 26th at 8:45 a.m.), we are going to have a close our tasting room. Our event center will continue to operate. Because of the shut down, we must make adjustments to our budget which will affect certain positions and hours. Please check schedule for updates.

Stay safe!!!  See updated blog. https://www.lostoakwinery.com/blog/COVID-2-0

State updates open.texas.gov/

Public event and private event updates

Public Events

Because we are limited to 100 people outside, we will be selling tickets to all events that draw a crowd.  Right now, that includes Sangria and July 4th.   We feel this is the best way to monitor crowds and not have to turn people away at the gate.  Ticket price will vary but $5 is what we are charging for these two events. We will have someone at the gate "checking people in" and will leave a buffer in case someone didn't get the word.  If someone wants to come in to pick up wines or make a purchase, we will still allow them to do so.a

We are asking people to wear masks inside. See announcement from yesterday for more info.

Private Events

We have spoken with the  County Commissioner with regards  to private events.  The Governor has clear mandates with regards to wedding reception venues updated on June 3rd. We have no reason to believe anything has changed.  WE are taking extra precautions and have all guests sign a waiver to make them aware of the risks. 

Stay safe!!!  See updated blog. https://www.lostoakwinery.com/blog/COVID-2-0

More COVID news

As some of you might already know  and due to the rapid increase in confirmed COVID 19 cases and hospitalization numbers in the State of Texas , Gov Abbott has issued a new regulation this morning and will take effect on Friday 26 at 12 PM. This new executive orders contains : 

"All bars and similar establishments that receive more than 51% of their gross receipts from the sale of alcoholic beverages are required to close at 12:00 PM today. These businesses may remain open for delivery and take-out, including for alcoholic beverages, as authorized by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission."

That means that we are not authorized for on premise consumption at the moment except for the outdoor areas with limited capacity  . We will go back to the emergency plan  we had  in place in March during the beginning of the health crisis and will be open only for curbside pick , deliveries and wine by the bottle. Tastings and wine by the glass is on hold until further notice.

All events that had been scheduled for June 26 and later dates are being modified ,  So if you were scheduled  for any of these events please keep a close eye to the schedule for modifications .   EVENT CENTER events are still scheduled for this weekend  as they were planned so if you are staff  on any of those events your schedule is the same (get in contact with Brooke for details).Regular Tours and Premium experiences are also being modified to be in compliance with safety guidelines and regulations.

Our hours are also changing , we will be open Tuesday - Sunday 

• Tue - Wed : 2pm - 8 pm, 

• Thu - Sat : 12pm - 9 pm 

• Sun : 12 pm - 7 pm .

If any additional changes are issued we will communicate those to you using e-mail and intranet .   Thank you very much for valuable support during this challenging time . And Stay Safe.

New mandates in Tarrant County

We are following the new mandates for Tarrant County regarding masks. We reside in Johnson County so this does not affect us here at Lost Oak Winery. We ARE keeping you safe. Our staff is required to wear masks when interacting with guests for employee and guest safety. While masks are not required, we do encourage their use when inside the Tasting Room. Currently, only seated tastings are taking place inside the building. All other wine consumption must take place on our patio and lawn and we are still using disposable cups. We want to continue to be a safe (yet comfortable) place for you to hang out. You can read more about this mandate on the FW Magazine website.

https://fwtx.com/news/tarrant-county-announces-face-mask-requirement-as-covid-19-c/?mc_cid=701174ebd2&mc_eid=6a6510d6f8

Open Texas Announcements from the Governor's Office

https://open.texas.gov/

Tasting Room ... More Changes

Hey guys. We will be making some changes beginning next week, June 8th.  We will be resuming wine by the glass and wine tastings in limited capacity at the tasting room.  

We will change our hours to:

• Closed Monday and Tuesday

• Wednesday 2:00-8:00

• Thursday 1:00 - 9:00

• Friday 12:00-9:00

• Saturday 12:00 - 9:00

• Sunday 12:00 - 7:00

Here are some details regarding some changes:

• New capacity for tasting room outdoors is 200 people. Event center, 100 people.

• Tasting room events will resume again with a different organization until we figure out how COVID and safety measures are affecting our traffic patterns.

Sangria Thursdays:

• First Sangria Thursday will be on June 11, 2020

• Sangria will be served in plastic carafes that customers can take with them. Cost of the carafe is included in the new price for the Sangria at $18. Susan

• Dolce rouge for sangria will be rung up under TR Pours.

• When possible, one staff member will be at the gate from 4 - 6 pm counting the number of guests but also providing customers with the information about safety and social distancing precautions.

• Sangria will be served in a second bar that will be created specifically for this. Two people in the schedule, usually one bar back and one staff will be in charge of preparing and serving the sangria.

• During a couple weeks we will maintain the schedule until 9:00 pm with last call at closing time. Schedule might be extended to 10pm if required and traffic/sales reflect the need.

Tastings

• Tastings will be only by appointment 

• Tables for tastings will be set at the cellar room: 2 tables for 6 people , 3 additional tables for 2 customers each.

• Price of Tasting increases to $10.

• Tastings will use glassware, not plastic cups.

• Premade format for tastings will be placed on the tables with an area designated for each glass as well as for tasting notes, a description of the wines will be placed on every table.

• Denise and Ally will be responsible for creating the flight sheets every 2 weeks

• Appointments for tastings will be booked through the web Fareharbor (same one used for our tours)

• Schedule for tastings will be as follows :

  • Wed : 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm.

  • Thu , Fry , Sat : 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm

  • Sunday: 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm

• Cut-off time to book your tasting will be midnight before the next tasting room open day. (about 12 hours)

• Staff scheduled for tastings is responsible for setting up and cleaning the tasting area.

• During Tours we will offer our customers a list of the wines so upon arrival to the tasting room customers can purchase wine.

Wine by the glass:

• Will continue with plastic cups, customers can opt to buy a LOW glass or other of the existing containers. 

• A complimentary glass of wine for our Wine Club Members will still be offered.  It will remain as a benefit but will not be advertised to new wine club members as an option except when a WC member asks for it.

• When providing customers with complimentary glass, remember :  

a) One glass per member per visit  maximum, in some cases partner or spouse will have it too, use your discretion.

b) Pull up  wine club membership information to verify member status.  (It is a member benefit, not a friend of a member benefit.)

c)  Ring the wine of glass under the members profile so we can keep track of it.

d)  The complimentary glass is to be used in lieu of a tasting, not automatically when the Member walks in the door.

Please see Eduar, Denise or Ally for questions.

Tasting Room Changes

Dear All,

Please welcome Eduar as our new Tasting Room Manager. In an interim capacity, he has helped us through COVID-19, 6:05 Lost Oka Live, curbside and deliveries.  He has worked closely with our Tasting room team to equip us to reopen. He's been doing tours for the last several months, almost a year, and understands our clientele, our culture and our Membership.  Eduar came from REI has a Manager overseeing many staff and REI Coop's Membership which equips him to improve our Wine Club Membership and present solutions around retail challenges we face. 

You all know him so please welcome him.  He's also my husband, which will make that strange at times, but please, feel free to come to me with any concerns or compliments. I'm always around.

Roxanne, 817-913-4872

Pay period changes

 To:  All Lost Oak Employees 

From:  Roxanne Meyers 

SUBJECT: PAY PERIOD CHANGES

Dear Lost Oak Team:

COVID-19 has changed how the payroll company needs to process our payroll. Memorial Day has changed this upcoming pay period. Therefore, your upcoming paycheck will cover:

1.     Tuesday, May 12 to Thursday, May 21. Monies will be deposited in your bank account on Thursday, May 28th before 5pm.

2.     The next pay period will be Friday, May 22 to Sunday, June 7. Monies will be deposited in your bank account on Thursday, June 11 before 5pm. 

After that it will be on this schedule with monies deposited in your bank account on Thursdays before 5pm.

3.     Monday, June 8 - Sunday, June 21

4.     Monday, June 22 - Sunday, July 5

5.     Monday, Jul 6 - Sunday, Jul 19

6.     and will continue that way, Monday to Sunday (14 days)

I’m sorry for this shortened pay period as it may cause financial constraints. If you need help, please contact Roxanne.

Delivery Schedule is being updated.. see below.. this is how it reads on the website.

For curbside pick-up, order by 4:30 p.m. for same day pickup.  Once order is placed, your order will be ready in two hours time. Orders placed after 4:30 p.m. will be ready by the start of the next business day.      Click here to see how to select this option in your Shopping Cart.

For shipments to Burleson, Crowley, Joshua, orders placed by midnight will be packed and delivered on the following Thursday. 

For shipments in Texas (not included in Burleson, Crowley, Joshua, orders placed by midnight will be packed and shipped the next business day and delivered by UPS.  Effective 3/26/20, UPS delivery times may be slightly longer than normal. Click here to read the changes to their delivery guarantee.

Ship outside of Texas by clicking right here. 

When shipping with high temperatures, we recommend you choose overnight shipping to avoid wine spoiling.

Josh is leaving us... but

He will be starting a new journey to Oklahoma Baptist University to major in Criminal Justice.   Thanks Josh for all you've done!  You've been with us for four years.  We'll miss your sweet smile ... and on that golf cart!

His last day is June 3, 2020.

His email:  par0625@yahoo.com

Maximum seating and Reopening Notes

We have had several inquiries/questions regarding seating limitations.  We can allow maximum of 6 people to be sat at each table.  There will be people who bring their own lawn chairs. They can pull up two extra chairs to a table or... They can set up in the lawn but must respect social distancing of 6 feet. If they are with someone in their household, they can sit closer.

Here is information from our most recent meeting. 

1. Notes about rules regarding reopening, see this link.

2. The video recording which was one hour.

3. The audio recording which was one hour.

https://www.lostoakwinery.com/About-Us/Blog

Great article to support reopening safety protocols at the winery

Amid the Coronavirus Crisis, a Regimen for Reëntry

Health-care workers have been on the job throughout the pandemic. What can they teach us about the safest way to lift a lockdown?

By Atul Gawande

May 13, 2020

See full article here.

Keeping Track of Wine

As you know, TABC recently did an audit and we need to be more vigilant about keeping track of every bottle out the door. To accomplish this, we will use Wine Direct to track all these wines. It'll be a group effort to keep tabs on this.

The "name" below is the name of the customer you have to search in Wine Direct. Ring up individual bottles of wine sold as sales. It should automatically apply a 100% discount.

• TR Pour - wine opened for wine by the glass or tastings. We can use these bottles for staff after-shift drinks but we need to use wine already open if possible, especially now that we aren't doing wine by the glass service.

• Gift - This category is for free bottles given to volunteers or others with no promotional benefit.

• Cocktail - We are eliminating the use of this customer.

• Damaged - wine broken, accessories that arrive broken or damaged.

• Staff - freebies for staff for meeting goals or rewards,  company parties etc.. 

• Library - wine pulled off from bottling for competitions or for release at a Cellar select event.  

• Research - wine pulled out of inventory, either in the tasting room or the wine production facility, for bench trials, testing, etc. that we use to understand our wine, our market or our targets better.

• Promo- wines pulled for promotion for outside sales, barters, anything to gain more sales.

• Owner - wines given to Jim, Roxanne or Gene or Judy.

Employee discount has been changed to 50%.

This change is effective today 

Low Inventory/ Out of Stock

Here are the wines that we are out of at the barn:

• Crimson Oak 2017

• Rosa Blanca NV (we will release the 2019 with the June Wine Club)

• Sweet Duet 2017

• Texas Duet 2017

We are completely out of Petit Verdot 2018

Add a Bottle Program

We have begun a new program called Add-a-Bottle.  This is a voluntary opportunity offered to all our active Wine Club Members to support the winery while they can't hang out with us at the tasting room and for events. Members can sign up at this link.  Limited time only, this Add-a-Bottle Club option is available for Lost Oak Winery active Wine Club Members while the tasting room is closed for fun parties and onsite consumption.

1. Offer is for a limited time only

2. Contains one bottle of dry red, dry white or sweet wine of Lost Oak's choice and cannot be customized. 

3. Reds are $26, Whites are $16.  

4. This includes their Wine Club discount.

5. This is not a standalone club; it must be used in conjunction with  current active Wine Club Membership.

6.  The wine will be added to  Wine Club shipment and Members will be notified via email.

7. All rules and benefits for  Wine Club Membership apply.

Extra money for you

Hey guys, This is a great article about money given to you based on your 2019 tax return. 

https://www.jmco.com/individual-recovery-rebate/

Stimulus Package

Hey guys, New York Times has a great article on the stimulus package. 

https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-stimulus-package-questions-answers.html

Please read it carefully. It could help you, your family and probably some other people you know.

Limited Time Offer to Wine Club Members

We are offering to our Wine Club Members for a limited time only and reaching out to them personally over the phone. We are offering Mystery Half Cases of Cellar Select vintages.  They contain some awesome past vintages, including but not limited to:

Cellar Select big red wines normally priced at $35 per bottle.  

A. Cabernet Franc 2017

B. Tempranillo 2016

C. Holiday 2018

D. Montepulciano 2015, 2016.

Select Dry white wines,  normally $25 per bottle

A. Blanc du Bois 2016

B. Orange Muscat 2016

C. Sauvignon blanc 2018

New Tasting Room Hours

You are an integral part of our business. Thank you for all your support through these crazy times.

We have to close the tasting room for consumption on premise temporarily.

Governor Abbott’s recent executive order limiting gatherings of more than 10 people and our local county judge reinforcing this.  In an act of solidarity Texas wineries have chosen to close their tasting rooms to limit the spread of COVID-19.

There is good news. Guests can still do many other things.

• Come in to purchase to-go from 2-7 p.m., 7 days per week.  We have cordoned off the patio and will not be opening bottles, or letting guests congregate on the patio or in the cellar room. 

• Purchase online, pick up curbside from 2-7 p.m., 7 days per week.

• Purchase online 2-12 bottles and automatically get free shipping!

• Use the Hike and Bike Trail! Accessible via County Road 802, the trailhead is in the back by the production facility and offers 2.25 miles of fresh air.

Stay home. Stay safe and again, thanks for your support.

Being Prepared Part 2

Due to Coronavirus we are making further changes to the procedure in the tasting room.

• We are limiting seating in the Cellar Room and encouraging people to sit outside

• The plastic sides on the patio will be coming down very soon to make the patio a more open space

• We will have signs up that state "to ensure social distancing, please do not move any of the tables or chairs" 

• We are taking away the self serve water urn and the ice on the patio to limit cross contamination

• We are encouraging people to get a glass or bottle of wine and sit on the patio/outside

• If they want to do a tasting we will provide all 4 of the flight sheet wines and ask them to enjoy the tasting at their table

• We are limiting the tours and tastings to no more than 6 people at a time

• We are implanting a curbside pickup program to encourage to go orders

• We are making shipping free so that we can promote online shopping

Access to hand sanitizer and disinfectant is still non existent.... We have purchased high proof grain alcohol to use on door handles and and other non porous surfaces that are touched regularly. There is a spray bottle in the TR and EC kitchen. For surfaces like tables, counter tops, and chairs please use this mixture:

• 2 parts Dual Q Sanitizer (the dispenser over the kitchen sink)

• 1 part hot water

• squirt of dish soap

When using this mixture, please use bar towels as paper towels are in limited supply too. Change out the bar towel often, wash it with hot soapy water before throwing it into the hamper. Judy knows that we are going to be going through more bar towels and will be checking laundry often. 

When collecting used glasses, please wear gloves. 

Event Cancellations Information

WICKED WINE RUN

Due to local government recommendations and mandates, Wicked Wine Run on 3/21/20 has been cancelled. Participants have a couple of options.

·         Participate in a virtual Wicked Wine Run and receive you shirt, race bib, plus a surprise bonus gift in the mail. You will also be able to bring in your WWR confirmation email and your ID to receive your Wicked Wine Run stemless wine glass.

OR

·         Have your registration transferred to the September 12th DFW Wicked Wine Run.

Unfortunately, they will not be able to do refunds due to the countless hours and dollars that have already been spent preparing for this event that has now had to be cancelled.

3/19/20 Sip N Shop

The Sip N Shop has been postponed. There will still be live music at the Tasting Room. Participants in the Sip N Shop have two options:

·         Have their booth reserved now, before anyone else, for the July 16th Back to School Sip N Shop that we will be planning in lieu of this one.

OR

·         Get a refund for their booth fee.

Questions? Ask Chelsea

Job Opening

Dear all, Ty Berringer will be leaving us. We now have a job opening for Winemaking Assistant/Cellar Master. 

Here is a link to the Job Description if you or someone you know is interested. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me anytime. 

Roxanne

817-913-4872

Being Prepared

During this Novel Coronavirus scare, Lost Oak Winery has been thinking through options to help our staff and our guests feel at ease. 

For you, we are busy ensuring soap and hand sanitizer supply is adequate, where possible. We have ordered extra hand sanitizer dispensers for our guests. 

• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is the best, most effective preventative measure.

• Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth with unclean hands.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or sneeze into your elbow

• At home and at work, clean frequently touched surfaces.

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

• Stay home if you are sick.

• Rest assured, according to the CDC, the coronavirus is not related to any food products.

For our guests, we are tailoring our messaging to promote Lost Oak Winery as a great place to hang out, open air and open spaces.   With so many travel restrictions in place, we are a great alternative for entertainment during Spring Break and for private events where guests had plans for destination weddings. 

Understand that access to hand sanitizer and sanitizing products are limited right now. We are looking into every opportunity to get the necessary products, cleaning solution for wiping down surfaces, soap and more hand sanitizer.  For now, we do have some hand sanitizer and sanitizing cleaning wipes on hand.

Other things that will help prevent the spread:

• Please use the wipes daily on door handles and surfaces that are touched often, particularly the bar and guest tables both outside and inside. This has to be tasting room staff when barbacks are not available.  At the end of the night, ensure all surfaces are wiped down before going home.

• Do not touch the pour stop or bottle to the glass you are pouring into.

• If a guest brings a used glass to the counter for a refill, give them a clean glass instead of refilling the used one.

• Do not leave used glasses out for very long, get them into the dishwasher as quickly as possible. 

For upcoming bigger events, we will be avoiding toys, activities and other means for potential spread or contamination. For example, use plastic cups instead of glass, avoid bounce houses, warning signs at the community ice chest, etc.  Any surfaces that could be touched by multiple people, will be controlled where possible.  

Take care of yourself and we will keep you posted of more updates.

Employee Meeting: March 2020

Happy Workiversary:

• Justin - 2 years

• Lindsay - 7 years

Monthly Wine Club Bonus:

Top Wine Club Peeps

Denise - $53.40

Brennan - $22.20

Virginia - $20.30

Most Improved:

Meeting Focus: Barbacks!

What do barbacks do for us?

• Keep clean glasses stocked

• Bus tables

• Check and stock:

  • Wine shelf

  • Wine and soda fridge

  • Wine Club boxes

• Check bathrooms for cleanliness and restock toilet paper and paper towels

• Check trash cans 

• Make cheese boards

• Cheese board prep

  • Slice cheese, mix nuts, mix dried fruit

• Keep kitchen clean

  • Wash dishes

  • Put away clean dry dishes

  • Keep counters clear of clutter

• Refill water urn with water and ice

• Restock plastic wear, plates, napkins, and cups next to water urn

• Replenish ice in coolers

 Other things that a barback legally can do, but is not their primary job

• They can run the POS, however they do not have profiles 

• They can open bottles of wine and hand them to a Tasting Room specialist

• They can sign up wine club members

What can they not do?

• They CAN NOT SERVE ANYONE WINE

Let’s learn a little more about the job of a barback form everyone’s perspectives:

 Tasting Room specialist and barbacks, use the paper to write down what you think the “other side” needs to know about your job, use as many pieces of paper as you feel you need. As always, be courteous and respectful as you are writing these. 

 Try to make these statements “I” statements, for example “I find it hard to do my job when I’m asked to do too many things at once.” or “I find that when it gets busy, I have more of a need for chilled bottles of wine.” 

These statements can also be positives, “I find it very helpful when the barbacks keep the shelves stocked because I have a hard time lifting the cases.” or “I appreciate it when Tasting room staff steps in and clears a table for me, I don’t always see them.” 

Keep your comments anonymous, do not discuss them with your group.

 BEFORE YOU WRITE SOMETHING DOWN, ASK YOURSELF:

a)      Is this statement helpful?

b)      Will this statement make the “other side '' feel good about the job they do?

The answer to both questions must be YES.

 Part Two

• Barbacks turn your statements into the TR Specialist bucket

• TR Specialist turn your statements into the barback bucket. 

• After they have all been turned in I’ll pass them out to different groups

• Barbacks read the statements made by the TE Specialist, TR Specialist read the statements made by the Barbacks

• Discus among your group

• Each group will present some of the things they learned

Here are some of the things we all learned:

• No one likes to be told what to do, rather than tell or order, ask politely

• Be clear with what you need when asking anyone to help you

• If you are able to do it yourself, go ahead and do it rather asking a barback to do it for you

• We can all do barback duties, they are support staff, not minions

• It is helpful when barbacks anticipate needs rather than waiting to be asked to do something

• Barbacks have their own flow for completing tasks, sometimes you may see a need for something but they are already doing something that is equally as/more important, work with each other not against

• Tasting room specialist appreciate it when barbacks interact with guests, even a simple smile can go a long way 

• Cretin barback duties take longer than others, be mindful of that when asking them to do different tasks

• Tasting Room staff can do barback duties before the barback arrives, this helps the barback to not start the day off bogged down

The biggest take away is that we are all working together, no one job duty or task is more important than the others. They are all important to the guest experience. All of our jobs are working towards the same goal; happy guests who come back again and again. 

All of the Barback and Tasting Room Specialist comments are posted on our mission statement poster for everyone to read over. 

Not everyone can be a Tasting Room Specialist 

Why did the amateur musician fail at wine tasting?

He couldn't get the notes.

Thank you Susan O'Donnell for sharing. 

Food for Cheeseboards

When you open a new bag of cubed cheese or sliced salami you HAVE TO PUT ALL OF IT into new gallon zip lock baggies with the date written on them. The food bins we use in the fridge are for organization purposes ONLY. They are not Tupperware, they do not seal completely. If you put an opened bag of cubed cheese in the bin and not a zip lock baggie, it will go bad faster. Also, we need to know when that bag was opened to make sure we are making cheeseboards with the freshest products. This also goes for the Gouda and fruit cheese. When you open one, slice the whole thing up and put the slices in a new zip lock baggie with the date written on it.

New Button on the POS

If someone comes in for a tasting (a tasting is 3 or more samples of wine) you have to click it on the clicker. This means; wedding tastings, torus, non-wine club members who are purchasing a tasting, wine club member who are not purchasing a tasting, wine club member just trying the wines in their club box, non wine club member who tried 3 samples before choosing one to have as a glass/bottle, a guest with a free tasting coupon. All of those tastings need to be clicked and entered into the POS at the end of the day. Roxanne and I use this information for a variety of reporting and forecasting, so it may not seem like it, but it is very important. 

But now, the buttons look a little different. The WC Tasting Button is for Wine Club Members who are getting their free tasting (either in lieu of a complimentary glass or for their guests). Just like with the free glass of wine, any employee can look at there tab and quickly see if they have taken advantage of the free tasting. YOU STILL HAVE TO CLICK FOR THE TASTING. You do not have to ring up any other free tastings, but make sure you click it. At the end of the night all the clicker totals will be entered into the POS with the $0 Clicker Tasting button.  

Ideally (and I know it gets busy and some tastings get missed), the number of clickers entered into the POS via the $0 Clicker Tasting button should be an accurate total of all the tastings done that day, and the WC Tasting is more for you guys to monitor if Wine Club members have taken advantage of their free tasting or glass of wine. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

April Wine Club Wines!

Here are the wines that we are planning to release for the April Wine Club:

Sadie 2018 - a playful red blend (similar to Holiday)

Texas Trio 2018 - dry red blend

Orange Muscat 2019 - stop fermented sweet white

Sauvignon Blanc 2018 -dry white

For everyone asking about Tempranillo 2018, you can tell them that we are tentatively looking to bottle in May. We are wanting to release it with the September Wine Club, but I make no guarantees. Jim and Gene have the finial say on this wine. Rest assured that when it is released it will have been worth the wait.

Reserve Tables for Aficionados

It never hurts to have a reminder, so here is a reminder of our policy on reserve tables for Aficionados Wine Club Members.

Let's start off with the basics. We only reserve tables for Aficionado Wine Club Members. 

They get ONE table with 4 chairs. If they want seating for more than that, they can try and come early to secure extra seating. Extra seating is not guaranteed. If there are two Aficionado members that are friends, then we can reserve two tables together for them, but we need to know about it in advance. 

We do not want to reserve the ENTIRE patio or cellar room for Aficionado members, we would like the other guest to have a chance at getting a table too. There for, we will only allow, at most, 8 tables on the patio and 5 tables in the cellar room to be reserved by Aficionados. These tables will be reserved in the order that they contact us. That does not mean that once 8 tables on the patio and 5 tables in the cellar room have been reached we an't taking table reservations anymore, we can still reserve tables on the lawn near the patio, lawn near the fence, or creekside. 

There is also a time limit to their table reservation. We will only hold their table for 30 minus after the event starts. If it is a slower event we can hold it for longer, but the official protocol is to pull their reserved table sign 30 minutes after the start of the event.  

If they call and talk to you here is the protocol:

Yes, we can reserve a table for you, however there is limited seating on the patio and it is booked in the order that we are contacted for it. I do not know if there are any tables available on the patio at this time (or you can pull up the spreadsheet and check). If there are not, is there another location you would prefer? We have the lawn near the patio, lawn near the fence, creekside, and inside the cellar room (maybe). I also want to let you know that due to the limited seating we will only hold you table for 30 minutes after the event starts.  

Here is the link to the Aficionado Reserve table spreadsheet

The goal is to accommodate as many people as possible and get them in the spot they want, but we want to be clear that their desired location is not guaranteed, especially if it is a busy event. 

If you have any questions, please ask Angela. 

Personalized Wine Labels:

Yes, we do personalized labels for bottles of wine! 

Here's how it works:

• There is a binder in the tasting room with the options for custom labels, they have to pick one of the options. 

• Fill out the yellow Personalized Label Order Form, the forms are in the drawer labeled: Forms

• The form will ask them what bottle of wine they would like the personalized label to be on. They can only choose from the wine listed on the form; those are the wines we have been approved to have custom labels on.

  • Montepulciano, Cabernet Sauvignon (not the reserve), Merlot, Crimson Oak, Sauvignon Blanc, Blanc du Bois, Rosa Blanca, Sweet Duet, Sweet Moscato, Dolce Rouge, and Tempranillo, Viognier 

• If they choose a label with a personal picture on it they will need to email the jpeg to Angela: salud@lostoakwinery.com

  • Angela will not start on their label until she gets the photo

  • Once the label is designed she will send them a proof to approve before it is sent to print

• Customized labels must be paid in full at the time the order is placed

  • They will be charged for 

    • The wine

    • A one time set up fee of $9.00

    • $4.00 per label

  • For example, I want the same custom label on 2 bottles of Crimson Oak, I would be charged for 2 bottles of Crimson Oak, 1 label set up fee, and 2 personalized labels 

  • If I come back a year form now and want that same personalized label again, I would be charged for 2 bottles of Crimson Oak, and 2 personalized labels (no need to charge for the set up fee because the label is already made). 

  • If I want a different label then I'd get charged the label set up fee again. 

• All of the buttons to charge someone for personalized labels are on the POS under Winery Services

we need 3 business day minimum notice for a personalized label, but keep in mind that Angela is the one making them. If she is not here at her desk or on vacation, it will not get done right away. She also sends all labels to the guest for final approval before they are sent to print so if they don't get back to her quickly it could delay the process significantly. Then it gets sent to print, picked up, and then attached to the bottles. Realistically, we need about a week. But, if there is a time crunch and Angela is notified immediately, she can get it done in 72 hours. Let Angela know if you have any questions.

T-Shirt Winners

Recently there was a trivia question on our Facebook for a free t-shirt. there are 2 winners:

• Laura Welch and Tiffany Glover

They should stop by later this week to pick up their prize. Let them select the style and size they want and then gift it out to them.

Thanks!

Wine Education February: Sparkling Wine

Wine Club Monthly Bonus:

Most improved over last month:

Meeting Focus: Sparkling Wine

Making wine:

•  Start with a sugary grape juice

• Add yeast

• Yeast eats the sugar and produces byproducts: 

  • Heat

  • Carbon Dioxide Gas

  •  Ethyl Alcohol

A brief History of Winemaking

• There is evidence to suggest that wine making goes back to 6,000 BC.

• Grape growing and wine production quickly spread across the world.

• As winemaking techniques got better through time, certain regions began to stand out as superior at growing grapes and making wine.

Optimal grape growing regions are between 30-50° north and 30-50° south of the equator.

The Champagne region is very close to the uppermost latitude.

Unknowingly, this put Champagne on the road to become the first place to start commercially making sparkling wine, but why?

How did the bubbles get in the wine? 

The climate of Champagne

• Temperatures range from low 30s in winter to high 60s in summer months.

• Because of this harvest happens early to take advantage of the warmer weather.

• If it didn’t happen early enough the cold weather would stop fermentation before it was done.

Not knowing that fermentation wasn’t done, the monks would bottle the wine, and when it warmed back up fermentation would start again, infusing the wine with CO2 bubbles.

Because of this, wine from Champagne had a reputation of exploding on people and got the fun nickname of “Le Vin Du Diable”

Most people did not like Champagne….

 When did Champagne’s reputation start to turn?

“Come quickly, I am drinking stars!”

 Fast Forward to the 1600’s

Wine is being drunk by all the kings, Queens, and nobles. France is one of if not the leader in all the world when it comes to wine. The most notable regions being Bordeaux and Burgundy

Less notable is Champagne, in fact Champagne is known for having bad wine… Because it explodes on people and no one knows why.

Don Perignon (father of sparkling wine)

• Known as the inventor of Champagne (1693)

• But really, he spent more time trying to get the bubbles out of the wine.

• Pioneered the method for making white wine from red grapes.

 Champagne Method or Methode Classique (Formally known as méthode champenoise or méthode champenoise traditionnelle)

• Make wine

• Fill bottles filled with wine and a small amount of sugar and yeast

• Bottles are corked (modern bottling used a bottle cap)

• Bottles sit, yeast eats sugar, yeast dies.

• Bottles are disgorged and dosage is added

Riddiling is the process where bottles of champagne are given a small shake and a twist and then placed back into the rack at an increased tilt. This moves the dead yeast to the neck of the bottle so that it can be removed.

Charmat Method

• Make wine

• Add sugar and yeast to tank

• Second fermentation takes place in the tank

• The bubble wine is then bottled and corked

Injection Method:

• Make wine

• Add carbonation at bottling (like a soda)

Pétillant-naturel or Pét-Nat Method

• Also known as méthode ancestrale

• The wine is bottled before primary fermentation is finished allowing it to finish the fermentation in the bottle

Clarification on Complimentary Wine Club Glass of Wine 

A Wine Club member and one guest may receive a complimentary glass of wine in place of a complimentary wine tasting. In other words; only 2 Complimentary glasses of wine per wine club account per day (Wine Club member must be present).  

Wine Club members can still bring more guests in for complimentary Tours and Tastings and Flight Sheet Tastings:

• Enthusiast:  Free tours and tastings and free flight sheet tastings for up 6 people

• Aficionado: Free tours and tastings and free flight sheet tastings for up to 10 people

Tours need to be booked through our website in advance. 

A complimentary glass of wine is a smaller pour than a regular glass of wine. It is the same amount of wine they would be getting if they decided to do a tasting instead of the glass of wine. Please see the pictures below.

Normal 5 oz glass of wine: 

Regular Glass: the wine should touch slightly above the bottom of the words Lost Oak.

Wine Club Glass: it should be just a hair below the midpoint of the word Club. 

Complementary glass of wine:

Regular Glass: the wine should touch the bottom of the word Winery.

Wine Club Glass: it should be just a hair above the bottom of the Wine Club circle. 

The glasses with "fill lines" marked on them are displayed in the Tasting Room kitchen. Please do not remove these glasses. 

Use the smaller complimentary pour any time you are pouring a free glass of wine this includes wine that is included for an event and complimentary   wine at a wedding.

Bi-Monthly Employee Meeting: January 2020

Happy Workiversary!

Nancy - 6 years!

Wine Club Monthly Bonus: December

Top Wine Club Peeps:

Denise: $56.70

Sheri: $33.00

Brennan: $20.40

Most Improved Over Previous Month:

Meeting Focus: Positivity at Work

At work has 2 meanings here:

As a noun: the place where you work

As a verb: producing a result 

Today's meeting focus is about how to bring positivity into the workplace and how to make it work for you.

There is no such thing as a bad wine, but there is wine you don’t like. 

There are also no bad people, just people you don’t like. 

And for the most part, extenuating circumstances aside, there are no bad tasks, situations, or settings, these are just things that you don’t like.

In all of these instances, the common thread is… YOU. 

How you interact with an unpleasant person, place, event, or thing dictates your mood and the mood of people around you.

Your ability to turn these people, places, events, or things into positives can improve all aspects of your life. 

Let’s Learn Some Things:

When in a negative emotional state verses a neutral emotional state you are 25%-40% less likely to want to perform an act, any act. That means that when you are in a negative emotional loop you are less likely to do the things you need to do as well as the things you want to do. Conversely, when in a positive emotional state versus a neutral one you are 25% - 50% more likely to want to do things.

For example, if you were in a negative mood as you walked down the street, you may not want to pet a dog walking by even if doing so might give you joy. Negativity narrows you focus because, to your brain, petting a dog might seem irrelevant. The negative emotion overrides the possible positive outcome. 

The December 2005 issue of Psychological Bulletin, examined studies of over 275,000 people and found that the happiest people owe their success, in part, to their optimism and positive outlook…. “When people feel happy, they tend to feel confident, optimistic and energetic and others find them likeable and sociable.” - Dr. Lyubomirsky

Some research suggests that each of us has between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts a day, and up to 80% of them are negative. This literally affects every aspect of your life!

There are certain social benefits to commiserating with your fellow mankind. Complaining about shared annoyances to friends and family can be therapeutic. Gossip can make you feel better about your life and the choices you have made. But if you could change your thoughts so that more of them were positive than negative, would you? 

The answer to that question should be yes. The common thread is… YOU, and you have the power to make positivity work for you and make your work better.

Train Your Brain to be Positive:

• Observe your thoughts, take a moment to analyze your thoughts and ask yourself, are these positive? If not, what is a  positive you can identify at the moment? 

• Throughout your day, identify 3 positives. A good cup of coffee, someone complimented your outfit, you get to have your favorite thing for dinner, and so on. These things can be big or small and sometimes taking the moment to identify them can make a huge difference.   

• Ever walk by a stranger and think, ‘Wow, they have some cool shoes.’?Instead of just thinking about it, tell them. Paying a compliment to a stranger has a bigger effect on your mood than paying a compliment to someone you know, and it brightens their day too.  

• Help others, even people that you don’t get along with, it could go a long way to build common ground between you and people you didn’t think you liked. 

• Take care of yourself. Eat right, exercise, and get plenty of sleep.

• But also, do some of the things you love that might be bad for you; don’t skip the wine and chocolate and pet that dog on the street even if you don't feel like it.  

Homework, or Workwork:

I want to see everyone actively working towards making our shared work environment one of positivity, for your coworkers, for our guests, and for yourself. I’m going to say this one more time:

There are no bad people, just people you don’t like. 

And for the most part, extenuating circumstances aside, there are no bad tasks, situations, or settings that are bad, these are just things that you don’t like.

In both of these instances, the common thread is… YOU. And if you are in a negative mood, chances are that the people around you are too, and that is not good for your health, your relationships, or our work environment.

• Find things you like about the people who surround you at work (coworkers and guests).

• Tell them what you like about them. 

• Say thanks when they do a task, even if it doesn't really affect you. The acknowledging that a task was done furthers their drive to continue doing tasks. 

• When someone does the same to you, identify it as a positive interaction and associate it with that person. Over time, doing this can change the way you think about that person. 

New Year New Availability! 

Happy new year! I want to make sure that I have everyone's availability correct. Please take a moment to check the template below. This is the availability I have for you for any given week. If something is not correct please email me ASAP so I can get it fixed. Please keep me updated with any changes to your schedule so that I can keep this up to date so that I will only schedule you for days that you can work. 

Partial Cases in the Finished Wine Room

Unless it is wedding wine or seller select wine there should NEVER be partial cases of wine in the finished wine room. Let me repeat that for the people in the back; THERE SHOULD NEVER BE PARTIAL CASES OF WINE IN THE FINISHED WINE ROOM! Check out whole cases of wine or pull bottles form the rack in the tasting room. 

Thirsty Thursday's in January

Because the music for the Winter-wine Down starts at 4:30 the $5.00 happy hour special will start at 4:00 instead of 5:00. This is only for Thursdays in January. 

January Wine-down to-go Sale!

We have an overstock of 4 bottle totes leftover from when we had the Entertainer Wine Club level. So, in an effort to move these boxes we are going to have wine to-go sale in January. If they buy 4 bottles to-go they get 40% off. This is not an extra discount on top of their wine club, it is a flat 40% for everyone. How to ring this up:

• If they are having a bottle of wine here you will have to do a separate transaction for the the 4 to-go.

• The discount will apply automatically when 4 bottles have been added to the cart, but it will only apply to the first 4 bottles.

• They can purchase another 4 bottles to-go but it has to be a separate transaction.

• It can only be purchased in groups of 4 (because we are trying to get rid of the 4 bottle totes).

• It does not apply to to the Madeiras.

Upcoming Payroll

Our pay day falls on the payroll company's Christmas break so our pay period will be a little different:

The pay period will be from December 12 to December 22nd and your check will still be direct deposited on Thursday December 26th. Monday, December 23rd will be included on the next payroll. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Wine Education: December

No Workiversaries for December 

Wine Club Monthly Bonuses for November!

Top Wine Club Peeps!

Denise: $55.40 

Sheri: $34.70

Hayley: $30.30

Most Improved:

Wine Education Focus: Wine Guessing Game

For each wine everyone had to guess the Varietal, Region/Country, & Price Range

Clues: 

All the wines are single varietals and no two varietals are the same, each wine is a different grape. 

Each wine is from a different region, but a few are from the same country (for example, there may be 2 from France but they are from different parts of France (The one exception is that there are 2 from Lost Oak). 

The only clue for price range is that one is < $10.00 and one is >$60.00

For each wine there was the possibility of getting 3 points (one point for each category, Varietal, Region/Country, Price Range)

The person at the end of the game with the most points won my love and admiration! 

This was a really fun game and everyone had great guesses! You should never miss a wine education because sometimes we just try new things. 

Tyler Kafka

It is very hard to find words to describe what has happened. Friend and fellow employee Tyler Kafka passed away in a car collision early Sunday morning. I can't describe the sorrow that we are all feeling right now. His sudden death has left many of us in shock. Because he and his family are from California there will not be an official memorial happening in Texas. Many of us were very close to him and we would like to offer a time and space for people to share their memoirs and process their grief. Tomorrow (Tuesday November 26th)  at 5:30 we will be holding a memorial for him at Creekside. Potluck snacks would be appreciated but are not required. I will have cards for everyone to sign at the memorial. I will also create a more formal letter with thoughts from the staff. If you would like to contribute to this, please send me one or two sentences about him. To go with this I am going to print and frame a recent photograph that was taken here for our website. The cards, letter, picture and any personal letters you would like to include, will all be sent to his family.

Please keep his family in your thoughts. 

Here is a link to an article about the collision. 

Up coming Payroll

Our pay day falls on Thanksgiving this go round and the payroll company will be closed on Thanksgiving so our pay period and the direct deposit will be a little different:

The pay period will be from November 12 to November 24th and your check will be direct deposited on Wednesday November 27th. Monday, November 25th will be included on the next payroll. Let me know if you have any questions. 

2019 SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION RESULTS

DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL, 94 points, Lost Oak Winery 2017 Cabernet Franc, Texas

SILVER MEDAL, Lost Oak Winery 2017 Montepulciano , Texas High Plains

BRONZE MEDAL, Lost Oak Winery 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Texas High Plains

BRONZE MEDAL, Lost Oak Winery 2017 Meritage, Texas High Plains

BRONZE MEDAL, Lost Oak Winery 2018 Petit Verdot, Texas High Plains

BRONZE MEDAL, Lost Oak Winery 2018 Viognier, Texas High Plains

Employee Meeting November

Happy Workiversary!

Ryan: 2 years!

Zack: 1 year

Wine Club Bonuses:

Top Wine Club Peeps:

Denise: $54.90

Sheri: $34.70

Hayley: $28.30

Meeting Focus: This is Your Tasting Room!

This meeting was pretty interactive, if you weren't at the meeting and still want to share your answers to the questions shoot me an email. 

Let’s take a moment to think back on moments where customer service really impacted you.

Write down a time where you were given bad customer service:

Take the time to look closer at this experience: How did that make you feel about that business? Was it something wrong with the company itself or just an employee having a bad day? Did you ever go back?

Write down a moment where you were given exceptional customer service:

Take the time to look closer at this experience: How did that make you feel about that business? Was this something intrinsic to the company itself or just an exceptional employee? Did go back and if you did, did you have the same experience? 

What does this mean for you?

As Tasting Room team members, how do these experiences affect the way you do your job?

Take a moment and write down what it means to give a good customer experience at Lost Oak.

I want everyone to take these experiences and incorporate them into your work here. I want everyone to see this Tasting Room through the guests eyes. And, more importantly, take ownership of the Tasting Room. You are the face, you know the wine club members names, you know what they drink, you know how to make someone uncomfortable with wine comfortable. Everyone that is here is here because they have something to contribute to the guest experience. Without the guest experience, we don’t have a place to work. 

I want everyone here to contribute to an employee mission statement. One paragraph that everyone strives to live up to, not just because of the customer service aspect but for our continued teamwork. This doesn't just apply to Tasting Room staff, but will extend to Management as well. 

Think of skills or attitude qualities that you feel are important for teamwork and for the guest experience.  Remember, this is a broad statement, we are not nitpicking or highlighting pet peeves. This is not about the process or flow or police, it is simply….. What should a Lost Oak Winery Employee strive to be. 

For inspiration look to Disney; arguably one of the leaders in customer service:

At Disney's core there are four words:

• Safety

• Courtesy

• Show

• Capacity

Though “Capacity” later evolved to  ”Efficiency,” these standards have endured the test of time. As new executives  have come on board, management in the parks have locked arms and insisted that these Four Keys stay intact. They are taught to all Disney Cast Members around the world. They are prioritized, and as such, can be used as a decision-making tool that is easy to remember and can be used as a litmus test for excellence, in both planned and spontaneous moments.

Lost Oak Employee Mission Statement

I am a friend and loyal to my coworkers.

I am approachable and charismatic.

I am a team player and ready to cooperate and communicate with respect.

I engage with the others around me with genuine joy.

I understand that we are all in this together and my choice in attitude directly affects those around me.

I take pride in the job I do and strive to always do my best.

I work at a winery and it is a fun, cool, and fascinating job.

In all things we strive to be OAK

Open

Approachable

Kind

Written by the wonderful staff of Lost Oak Winery.

We are Changing Our Hours

You may have already noticed on the schedule that starting on November 6th our hours are changing. 

Closed on Monday and Tuesday

Wednesday 2:00-8:00

Thursday 1:00-9:00

Friday 12:00-9:00

Saturday 12:00-9:00

Sunday 12:00-7:00

Name Tags

I will be ordering name tags soon, let me know by November 6th if you need one.

Abuse of the request time off spreadsheet! 

Let's play a game, Acceptable or Not Acceptable. Ready?

ACCEPTABLE! 2 happy employees asked for a day off in the space allotted. 

NOT ACCEPTABLE! This is clearly a red day, it clearly says Talk to Angela about asking for this day off. TALK TO ANGELA ABOUT ASKING FOR THIS DAY OFF DOES NOT MEAN WRITE YOUR NAME ABOVE IT. 99 times out of 100 I will approve it, I honestly just want a heads up and I want YOU to be conscious of the days I need people and the days that a lot of people are asking off. 

ACCEPTABLE! It's not all about asking for days off, you can also use this sheet to let me know that you CAN work! 

NOT ACCEPTABLE! You can't just squeeze your name in there wherever it fits! I don't want to be blindsided by a a day that EVERYONE is asking off. Your name should be in a place where I expect it to be, not floating off to the side. Just email me. I'll look at the day, give a small grumble under my breath and then add another line to the spreadsheet for the day you want. 

ACCEPTABLE! This is a day we are normally closed but we will actually be open. Ally let me know that she can work and Stephen let me know that he can not work. Two thumbs up!

NOT ACCEPTABLE! November 29 is full and Justin also needs it off. Again, 99 times out of 100 I will approve a time off request, however when I go to make the schedule I don't want to be blindsided by a a day that EVERYONE is asking off for and have to hunt through the days before and after to see if there are other request for that day! Again, Just email me. I'll look at the day, give a small grumble under my breath and then add another line to the spreadsheet for the day you want. 

ACCEPTABLE! This was a partial red day, there were 2 spaces for people to put their names down. Nina and Brennan got there first. When Justin saw that, he sent me an email and I added him to the spreadsheet... Justin, you could have mentioned the 29th in the same email. 

NOT ACCEPTABLE! Mary just wrote her name, I mean give me something to work with...

Then there was no space left so Deanna just added her name to Stephens... There are two people on here that are stating that they can work, so there technically is room for more people to ask off. However, I'd much rather you email me so I can add another line to the spreadsheet rather than me assume that Stephen and Deanna are planing to spend Thanksgiving together. 

iPad Chargers!

Stop taking them!!! They are for charging the iPads, not your cell phone, not the guest cell phone, not for you to take home, not for you to take to the kitchen! IF YOU HAVE ONE BRING IT BACK, THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS!!!!!

Inventory Management 

We are wanting to track our use of the consumables and food to see if there are any trends and to make ordering more efficient. There is a new clip board in the kitchen that list some of the items we want to track. When you open a box or a bag of one of the item just make a tally mark next to it. The sheet will be collected every week.

Check this out!

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/verify/verify-does-texas-wine-suck/287-63e65fa8-18ca-4e0d-abfe-d7108f362518?jwsource=cl&fbclid=IwAR3fJP_lsPwL2PbpsC9LNdnOxWcVnNEq7mTg6ztP3PsNczrNTp8cFL-vfGw

Low Inventory

We are almost out of:

Gewurztraminer 2017, there are about 9 cases left

Viognier 2017, there are about 4 cases left. 

There are some cases with yellow duct tape on them, they are for our Shipper Wine Club members or they have already been purchased. Do not stock this wine.  

Wine Education October 1, 2019

Happy Workiversary!

Maggie - 1 Year

Sheri - 3 years

Virginia - 9 years 

Wine Club Monthly Bonus

Top Wine Club Peeps

Denise: $54.60

Sheri: $35.20

Hayley: $28.80

Quick Announcements:

• The price of tasings is now $8.00

• People doing tastings now have a choice of a dry flight or a sweet flight

  • The flights are four ¾ oz pours

  • Only the bottles on the flight sheets will have the ¾ oz pour stops, everything else will have the ½ oz for try before you buy

• The Price of a glass of white and rose wine is also $8.00

Wine Education Focus:             🎵 Red Red Wine 🎵 

Red red wine, you make me feel so fine

You keep me rockin' all of the time

Red red wine, you make me feel so grand

I feel a million dollar when you're just in my hand

-UB40-

Making a Red Wine

• Red, black, or purple grapes are removed from their stems and the whole berries are dropped into a macro bin or into a fermentation tank

• The skin of the grapes are broken in this process but they are not being pressed yet

• Yeast is added to the whole grapes and fermentation starts

• Red wines are fermented between 70-85°F

• Because it is a higher temperature, red wine ferments faster than white wine

• The tannins are in the skin of the grapes and because we are fermenting them all together the tannins (as well as the red color) get transferred to the wine itself

• Once fermentation is done, it’s pumped into the press (remember, there are still whole berries in there, although they don’t really look like it anymore)

• What comes out is wine however it is not finished wine

• The wine then gets transferred to oak barrels 

• How long the wine is in the barrels is up to the winemaker, for us it is between 1 and 2 years, it can be as much as 10 years or longer

• Oak aging (or any ageing for that matter) allows the wine to rest and gives the flavor components time to set

• Oak aging provides micro oxidation and adds other flavors to the wine, such as toasted coconut and vanilla

• Red wine does not have to be aged in oak barrels, it can be aged in stainless steel or even concrete

Dry Red Wine 

• The term Dry refers to the presence of Tannins

• A Tannin is a texture component that is naturally found in many plants

• In red wine, the tannins come from the skins, stems, and seeds of the grapes.

• Tannins tend to literally dry out your mouth and can come across as bitter and astringent, but can also add complexity. 

Sweet Red Wine

• They are sweet, literally have sugar in them

• Can be natural sugar from the grapes or added sugar (sugar we add back to it)

Red wines are typically served  at 62-80° Fahrenheit 

• Serving red wine at room temperature is kind of a myth, a more accurate statement is that red wine should be served at cellar temperature, which is still above the serving temperature of a white wine

Why do we serve red wine at a higher temperature than white wine?

• Red wines have rich and hardy  aromas and flavors

• These become detectable by our noses and tongues at higher temperatures

• Lower temperatures can make the tannins more pronounced making it seem harsher and more bitter

• exceptions to the rules

  • Sweet wine, even reds, should be served chilled

  • Lighter red wines, like Pinot Noir or Gamay,  or red wines with lighterr bodies, can sometimes benefit from a lower temperature

Can I put ice in my red wine?

No…. I mean you can but I will think less of you… I give a pass to people putting ice in white or rose wine, but come on, it does not belong in red wine. It’s like putting ice in a glass of whole milk, you CAN but you shouldn’t. I mean, who does that?!?! A good natured public jeering to anyone I see putting ice in a glass of red wine. 

Price Change for Tastings

The price for a tasting is now $8.00. We have also changed the price of a glass of white and rose wine to $8.00. 

We are now no longer advertising on our website the "Pick 5" for a tasting on weekdays. The default will be to do the flight sheet. However, because weekdays are slower, you may use your discretion on whether or not to stick to just the flight sheet. 

Right now we are still using the current flight sheet of 2 dry whites, 2 dry reds, and 2 sweet wines (6 1/2 oz samples). The next time flight sheets are printed we will be changing over to 2 different flight sheets: a sweet flight or a dry flight. To minimize the number of wines at the tasting bar it will be 4 wines on each flight sheet and the pours will go up to 3/4 oz. The price will still be $8.00 for one flight (if they want to do both flights it will be $16.00). 

The wine that is on the flight sheets will have the 3/4 oz pour stops but all the other wines will still have the 1/2 oz pour stops. 1/2 oz will still be the standard tasting pour for anything that is not on the flight sheet for people that want to try a couple before they buy. Please talk to Angela if you have any questions. 

Meeting Notes September 3, 2019

Happy Workiversary!

Chandler 3 years

Nina  4 years

Wine Club Bonuses: August

Top Wine Club Peeps

Denise: $53.00

Sheri: $35.20

Hayley: $28.30

Meeting Focus: Tasting Room Basics

There have been a lot of changes to the flow in the tasting room over the years. Those of you that have been here for a long time can confirm this. I have been going through all the training training documents to make sure that they are up to date with our current procedures. We are going to take this meeting to get everyone on the same page so that we can offer our customers a consistent guest experience no matter when they are here or who is helping them. 

I have re done the Tasting Room Specialist Training document to be much more comprehensive. where it was once 4 pages it is now 13 pages. 

If you could not make it to the meeting, please read the updated training document.

Wicked Wine Run Update

Hello Friends of the Winery!!!!!!

As most of you know, The Wicked Wine Run is a big event for us and takes over the entire property. Because of this you will need to park at Gene and Judy's house. Drive past the main entrance and take the next right. You will drive by Gene and Judy's house do a little u-turn to get to where the majority of the parking at there house is.

Unfortunately, it is going to be hot tomorrow. Please dress with that in mind. Wear a Lost Oak winery tee-shirt (NOT a wicked wine run tee-shirt, we don't want to be mistaken for one of their staff or volunteers). You can wear hats (designs on hats are ok, but no logos or brands) and sun glasses. We will have some sunscreen here but if you have some and you are working outside you may want to put it on before you get here. So that you can better be prepared, here are the people that will be working outside:

Maggie, Ally, Ashley, Brennan, Deanna, EJ, Josh, Nancy, Nina, Sheri, Zack

Let me know if you have any questions

Update for August 24th

For those of you that do not know, there was a very serious medical emergency at the concert on August 24th. Two guest of the concert had heart attacks and had to be taken to the hospital. One of them was a regular and a wine club member, Gary Stanton. The other was John Crowley. I would like to commend our staff, that was a difficult and intense situation. Everyone handled it well and because of our staff and good Samaritans, both gentlemen got the medical attention they needed. 

I want to give everyone an update on how both men are doing. They both made it to the hospital safely and were treated/monitored. Both of them will undergo heart bypass surgery, Gary Stanton a double bypass and John Crowley a triple bypass. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers as they undergo this difficult time in their lives. If we learn anything new I will keep you posted. 

Schedule for Sep 3 - Sep 16 is up

We got Wicked Wine Run and Grapefest on this schedule!  I know you are super excited! 

All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift find someone to cover it for you. 

Minor League Baseball

Hello all! August 24th is Small Business Night at the Railroaders game. Lost Oak will be purchasing tickets for employees and significant others that would like to go on this night. Let me know by Monday (August 19th) so we can get the thickets purchased. 

Schedule for Aug 20 - Sep 2  is up

Hours are tight right now, and will be until we really get into our fall events. But don't worry, the slow season doesn't last forever. Soon enough you will be asking for less hours. 

I don't know if you have noticed or not, but I have updated the Employee directory to reflect what everyone has been trained on. This will help figure out if someone can take your shift or not. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Wine Education: White Wine!

Making a White Wine

• White (green or golden) grapes go straight into the press

• What comes out is delicious juice

• the juice is pumped into the tank, yeast is added, and fermentation begins

• White wine ferments at around 50⁰ Fahrenheit  

• Fermentation at colder temperatures takes longer

• Once fermentation is complete our white wine is aged in the tank, but it is possible to oak age white wine

Dry White Wine 

• Dryness refers to the lack of sweetness or sugar and/or the presence of acid

• Acid is present in both red, white, and sweet wine but is most noticeable in dry whites

• There are many different types of acid that are present in wine, some of it is present in the grapes, some of it forming as a result of the fermentation process, and some of it added by the winemaker

• The presence of acid is indicated by a prickly sensation in the checks of your mouth and around your salivary glands

• It is most noticeable as a citrus flavor (lemon, lime, grapefruit)

Sweet White Wine

• They are sweet, literally have sugar in them

• Can be natural sugar from the grapes or added sugar (sugar we add back to it)

White wines are typically served at 49 - 55 degrees Fahrenheit 

Why do we serve white wine chilled?

• White wine has very subtle and delicate aromas and flavors

• These become detectable by our noses and tongues at lower temperatures

• Higher temperatures can make the acid more pronounced making it seem harsher and less crisp

• exceptions to the rules

  • heavily oaked Chardonnays or white wine with fuller bodies can sometimes benefit from a higher temperature

Can I put ice in my white wine?

• Yes, with any beverage, ice can very quickly bring the temperature down

• No, as the ice melts it will dilute the color, aromas, and flavors of the wine

• Diluting down an expensive wine might not be the best idea

• Other options:

  • Put frozen grapes (or other fruit) in your wine glass

  • Keep wine glasses in the freezer 

  • Products similar to whisky stones work well

  • Just keep a couple of bottles of white wine in your fridge 

Happy Workiversary!

Pam! - 1 Year

Wine Club Monthly Bonuses: July

Almost Out of.....

Blanc du Bois 2017 about 5 cases left

Merlot 2016 about 4 cases left

Sauvgnon Blanc 2018 about 25 cases left

Montepulciano 2016 about 30 cases left

Frizzante Gewurztraminer dry 2016 about 18 cases left

Self Evaluations

Soooooo..... I've only received a couple of these back, I need them ASAP. If you lost your email I'll have some printed out for you in the snack nook

Schedule Aug 6 - Aug 19 

The schedule is up! 

Check your Availability

Hello all! As the summer starts to wind down I want to make sure that I have the correct availability for everyone. Below is the template I use to make the schedule. Please check it and let me know if any changes need to be made. If your availability looks good for now but will be changing soon, please let me know what your new availability will be and when it goes into effect.

Fort Worth Business Press Article

Take a look at this article.  "Burleson winery named to wedding top 10 list."  There is an article and a video that tells about Lost Oak Winery, where it came from and where it's going.

Hold Tabs

When making a hold tab, please use the format LastName, FirstName. For Example; Chapman, Angela.

This makes tabs easier for everyone to find and will help with the mis-charges that have been happening. 

If the guest is closing out their tab with you, please go over what is on the tab with them. This will also help with the mis-charges. 

Schedule for Jul 23 - Aug 5 is up

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift it is your responsibility to find someone cover your shift. 

Update on the New Request Time Off Spreadsheet!

Red days (days that are completely red)... There is a reason that they are red or marked out, we need a lot of staff those days. I understand, we make plans to go out of town and, whoops, it's Wicked Wine Run, oh well I've already booked the hotel. I am sorry, but this is no longer a good excuse. Part of the reason I have put the Request Time Off online is so that you can easily look at it and plan your vacations/family gatherings/whatever accordingly. I understand that things come up, things are planned without your impute by friends or family or your other job, so I want to be flexible. But, I really really really need you to make reasonable effort to be available on red days. 

So here is what we are going to do moving forward. If it's in the book right this moment, I'll honer it. AFTER THAT, you get one red day freebie a year. There are 7 days the whole year that are completely red. They are the events related to big holidays, the Wicked Wine Runs, and Harvest Fiesta. Again, if I have some wiggle room I will work with you, I'm not saying that I can't let people have these days off ever, but what has to stop is everyone asking for these big days off and/or the same people asking for all the red days off. Please be courteous to your fellow coworkers, we have all had to work events that were short staffed and it SUCKS!!!! I am going to say this one thing again: I really really really need you to make reasonable effort to be available on red days.

And just to be clear, we are talking about days that are completely red. When it comes to days that are partially red I mainly want you to be conscious of how many of those days you are asking off. Again, be courteous to your fellow coworkers.

It is still up to you to get your dates from the book to the online spreadsheet. Here is the link again: Request Time Off  If you are reading this and have no idea what I'm talking about, scroll down and read the post below this on. 

New Request Time Off Spreadsheet!

Hello Friends of the Winery!!!

I have replaced the request time off book with an online Request Time Off Spreadsheet! Now, you don't have to wait for your next shift or make a special trip up to the Tasting Room to request time off, you can do it form the comfort of your own home!

Here is the link: Request Time Off 

Don't forget to bookmark it and I will add it to the computer at the Tasting Room.

Here is how it works:

• The months are tabs at the bottom of the Spreadsheet

• The days of the month are in column A

• Find the day you are requesting off and enter your name the date you are making the request and the reason for the request

• In the Reason for Request cell you can also put helpful information for me, like: Can work after 5:00

• There are only so many lines for a day

• If all the lines are taken that means you need to talk to me about requesting that day off

• There are also days that are completely or partially in RED 

• If it's completely in red, I'd rather you not ask for that day off, if is's partially in red I'd rather not have a lot of people ask for that day off

• This does not mean that you can not have the day off, you just need to talk to me first

• There are also days that are in green

• Green days are days that we would normally be closed for, but because of a Holiday we will be open

• You can request these days off I just want you to be aware that we are open 

• You can also use that space to let me know that you CAN work that day, "Hey girl, I don't have school that day, I can help if you need me!"

• When I start working on the schedule I will yellow the days out that I have looked at and lock the cells so that no one else can add themselves to that day while I'm working on the schedule. 

• Again, that doesn't mean that you can't ask for that day, you will just need to contact me about it. 

• When the month is over, I'll move it to the end of the spreadsheet, clear it out, and start over.

What do you need to do RIGHT NOW?

If you have a time off request in the book RIGHT NOW, move it to the new spreadsheet ASAP with your original request off date. Starting in August I will not look at the book!!! Making sure your request time off has been moved over IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Meeting Notes for 07/02/2019

Happy Workiversary!

Magnus - 1 year!

Mary - 1 Year!

Denise - 2 Years!

Stephen - 2 Years!

Brennan - 3 Years!

Top Wine Club Peeps

Denise - $50.30

Sheri - $33.60

Hayley - $27.00

Meeting Focus: Working as a Team

I wanted to take a break from the usual meeting agendas and get people up, active, thinking, and collaborating with their fellow coworkers. Too often we get into the rut of "work stuff" and we forget that our jobs and the people we work with are really pretty cool. Everyone has something they bring to the table and you guys wouldn't be here if we didn't think that you were all important members of our little family. 

I went online to find some team building activities.... That was a mistake. Trust falls, human knots, creative ways to use office supplies, the egg drop, sharing a littttle too much, and saying something nice about everyone (although that's really nice, I just couldn't handle that much sap in one day). Those aren't fun... that's more work! Let's get to know each other, let's be goofy, let's photo bomb that other teams picture! We'll get to that.

So I came up with a game called This or That. Everyone was randomly put into teams or 3 or 4 and each team drew 4 "items" out of a bucket. Here are just a few of the items they could have ended up with: An uppity cat, a shotgun with a box of shells, a turtle, and abandoned she-shed with some crafting materials, various seeds, a box of white copy paper, a case of wine, a generator with gas, an old rusty tractor but you think it still works... Anyway, they ranged from completely absurd to quite useful. Then I drew a "scenario" out of another bucket. We only got to two scenarios: You are trapped on a bad sitcom, and a volcano is erupting. Each team had to use their items in the scenario. One team used their copy paper to rewrite their sitcom, anther team named their uppity cat Garfield and well... basically sacrificed him to the volcano. Another team got the case of wine on both scenarios and drank it before doing anything else (my kind of team). 

It was absurd and fun, but the best part was that everyone had great ideas and uses for the crazy items they were given.

The last thing we did was a scavenger hunt... I know, lame, right?

Well, maybe it was, but I tried to put a fun twist on it.  It involved team names and slogans, selfies and photo bombs, wandering around the Tasting Room and the grounds, as well as asking other teams for help. I like to think that a good time was had by all. I feel sorry for all the people that couldn't make it to this meeting. Rest assured that the next one will be boring and long winded. Congratulations, you missed the most fun meeting we have ever had. 

We are one of the 10 Best Wineries and Vineyards in the U.S. to Host Your Wedding

Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Check out the article here, and be sure to spread the word to our guests.  

10 of the Best Wineries and Vineyards in the U.S. to Host Your Wedding

Wine Club Members With the Same Last Names

Hello friends of the winery!

So I know that you know this but it is worth repeating especially because we have some new peeps. We have a lot of people in our database with the same last name or event the same first and last name. We do our best to include the names of spouses in the first name field to help reduce confusion and to help you find the correct profile. Recently, we have had a small uptick in the number of people complaining that they were charged when they weren't here. If you are unsure, confirm the email or address with the guest before charging them. Thank you!

Low Stock!!!!

So, you guys are just too good at your jobs and you are selling all the wine. What we have on the shelves/wine fridge and in the Finished Wine Room in the tasting room is all we have left of:

• Sauvignon Blanc 2018 (about 36 cases)

• Cabernet Franc 2017 (about 16 cases)

• Cabernet Sauvgnon 2017 (about 4 cases)

• Frizzante Gewurztraminer Dry 2015 (about 23 cases)

Get you faves while we still have them and let your customers know that they will be gone soon.

Schedule is up for Jul 9 - July 22

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift it is your responsibility to find someone cover your shift. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift it is your responsibility to find someone cover your shift. 

Schedule is up for May 28 - Jun 10 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift it is your responsibility to find someone cover your shift. 

Monthly Employee Meeting May 7th, 2019

Meeting Focus: Event Center!

As Lost Oak Staff, what is expected of you?

• Smiling friendly faces

• Be accommodating

• No food or drink out on the bar

• No sitting for an extended amount of time either behind the bar or on the couch or chairs

• Be a problem solver

Logistics

• Dress code:

  • Normal Event Center Staff (for all events at the Event Center):

    • Black logoed Polo (If you do not have one, they are in the EC Office)

    • Black slacks or shorts of reasonable length

    • No cutoffs or pants or shorts with holes or rips in them

  • Wedding setup:

    • Jeans or shorts in good condition (no holes or rips)

    • Lost Oak Winery shirt

  • Bartender

    • Black slacks or shorts of reasonable length 

    • No cutoffs or pants or shorts with holes or rips in them

    • Black shirt; blouse, button up, or polo  

  • No leggings/yoga pants/athletic clothing or flip-flops

• Parking

  • Near the Event Center, along the hedge row

  • Try to start the roes so that guest can easily see where to park

• Tasting Room Pours/TR Pours/TRP & Sangria/cocktail wine

  • TRP all wine that is used for complimentary wine 

  • When doing a cash bar TRP wine that is used for pouring glasses

  • Wine used for making Sangria or cocktails needs to be “taken out of the system” by ringing them up under the customer Cocktail

• Guestbook 

  • Guest can sign the Guestbook (at the Event Center and Tasting Room) and be entered in a monthly drawing for a $50.00 Lost Oak gift card

  • They will be notified by email if they win

• Conference room area

  • This is your break room when it is not being used to show the facility

  • It will be stocked with snacks Just like the Tasting Room is

  • Keep this space clean and don’t use the offices

• Event Center Lead vs Keyholders

  • The Event Center Key Holder works directly with Pam to coordinate between staff and the guest booking the facility

  • The Event Center Key Holder will work most of the events 

  • In the absence of the Event Center Key Holder an Event Center Lead will be assigned 

  • Give a big shout out to your Event Center Leads: Keely and Nina!!!

Events at the Event Center:

• The brochures 

  • Please go over all the brochures to know the basics of what we offer

• The booking processes 

  • Guest makes an inquiry

  • Guest meets with Pam or Event Center Key Holder

  • Decides to book and signs a contract

  • 2 weeks before the event they have a final meeting

• The contract 

  • It details What Lost Oak Winery Offers

  • What the price they are paying includes

  • What is expected of them while at the facility

  • And what acts/violations could incur extra charges for them 

• Your priorities/timeline as a member of staff

  • Be cognizant of what duties take priority 

  • Be flexible but aware of when things need to get done

  • Be fair to the guest event time i.e. if they still have event time left do not clear decorations even if a lot of the guest are already gone 

• Cleaning expectations

  • People come in randomly all week to see the Event Center and it should always be presentable 

• Securing the facility

  • There are a lot of doors please check to make sure they are all locked 

• Opening Closing Checklist details

  • This is not an option; it must be done before and after every event

• Tips and Gratuity 

  • For events that do not serve wine we will now be charging the guest a mandatory gratuity that will go back to the staff working the event

  • This will go into effect for any new contracts

• Goal Wine

  • Based on comment card 

  • Key Holder/Event Center Lead’s responsibility to get the comment card to the guest and get it turned in

  • Need an average of a 4-star rating to get goal wine (no low or high goal)

  • There will be a goal sheet in the kitchen to write down the wine you want if goal is made

Happy Workiversary!

Mariam - 7 years

Angela - 5 years

Josh - 3 years

Ashley - 1 Year

Hayley - 1 year

Susan - 1 year

Monthly Wine Club Bonuses for April! 

Top Wine Club Peeps!

Denise $51.00

Sheri $30.50

Hayley: $24.70

Schedule for May 14 - May 27 is up

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift it is your responsibility to find someone cover your shift. 

I Have The Best Team!

I want to take a moment to complement the wonderful employees we have here! I had the pleasure of working the Tasting Room on Friday and Saturday last week, and I have to say that I am very impressed with the level of team work and camaraderie that I witnessed. Not that I thought that you guys don't work together, but it was wonderful to see it in action. 

A big shout out and thank you to everyone that works here! 

Schedule for April 30 - May 13 is up

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit#gid=132394875 

All the usual rules apply. I am looking to hire a couple of new part time Tasting Room staff and Event Center staff. As summer approaches there isn't going to be a shortage of shifts available. Let me know if you know someone who is interested. 

Vickie's Retirement! 

Vickie wants to retire.... again. It's been great having her around but she feels that it is time to move on and truly enjoy her retirement. That being said, I will need to hire a replacement for her. The job is changing to a full time position and is taking on a little more responsibility. You can read all about it here:

Office Manager Job Description

If you or someone you know is interested in the position, let me know. 

Another Learning Opportunity From a Customer Email

Customer Email:

It’s kind of crazy that a cashier asks for a tip when selling to go wine. My wife went to buy this wine for me and was told that it is normal for tips. I don’t tip at HEB or liquor store, why is this different?  I understand tipping being served by the glass etc, but buying by the bottle to go? 

We all love tips, tips are awesome! Good customer service is the first step to good tips. That being said, tips are optional for the guest. Yes, on every transaction the tip screen will pop up. And it is ok to turn the iPad towards the guest when it is on the tip screen no mater what is being sold. However, it is always a best practice to let them know that it is a tip option. They are not required to tip on anything. Yes, the guest is correct, it is more customary for tips on transactions where the guest was served (tasting, glass of wine, or if a bottle was opened for here). But, sometimes people do tip on bottles to go, but that does not mean that it is "normal" or that we expect tips. We don't want to miss out on tips but we also don't want to make the guest feel uncomfortable. Please keep this in mind when the guest ask about the tip screen. Your first response, no matter what, is that the tip is optional. 

Event Tickets

Hello Friends of the Winery!

You may have noticed that we some times have events that require a ticket. Sometimes we have an unlimited number of tickets available, like for a movie night. But sometimes there are only so many tickets available. There can be many different reasons for this:

• Space; we only have enough seating for so many people

• Supplies; we or our partner only have enough supplies for so many people

• Food; for catered events we need to get head counts to our caterer ahead of time so they can prepare. If more people are added after that there will not be enough food.

•  Guest Experience; It simply may be that a smaller group is better for whatever the event is

All this being said, if the link on the website is not working and you can't find it on the POS, the event is probably sold out. I know what the guest is going to say, "but it's just one more person." or "but my friends are going to be there." or "I just want my daughter to join me, it's her birthday/wedding shower/bat mitzvah/got a new hair cut/divorce/came out of a coma gift! and if you can't just squeeze this one more person in then a puppy is going to die and IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT!" 

I'm sorry... but it is sold out. I can let our Special Event Coordinator know that you are interested in going to this Event. If anyone can't make it she will let you know. It's never 'just one person' and if we squeeze in every 'but it's just one person' the event won't be fun for anyone because of lack of seating, lack of supplies, lack of food, or it's too noisy for guest to hear the instructions. 

If you have any questions, let me know.

Schedule for Apr 16 - Apr 29th is up

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

And suddenly the spring event season is upon us! 

Remember, it is your responsibility to find someone to cover your shift if you can't make one. 

Wine Club Changes Employee Meeting 04-02-2019

Meeting Focus: Exciting Wine Club Changes!

We have a lot of changes that will be starting up in June! We want you to be as proficient with the new Wine Club as you were with the old one.

We will be going form 6 wine Club pickups a year to 5:

February, April, June, September, and November

• There will not be a May Wine Club this year

• There will be 10 pickup parties a year: February, March, April, May, June, July, September, October, November, December

• No pickup parties in January or August

The Enthusiast level is changing:

• Going from 2 bottles of wine to 3 (15 bottles a year)

• They will also get bumped to a 20% discount

• Cypress will still be all dry but it will alternate between 2 reds & 1 white and 2 whites & 1 red

• Redbud will still be sweet and dry and will alternate between 2 sweets & 1 dry  and 2 dry and 1 sweet

The Entertainer level is moving to Aficionado

• There will no longer be an Entertainer level

• Anyone who was in the old Entertainer (4 bottles) is getting bumped up to Aficionado

• Going from 4 bottles of wine a wine club month to 6, 5 times per year.

• They will also get bumped to a 25% discount.

The Aficionado level is staying the same, but they now have the option to join the new custom pickup membership

• Custom pickup membership is only available to Aficionado members

• Works just like the custom shipper membership, but we don’t ship the wine

• Can stay in their category if they do not want to pick out their wine

Other Wine Club Changes

• Wine Club members will no longer get a glass of wine on their birthday, instead they will get a glass of wine for their Wine Club Anniversary

  • Still a free glass of wine for the member and a friend, but on their anniversary month instead of birthday month

  • They will still get an email when it’s their anniversary, inviting them to come out and have a free glass of wine

• We will no longer be giving out anniversary gifts

  • The coasters and the event tickets are going away

  • If someone already has one go ahead and give it to them

• Member events for our long-time members

  • Once a year there will be a free Wine and Cheese Reception for Charter Wine Club members (members for 5 or more years)

  • Once a year there will be a free Wine Dinner for Legacy Wine Club Members (Members for 10 or more years)

What does this mean for you?

• Tip share incentives change to $10.00 for Entertainer and $30.00 for Aficionado

• Your monthly Wine Club bonus changes to $0.50 for Entertainers and shipper members and $0.80 for Aficionados

Below is the New Wine Club Application

Letters Going Out to Wine Club Members About the Changes

To Enthusiast:

At Lost Oak Winery we are continually striving to provide you, our most valued customers, with the best possible experience.  Over the last several months we have sent out surveys, held focus groups and spoken with many of you individually. We have received valuable feedback leading to some changes associated with your membership.  

We have upgraded your membership which now includes: 

• Discount raised from 15% to 20% on all wine, food, merchandise and event tickets sold in the Tasting Room & online.  

• Billing cycles reduced from 6 to 5 times per year with 10 member pickup parties

• 3 bottles of hand-selected wine every wine club billing cycle based on your preferences

• 10% discount on Event Center bookings

• Complimentary tasting or glass of wine whenever you visit the Tasting Room

• Complimentary Tours and Tastings for you and up to 6 guests

• Invitation to Wine Club member exclusive events 

• Wine Club Anniversary parties for Charter (5+ years) and Legacy (10+ years) members.

• Complimentary tastings & 10% discount at 4.0 Cellars in Fredericksburg, TX

• 8% discount on travel with Ethaka Travel

Wine Club months are now February, April, June, September, and November.  Your credit card will be billed between the 15th & 20th day of each Wine Club month, and you will be notified via email.  

This change takes place immediately, including your increased discount.  Your next Wine Club pick up will be in June. You are not required to contact us if no change is needed.  If we do not hear from you by May 1, 2019, we will keep you at your current status. If you have questions about your membership, please click here.

Save the date for the following upcoming Wine Club member exclusive events.  Find them and sign up on the Lost Oak Winery website as the date approaches. We will also send out invitations via email:

April 26 – Sip & Swap 

May 15 – Custom Wine Blending with Angela

June 30 – Wine Club Member Pick-Up Party 1

July 7 -Wine Club Member Pick-Up Party 2

July 12 – Sunset Tour & Tasting

September 27 – Meet the Winemaker with Ty

September 29 - Wine Club Member Pick-Up Party 1

October 6 -Wine Club Member Pick-Up Party 2

And more to come...

We appreciate your business more than you know.  It is your membership that has allowed us to grow and support Texas agriculture and our mission to get a bottle of Texas wine on every table in Texas.

If you have any questions please let us know! 

To Entertainers

The same letter but with this as the body:

We have upgraded your membership to “Aficionado”which includes:

• Discount raised from 20% to 25% on all wine, food, merchandise and event tickets sold in the Tasting Room & online.  

• Billing cycles reduced from 6 to 5 times per year with 10 member pick up parties

• 6 Bottles of hand-selected wine every billing cycle

  • Selected Club - Our wine steward will select your wines for you, based on your preferences

  • Custom Club - a new custom membership available exclusively to only Aficionado members that you may opt in to

• 10% discount on Event Center bookings

• Complimentary tasting or glass of wine whenever you visit the Tasting Room

• Complimentary Tours and Tastings for you and up to 10 guests

• Invitation to Wine Club member exclusive events 

• Limited reserved seating at events

• Wine Club Anniversary parties for Charter (5+ years) and Legacy (10+ years) members.

• Complimentary tastings & 10% discount at 4.0 Cellars in Fredericksburg, TX

• 8% discount on travel with Ethaka Travel

To Aficionados:

The same letter but with this as the body:

Your Aficionado membership now includes:

• 6 Bottles of hand-selected wine every billing cycle

  • Selected Club - Our wine steward will select your wines for you, based on your preferences

  • Custom Club - a new custom membership available exclusively to only Aficionado members that you may opt in to

• Billing cycles reduced from 6 to 5 times per year with 10 member pick up parties

• 25% on all wine, food, merchandise and event tickets sold in the Tasting Room & online. 

• 10% discount on Event Center bookings

• Complimentary tasting or glass of wine whenever you visit the Tasting Room

• Complimentary Tours and Tastings for you and up to 10 guests

• Invitation to Wine Club member exclusive events 

• Limited reserved seating at events

• Wine Club Anniversary parties for Charter (5+ years) and Legacy (10+ years) members.

• Complimentary tastings & 10% discount at 4.0 Cellars in Fredericksburg, TX

• 8% discount on travel with Ethaka Travel

Monthly WC Bonuses For The Month of March:

Top Wine Club Peeps:

Denise: $51.75

Sheri: $31.00

Virginia: $24.50

Changes to Aficionado Reserved Tables

This email went out to all Aficionado members on 3-28-2019! Please read so you can answer questions if need be!

As you know, one of the many perks of being a Lost Oak Aficionado Wine Club Member is reserved seating! With the spring and summer concert season upon us, demand for reserved seating is increasing. We would like to take a moment to explain a few changes we are implementing.

Please be cognizant of the following:

• We reserve one table and four chairs per Aficionado membership.

• We will take reservations from only the first 10 Aficionado members per event. First come, first serve.

• We will only hold your reserved table for 30 minutes after the event starts. If you do not show up within the first 30 minutes of the event, we will open the reserved table to the public.

• We will not always be able to position your table in your desired location, due to logistics of the event.

We hope this email is helpful in explaining how reserved seating works here at Lost Oak Winery, and we look forward to seeing you. Spring has sprung and it’s perfect for some patio-sitting and wine-sipping.  

Thank you for being a valued Wine Club Member.  Cheers!

~ Roxanne

Customer Feedback

I want to share a compliant that was emailed to us recently.

While reading this I want you to know that I am not trying to "call anyone out" or get anyone in trouble. I don't know who the guest interacted with am not trying to find out. I merely want to use this as a learning opportunity. By and far, we do get WAY more compliments than complaints. That being said, when we get a compliant like this it stands out. Please understand that what you do and say in the tasting room directly affects our guest's experience. 

Guest's email to us:

I visited your Winery today for a Wine Tasting. To give you a little background I frequently go to the Hill Country for wine related events. I had tasted some of your wine at 4.0 Cellars about 1 yr. ago. I have lived in Crowley since 1976. This was my first visit to your winery. I prefer semi-sweet wines, so I did the sweet wine tasting. I mentioned to my server that I had visited 4.0 Cellars in the past, but could not remember the wines I had tasted there. I have a Wine Diary, which I usually have with me when I am tasting, but did not have it with me today. The server said she DID NOT Know what wines I had there, and I am not sure she even knew Anything about the Association with 4.0. I mentioned I thought 1 of the wines was Vintage Lane Hummingbird I had tasted and liked. she told me that "it was one of the Cheap Wines" that you produced and that they did not have it here. Whether or not if it is "Cheap" I do not think you would want it to be called that! I asked about the number of acres with vines and she did not know. She did said that all the grapes were Texas source.There was an older gentleman there who was able to give me alittle information about the vineyard. she did not tell me any tasting notes, other then "you'll like this one" Nothing about what I should smell taste or see in each wine. I had shopping to do afterwards and since I sometimes may over react to a situation, I chose to wait to send this email. She did provide me with a map of the Estate and a calendar of spring events. Since I may not be the only person who frequently goes to the Fredericksburg Area, I think your employees here so know a little about your association with 4.0 Cellars. The server we had at 4.0 knew about Lost Oak and where it was located as well as tasting notes about your wines at 4.0. I maybe a little too sensitive, but I had to bring this to your attention. Thank you for reading this note.

Breakdown:

We interact with a lot of different types of people, and sometimes they can be difficult, and she even admits that she may be too sensitive. But the fact is that she took the time to express her bad experience, and it is our job to make sure that someone else doesn't have the same experience. I also want to take this time to remind you of how important it is to go to the meetings. Some of the things she mentions we have gone over in your new hire training and reiterated in meetings. I'd like to go over some of these things as bullet points real quick:

• Yes 4.0 is our sister tasting room in Fredericksburg. It is us, Brennan Vineyards, and MaPherson Cellars. They do not get all of our wines so it may be very hard to know what a guest has tried there, especially if it has been a while since they have been there. Regardless, don't be dismissive about it. Be honest, you don't know all the wine that gets sent to 4.0, and sometimes they have something that we have already sold out of. Listen to them and do the best you can to find the wine.

• I believe that when Vintage Lane was referred to as "cheap" wine that it was not intended in a negative way, however, that is the way the guest perceived it. Cheap has a negative connotation, and the intention of Vintage Lane was not to be cheap. It simply is our wholesale line of products, intended to be sold outside of the tasting room (and to 4.0). That would have been a great opportunity to say that although we don't have the Hummingbird we are running a special on the Vintage Lane Sweet Moscato. Most of the Vintage Lane wines do have a comparable counter part that we do sell in the tasting room, so if Hummingbird is what she was interested in she should try Rosa Blanca, they are very similar. 

• You have to know about the property, plain and simple. People ask about the property everyday. You don't have to know the ins and outs but how may acres and what do we grow are critical. This information is in the info drawer and some of it is on the maps and self guided tour. I will make a cheat sheet of this information: 

  • The property itself is 52 acres

  • 5 acres are under vine (actively growing grapes) on property and 3 acres at an off site property

  • On property we grow Syrah (aka Shiraz), Blanc Du Bois, and Black Spanish (we had others but they have been uprooted to make way for more Syrah)

  • Off site we grow Petite Syrah, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Sauvignon

  • The majority of the grapes we bring in from other vineyards are from the High Plains Region (TX panhandle)

• Tasting notes; perhaps this is my fault, I am of the school of thought that the guest should explore the wines on their own and not be "told" what it tastes or smells likes. However, there are people what want you to walk them through it and we should have something to say about the wine we pour. The best advice I can give you is read your guest and know your wine. Have a few things that you like about each wine so that you do have something to say about it. That way you are not telling them what to smell or taste but giving them something to work with and explore on there own. 

I know this was a long post, and I hope you read it and feel that you are now a more informed tasting room specialist. If you have any questions, if you feel you need more information about a subject, if you are unclear about a brand or service we offer, please do not hesitate to ask me. I will make time specifically to sit down and talk to you. I do not want you to feel like you are uninformed. 

Schedule for Apr 2 - 15 is up! 

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NLXYIi4TOL_KbzZ0drQh76F4ZQwBBivcAzygCm82A3c/edit?usp=sharing

Event season just getting started! There is little to no wiggle room in this schedule. All the usual rules apply, if you can't make a shift it is your responsibility to find someone to cover for you. 

You may notice a new name on the schedule; Tammi, she is the newest member to the Event Center/Lost Oak Team. 

I am still looking for a Tasting Room Key Holder and an Event Center Key Holder. If you or someone you know is interested in one of the positions please let me know.  

Updates and Forms

Forms to fill out in the check drawer with your name on it. 

Update 1: