Can You Guess What’s in Your Glass? Truluck’s Launches the Sommelier’s Secret Red Wine Challenge

This October guests that guess their $20 mystery pour get the glass free.

Beverage Director and Partner at Truluck’s Dave Mattern.

Dave Mattern had a wild idea on how to attract guests during the slower season for restaurants.

What the Beverage Director and Partner at Truluck’s came up with ended up being a brilliant “game” to drive interest in the wine programs at the restaurant’s 12 locations throughout the country.

While everyone in the wine business is looking for creative ways to engage a younger generation that is dragging its feet rather than diving right into the wine world, Mattern might have just found the most creative, fun and rewarding way.

The Sommelier’s Secret Red Wine Challenge invites guests to order a $20 mystery glass of red wine. If they can correctly identify it, it’s on the house. Even better, each mystery pour is likely worth more than $20, so no matter what, guests are guaranteed a deal and a delicious glass.

Once the wine is guessed it is moved out off the list and replaced by another. But, it’s not revealed. It remains secret until someone identifies it - and all wines will come off the wine list. If a guest has guest incorrectly, they can leave their card with the general manager, who will contact them once the wine has been revealed.

At one Truluck’s in Naples, Florida, the mystery sparked an unexpected wave of excitement.

“The manager sent out 25 emails the first night the wine was guessed,” Mattern said. “Every single person wrote back. They were thinking about it for days afterward.”

As what has become a playful, engaging experience has unfolded, Mattern has noticed tables sharing information and notes on the wine. Managers are doing more than stopping in to check on how dinner was, they’re locked into philosophical discussions on the mystery wine poured.

It’s been a win-win situation that started with The Sommelier’s Secret White Wine Challenge. But, has since evolved to include red as general managers throughout the country playfully chanted “We-Want-Red.”