I think there may be some overexposure issues in some parts of wine as well: if you work in a popular place like the Napa Valley, it's easy to slip into the equ

I think there may be some overexposure issues in some parts of wine as well: if you work in a popular place like the Napa Valley, it's easy to slip into the equivalent of the jaded tech-support worker who assumes everyone they talk to is going to be a total idiot, and isn't going to be very subtle about that assumption. One way to avoid that is to go to places that aren't over-exposed. I did a short driving tour of Texas wineries a few years ago, and it was quite low-key and pleasant. People were pretty friendly and wanted to explain things. Some people were actual wine makers in the literal agricultural sense, but even those who weren't—mostly semi-retired people who decided to run a winery in their late-middle-age as kind of upper-middle-class dilettantes—were pretty friendly.