The Wine Knows

This past weekend, we covered several wineries on both sides of the Columbia River Gorge. Some we had been to before, some were new experiences. I have always supported the idea of charging a 5$ fee for people who don't purchase a bottle, especially the smaller wineries. It is rare that I don't purchase at least one bottle frome each place we visit, mostly because I usually find at least one I liked, and partly because I want to help out the small operations.

The last winery we visited was in the Hood River area. When we went in, we got the usual spiel about a 5$ tasting fee, although our server was very hard to understand because of a heavy French accent. By this time, I only wanted to try a couple of their whites, and my boyfriend tried about 3 different varietals. He found one he really liked and purchased a bottle. I bought some gifts for family members, but no wine. I discovered on the way out to the car that I had been charged 5$ for the wine tasting. Ok...I didnt buy any wine. But my boyfriend, who had purchased a bottle for about 30$ was ALSO charged a 5$ tasting fee. When he went back in and asked about it it, he was told, " Yeah, we do that."
Today he sent an email and the reply we got was that we obviously had been unaware of their "change in policy" and that if we joined their wine club, we could taste for free.

So what do the rest of you think. I thought the fee was to offset costs of those people who come to drink "free" wine. Is this a common practice now, to charge a tasting fee on top of your purchase?