Marshall W.
Yelp
A group of six of us stopped by the Bannister Wines tasting room while waiting for our number to come up for dinner at Diavola. We had never heard of Bannister wines. We sat down after the young man working the tasting room cleared away several bottles and trash from the table. Nice decor. We decided to buy a bottle of Pinot Noir and enjoy a glass while we waited to go to dinner. The young man serving us was drinking while working which I have never experienced before. He was loud and his mannerism suggested that he was a bit intoxicated. We enjoyed the Pinot. It was good but not exceptional. We finished the bottle and he brought around a bottle of another Pinot for us to try. He poured a splash in one glass, put the half full bottle on the table and walked away. We all looked at each other trying to figure out what he was doing. He went off an was chatting with a couple of men about his age. We called after him but he either didn't hear us or ignored us. I picked up the bottle and looked at the label and after a bit I decided I wanted a splash too. As I went to pour a bit it my glass, he came and grabbed it out of my hand rather roughly and informed me that we were supposed to share the one tiny splash between the six of us! Why did he leave the bottle? Who knows. But then he went ahead and poured us all a splash but his demeanor had turned very sour. We tasted the wine and it also was good but not amazing. Thankfully, our table at Diavola was ready and we were certainly ready to go. That's when he started loudly badgering us for a tip for the extra tastes. He loudly dropped 3 F-Bombs in front of his customers while badgering us. Seriously! He followed us out the door, still wanting a tip and finally said he was removing our email address from their guest book. No problem! There's no way we would go back to that place. We had a nice dinner at Diavola and an hour later we came out and had to walk by Bannister Wines again. He was standing out in front with the same two men and still drinking. The next day, I got an email asking how my experience at Bannister was and I clicked on the Unhappy face. I then reported what we had experienced the night before. Shortly thereafter, I got a reply. Obviously, this same guy answers the emails because he was pretty peeved at my critique of his behavior. I had simply reported what I experienced and was not rude nor vulgar.
I recommend you avoid this place completely. The wines are not spectacular and there are tons of other wineries and tasting rooms that don't allow their hosts to drink on the job. Most awkward tasting room experience ever.
