Erin D.
Yelp
Four of us on a wine-tasting vacation, in beautiful Guerneville, and we stumbled upon this place. When I checked it out on Yelp, I found they have a check-in deal: free wine tasting with a fully paid tasting. Even better!
We pull up, and it is absolutely beautiful, as are most of the vineyards in the area. Love that they're dog-friendly, and the big dog sculptures in front are great too! However, the woman pouring is surprised and clearly not happy about the Yelp check-in deal, goes to the other room and makes multiple phone calls in audible distance expressing her annoyance and surprise to others. They *did* end up honoring ONE of the deals (for the cheaper tasting of course), however, since there were 4 of us, the deal should have been for two. After this experience she clearly wasn't interested in us, giving preference to the other folks that came in. We were so happy to finish our (wildly overpriced, especially given the region) tastings and move on to other vineyards.
Now, two of the four of us are bartenders in SF, I worked in the service industry for years as well... We know what service standards are. I could not believe the way the Yelp check-in deal was handled! It's clearly there on the site, I showed it to her... Really, really poor service.
Not sure if our experience was unique because of the Yelp situation, or if it's because we're visibly queer or what, but ... yikes!
The wine was okay, not as good as many others in the region and MUCH more expensive ($20 for a tasting of reds). We ended up not buying anything - the first time I've ever done that while wine tasting! Hard to say if my palate was just colored by the bad service though.
Went to several other vineyards nearby, all of which were far better all around. I'd recommend Taft especially!
Still get 2 stars for the dog-friendliness and beautiful views. It's only fair - but service and good wine are what the wine industry is about, and they blew both of those.