Hula B.
Yelp
We reserved a tasting at Silenus because it is one of a few places in Napa that accepts tasting reservation for a group of more than 6 people (our group was originally 7). They gave us a private room, which was great. The tasting room is a nice, open space that feels inviting.
Alyssa was our hostess, and she was friendly and knowledgeable and very accommodating. Silenus offers a wide variety of wines to taste, both from their own label as well as other labels. The wines themselves were OK; we tasted some that we loved and others that we found underwhelming, but it was nice to have a broad selection.
Despite these qualities, I cannot give it more than 3 stars because the customer service is lackluster. First, our party shrank from 7 to 6 due to some last minute childcare issues. The staff was reluctant to refund/cancel the tasting fee for the person who didn't show, even though we bought 8 bottles of wine from our tasting. After some negotiation, they did relent, but this should not be an issue; it's not like we were no-shows. We went to 2 other wineries that day, and nobody else had an issue with refunding the tasting fees for the person who didn't show up.
Second, someone at the winery made a derogatory comment about a member of our party to our wine tour driver, which is unacceptable. This person in our party is not a big wine drinker but paid for a tasting anyway. She spent most of the time walking around the tasting room looking at the decor and was doing some light stretching while the rest of us were tasting. The comment made about her was couched as "concern" but seemed off-base, even to our driver. It definitely put a damper on the vibe of our day, and she felt singled out unnecessarily.