Southern Highlands Winery — Attraction in Sutton Forest

Myself, my sister and our 4 friends had finished lunch upstairs (after making the trip from Sydney and some of us from Canberra) and decided to go down to the cellar door to do a tasting. We were then "greeted"- I use that term very loosely because instead of a greeting it was more like someone aggressively asking "are you here for the 21st?". No "hello" or "welcome" was even used, and no, we weren't there for the 21st by the way but good on you for making a bold assumption for no reason and rudely asking us, already making us feel a bit uncomfortable. We then said we would like to do a tasting, the staff member then pointed to a sign on the other side of the bar and grunted "those are our tasting options".

We then established 6 of us would like to taste. As the staff member was pouring our first wine, my sister mentioned to her that she wouldn't try this first wine. Cassandra the staff member that was serving us then suddenly became very aggressive and seemed offended by this, and then said "so five tastings then?! " we then had to explain, no 6 tastings, my sister is just trying to pace herself. Cassandra then aggressively said "well that's why you do a tasting!! If you don't like it tip it out!" my sister then had to mention again that she was pacing herself... now feeling personally attacked and all of us feeling very uncomfortable, Cassandra then insisted and still poured it which practically forced my sister to take the drink.

The atmosphere after that was extremely uncomfortable after she basically raised her voice at my sister for simply wanting to skip 1 wine in the tasting...

She was so aggressive in her way of speaking and made us so uncomfortable we didn't stay to try any of the reds and left mid-tasting. Regrettably still paying for this negative experience having paid for a full tasting but only going through with half of it because of the complete lack of manners and customer service from this incredibly rude individual.

As we left I told one of the staff on my way out how upsetting our experience with Cassandra was. I really hope she hasn't been like this to other people otherwise they won't be selling many wines.... I have never had such a negative and uncomfortable experience in any form of customer service...

We came here for a post wedding lunch. There was no signage for functions and the staff had no idea. One girl said “it’s my first day, I don’t think there’s a restaurant here”. After 20 minutes, we stumbled on the downstairs function den.

The bathrooms smelt really bad. We had to ask for water several times and eventually got a small bottle which wasn’t enough for the table. We ended up going upstairs to the bar and ordering water because the table service was so poor. Then the table next us asked for water, the waitress took the jug off our table and gave it to them so we had no water again.

Specific people ordered tasting platters but the staff didn’t ask whom and put them anywhere. This meant people who didn’t pay for platters were eating them and others missed out. Some people paid for large platters but were told on the day only one size was available.

It seems as though the staff were all new and very young, there was no manager present to provide any direction. We had all pre-ordered food and pre-paid for everything weeks in advance so it should’ve been seamless. The venue knew exactly how many people and what food to prepare.

Clean bathrooms and available tap water aren’t a huge ask.

When the dishes came out, portion sizes differed greatly with some people missing elements of their dish. I ordered the chicken which had bits of charcoal throughout - something had been burnt to a crisp. The vegetarian pasta looked sad. It was small and lacked flavour.

I’d give the service, the food and the downstairs function area all one star at best. Nothing about our visit today was enjoyable. Given how many beautiful wineries and restaurants there are in this region, I certainly wouldn’t recommend this...

Not sure how many stars to give this one. When we first came here we were unable to do a tasting as they were apparently filming something onsite so we were turned away. The second time we came here the young Italian lady served us and she was super lovely and down to earth. The location is beautiful too! The only thing is the wines are bit average. None of them are bad by any means but none of them are particularly interesting either. It's one of the oldest wineries in the region and I wonder if they're due for a bit of an overhaul. One person we spoke to in town about the winery was also of the opinion that the wines were average.

Edit: Loving the passive aggressive response below from the owner. I'm not an expert. This is just my opinion, on googlemaps! You're not going to get visitors or reviews solely from other winemakers or sommelier's, so calm down. Your wines weren't interesting enough to make me purchase any, or return in the future or recommend to anyone. My partner felt the same. The other person in town I mentioned who shared my opinion actually happened to be a winemaker/distiller, but I won't be naming them. You appear to have many positive reviews, notably for your food, which I didn't try unfortunately. I gave your location and your staff positive mentions though as a...