Enrico Winery — Attraction in Area A (Mill Bay / Malahat)

A couple friends and I stopped at Enrico Winery on a Cowichan Valley wine tour.We were excited to visit Enrico as someone in our party is attending a wedding there next year. Unfortunately, we were disappointed on numerous levels.

Driving into the winery, the views are beautiful. We luckily got a table right away, as there were a few large events happening. We were seated on the lower patio. After a few short minutes we noticed the horrendous smell and the inauthentic service.

When tasting the second wine, someone in my group noticed large sediment particles at the bottom of their glass. Not knowing entirely what the particles were, they asked for a new glass, which was received with a condescending comment that sediment is normal. The server also gave very minimal information about the wine, and there was no opportunity for questions. About 20 minutes after being given the last wine, our server had not come back to check in, so we went inside to the bar to pay our bills.

The tasting at Enrico includes a wine glass, for $15. When we paid, we asked about the wine glass, and they said 'yes it includes a wine glass' not informing us it was the one we had drank from. When asking where we get the wine glass, the employee looked very unimpressed and said they were the ones we used. When doing the tasting, I noticed my glass had lots of scratches on it, so I asked for a different glass. This again was welcomed with an eye roll and reluctance to give me a new glass.

At first, it seems nice to get a wine glass, but really, many people probably don't want to travel with the glass, so it is kind of a scam to make $5-$8 more for their tasting. Also the quality of the wine glass is terrible. After lightly hand-washing the glass, the logo is already coming off - however, maybe this is a good thing. It removes the memory of our terrible experience.

Also, when we paid, I was not asked if I wanted to purchase any wine...isn't that the whole point of a wine tasting?

Overall if you are looking for condescending service coupled with a disturbing smell - this is the...

Went to the winery on the August long weekend, when we arrived a man who I believe may be the manager let us know to sit at a table and he will come down to us for table service. Ordered 2 glasses of wine which were lovely, however, we then were left sitting there for easily 40+ mins as he completely ignored us and chose to stay at the bar with a group of people and laugh and joke and pour them drinks. The girls working there were run off their feet and were clearly serving the outside areas and did a great job, while this male manager was supposed to be serving the inside bar. The man however was only interested in those doing a tasting and buying boxes of wine, blatantly ignored us even after the slight crowd left and we were the only people at a table other than the few sitting at the bar with him. At one point we were just going to walk out because i don't think he would have even noticed. When he eventually had to come over as his bar of people were leaving and there was no one else there but us he said we could have just came up to the bar and ordered even though when we arrived he said to sit at a table for service, when paying he automatically bypassed the tip option as it was extremely obvious the service was horrific. Easily the worst service we've had in the wineries in the area would not...

Our experience could’ve been better… 6 years ago this was my favourite winery in the valley and it was definitely not the same today. The venue is gorgeous for sure, beautiful atmosphere… but what was not beautiful was the nasty smell of the outhouse about 50ft from the patio where we are sipping our wine. That’s not the way I want to enjoy my wine tasting….. really put off by that.

Secondly, you must pay for a glass as part of the wine tasting. I think this is not necessary as people don’t always want a random glass to add to the collection and possibly just prefer tasting the wine. This should be optional. And it was not mentioned that you take home the glass you used (although we assumed). Maybe have a rinse station so we don’t get red wine everywhere after. Lastly, no one every asked us if we wanted to purchase any wine. Our group was planning too, but instead was just handed a debit machine. So we skipped buying wine this time.

I do think it’s a beautiful winery with some neat wine. And I enjoyed being able to do a seated tasting. Just a couple things could use...