Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery — Attraction in St. Catharines

Disclaimer I have not tasted the wine as I have yet to receive it!!! Therefore this review is strictly about the terrible customer service.

I am so disappointed in my experience with this winery. I ordered a case through a charity event for Ronald McDonald House for which a close friend of mine is on the board. I have never ordered a case of wine in my life, but thought why not? It’s for a good cause and had always heard great things about this wine. Well, it has been a nightmare from start to finish (and I still don’t have my wine for the record)! The case was to be delivered by my friend who is on the board on December 21st (I ordered this case on December 10th). My friend called me and several of my other friends who had also ordered cases to tell us we were not even on her list. My friend and I called the winery, she got through and I didn’t. Somehow our orders had fallen through the cracks completely and were never shipped. It came to light later that it was because we hadn’t entered a particular code at checkout. If we hadn’t called, we wouldn’t have gotten the wine we had paid for and the winery wouldn’t even have known... they offered to expedite our package and ensured us it would be delivered before Christmas which was important because it’s the occasion for which you would want wine! Well my friend got her delivery this morning and texted me to let me know. So I headed down to my main floor to work from there in front of my door in anticipation of the delivery since we are less than 10 mins away from each other. Wouldn’t you know that it never came! And on the delivery site it said I wasn’t home.. well I assure you I was and nobody knocked on my door or rang the bell because my Great Dane would have let me know... let alone the simple fact that I was sitting directly in front of it! So now they are telling me they will deliver it tomorrow, but I’m not willing to take that chance and will be picking it up myself at the depot. Here comes the part that frustrates me the most. I was a manager in customer service for years. The way this was handled was totally unprofessional and a complete failure at organization on the winery’s part. (Keep in mind there were several of my friends who had this same issue so I have multiple sides of this story!)

1. Once the issue with the code was discovered, why were we not proactively contacted? No attempt was made by the winery, they waited for us to call and complain. How do you completely lose prepaid orders? I take responsibility for not entering the code but the fact that there were many of us indicates that there was a lack or organization and clarity on the winery’s part as well.
2. I discovered later that this code waived the delivery fee. A delivery fee I paid for since I hadn’t entered my code. So the expedited package was at our cost anyways! No one offered to proactively reimburse the fee that we should never have been charged! No goodwill gesture was offered to make this fiasco right... that to me is the WORST part!!! So not only did I pay a delivery charge for a case of wine I still have yet to receive, but now I’m going to pick it up myself at the depot because I am not going to wait for them to say failed delivery tomorrow and not have any wine for Christmas and the holidays when everything is closed!!! So thank you Henry Pelham Winery for this awful experience. I will not be buying your wine again as you have given me literally ZERO reason to do so. Mistakes happen, but how you rectify them is what matters. And I will be certain to share my experience with anyone who will listen in addition to this...

Ate at the COACH HOUSE before (2014) and was dying to get back. Finally made it again this year (2016). It was so good (5*s in 2014) that we carved out time for it anticipating a similar experience. Although the wine remains the same delicious drink we expected the food was BURIED in jalapeno peppers and hot spices that permeated nearly every dish. The avocado was overly spicy, the heirloom tomato salad was covered in hot peppers, and even the warmed olives had such an intense spicy heat most our food was unenjoyable. Understanding that like grapes each year produces different qualities in the fruit of the vine....including heat in peppers....it is still unacceptable that a chef would not taste his food before sending it out to the tables. I enjoy spicy food when eating Asian, Thai, Mexican, or Indian normally requesting "HOT", but when simple elegance of a tomato salad is lost to overwhelming spicy heat....what is the point!?! I hope for a better experience if I ever return....and hope future diners...

We simply wanted to sip (half tablespoon) two or three specific wines if a bottle was open. We do not do wine tastings ever (driving) and don’t spit.

As we walked up to the bar on a weekday last week, we observed two nice staff members working with their customers, and then these customers and staff members left at about the same time. Then another lady walked up to us at the bar. We said quite clearly that our hope was to purchase one bottle, and we needed to sip first to decide. The clerk did not look very happy or cheerful and insisted on us doing a wine tasting at the established price. We said no thank you and left.

We visited six other wineries that week and bought 10 bottles - most to take home on the plane. All of these wineries suggested sipping additional wines we might like. They were proud of their wines - and rightly so! That is called excellent...