Smoky Mountain Winery — Attraction in Gatlinburg

I was dumbfounded. My wife and I dropped into this winery after having a great massage. We set out that day to try many different tastings along the Gatlinburg parkway. We stopped here first. The winery itself is very small and also aged, but we don’t care about things like that. The woman at the counter, who I believe is mentioned numerous times by other reviewers, was with a couple checking out. We don’t mind that type of thing, but she did talk to them for a long time before even acknowledging us. After she finished with them, we finally were spoken to along with another couple. When she looked at my ID, I did think she was going to deny service. I’m 32, and I do look young without makeup, but it was a valid ID. She THEN went on to insult my wife basically while trying to give a compliment. She looked at her ID and said she looked horrible in the photo and needed to have it retaken because she looked much better in person. I almost spoke up at this point, but we just continued with the tasting.

The next wild thing to happen was even worse for my wife. She had on a hoodie with the statement: “I can do all things except make insulin.” She’s a type 1 diabetic and is extremely healthy and fit. The woman almost became aggressive and overbearing and told my wife that she could not do a full tasting due to laws preventing her from doing so. She said by my wife wearing the hoodie and the disclosure of the type 1 status that she was then responsible for her health and experience there. This woman knows nothing about type 1 diabetes or the law. I’m an attorney and was baffled by her commentary and demeanor. My wife was very insulted from this due to how she regulates her health better than anyone. She loves wine tastings, and we truly were excited to be there.

Another issue I had was that another couple was there with us who had travelled for their anniversary. She spoke to them openly and kindly and encouragingly about their trip. You could tell my wife and I were married and together. We’re both women, and at no time did she ask us why we were there. I even said to my wife not to say anything about our relationship out of fear we would receive discrimination.

The wine itself was good. I liked the muscadine wine because all others are usually way too sweet. The history of wine she gave was good for Tennessee and even the wine served there. The problem is how rude she was and also how strange the encounter was.

I highly advise anyone going here to expect a very weird and hostile encounter that may leave you frustrated and upset. Many others have commented the same, so go at...

Terrible experience and damaged my new drivers license! My husband, myself and two of our friends visited this winery Jan. 13th as the first place of the day. We were met with a very rude woman with dark hair that appeared to be in her late 50’s. We had to ask her to help us several times, no one else was in the winery to delay service. She asked for our IDs which is standard. I have tape on the edge of my license to pull out of my wallet easily, the ID itself is a month old, new, and no damage to it at all. It was my birthday weekend and the ID clearly states my age 40, is valid and ID is scannable. She grabbed the ID and proceeded to scratch the tape off and damaged the front of my new ID. After she had damaged the ID, she refuses to serve us saying it’s against the TN law to take my ID. Then went on a rant about the new TN law have changed and we didn’t know. We proceeded to ask other alcohol serving establishments throughout the day if this was true since we were visiting from out of state. They said it was not a law and all establishments in area scanned or check my ID and no problem, because it’s the same ID I use everywhere including the airport regularly. I also checked the laws and found no trace of what she was saying. There are numerous reviews of the establishment on Google stating very similar experiences with winery telling customers made up laws and refusing to do tasting. This establishment needs to be educated on TN alcohol laws, how to properly ID for alcohol purchase, how to handle drivers license and not damage them. A full customer service training would benefit said employee as well. I hope this complaint will help this establishment remedy the staff misleading customers on alcohol laws, state issued IDs being damaged, and a people walking out of the business mistreated and...

My mom used to come here for years and has not been back in some time, and before we got there she was telling me how much she loved it. However, this was not a pleasant wine tasting experience at all. The woman working there is quite literally just rude. She did not acknowledge us for quite some time when we first walked in and my mom even tried to ask her a few questions. After she finally decided to wait on us, we were continuously met with snarky comments. A gentleman walked in after us and he waited at the counter while the woman was helping us, and the woman refused to acknowledge him. My mom finally spoke up and said that he could join our wine tasting. She inspected this man’s ID for 5-10 minutes and it seemed like she wasn’t even going to let him try any wine. We tried to cut up with her and make it a fun experience, but she genuinely seemed put off by everything we said. She rolled her eyes at us multiple times. My mom compared a wine that we tried to a white Zinfandel and then the woman proceeded to belittle my mom and say “your generation just does not understand….” Excuse me? My mom is probably the same age as this woman. I got tired of being belittled and scolded after giving any sort of opinion about a wine (even when I praised a wine). My mom and I did end up buying 3 bottles of wine, but that is only because we genuinely liked the wine. However, we were left speechless from the entire encounter, and I wanted nothing more than to leave after being scolded and scoffed at repeatedly. Unfortunately, we will never be coming back here unless there is someone else working here. It seems like this is a common encounter among other patrons given the other reviews that have been left. How unfortunate to have such good wine but horrible customer service leaving people to...