Lavender acres winery — Attraction in Hellam Township

Attended on Mother’s Day and had a reservation for a table at 2pm. When we pulled in we could tell it was busy, no doubt in our minds. We were seated fairly promptly and maybe after waiting for five or so minutes were greeted by whom I’d assume was the owner. She let us know they were slammed (very obvious) and thanked us in advance for our patience. We were in no rush and told her so. She then explained the wines and how their tastings and flights worked. After doing so, we did not see another server for 30 mins. In this time, two tables left and people without reservations filed in. They were greeted prompted and even had wines in hand. We then flagged down another server and asked if it’d be possible to order. She said that they didn’t have sections (clearly a problem) and that we could order with her. Great! My wife and I ordered tastings while my in-laws ordered flights. We asked the server if it’d be easier to get flights but she said if we had not visited before she wanted to make our first visit a good one. Cool. So we went with tastings. She promptly brought out our first tastes along with my in-laws flights. At this point we thought we’d be good to go. Unfortunately, all we got is one more taste out of seven total before another 30 mins went by. At this point, as pictured, we had had two tastes of wine after being there for 80 minutes with a reservation. The straw that broke the camels back was when we saw a third table come in the room and get through four tastes of wine in the time we hadn’t had any further tastes. Unreal. I couldn’t understand the system. They clearly were not prepared. To do this type of thing on a Friday night is one thing but to not be prepared on Mother’s Day really kind of killed it. If you’re open and offer reservations, be ready to be slammed. Staff up. Build a system. We will not...

Beautiful property with good wines. We visited early Saturday afternoon. There was plenty of parking with only a few people outside and the outdoor bar was closed. However, much of the indoor seating was full and the two small tasting areas were overwhelmed. We waited in line for our turn, 10 to 15 minutes. No problem. We ordered two tastings and a charcuterie box. We were told the charcuterie box was being prepared and would be out shortly. As our tasting began, with first bottle of wine, our server read the name, showed us the label, and poured. There was no description, varietal information, nothing whatsoever. After the wine was poured, she proceeded to tap her fingernails on the counter and scan her phone, glancing up at us until we had finished. This continued through all seven selections. It certainly did not allow for the enjoyment of the wine as we were hurried through each pour. The charcuterie box arrived near the end, which is a good thing as we certainly would have had no time for consumption during the tasting. We have visited many wineries both locally and out of state and had high hopes for our visit to Lavender Acres. Unfortunately, this visit for a special occasion surely fell short and our experience was a rushed and...

I waited with anticipation to finally make it to this winery. My biggest mistake was arriving on a sunny Mother’s Day afternoon. Talk about needing to learn a thing or two on how to run a popular business more efficiently. We wanted to sit out and enjoy the musician they had, but I waited in line close to 40 minutes in the sun for a SLIGHTLY CHILLED bottle of Riesling, while my husband sat alone. Longest wait in my experience and I’ve visited approximately 50 wineries/vineyards. They set a bar for orders outside, but they were going inside to get the slushies, and you could order flights AND food all in the same line. Folks around me were complaining about the same issue. Inside the line was slower from what we were told by other patrons. Crazy thing is if you look at my photo, grounds allow for a much larger crowd. Best part for us was our dog was allowed outside. I don’t think we’ll be returning until they...