Hood Crest Winery and Distillers — Attraction in Hood River

My daughter and I visited this winery recently and, overall, found the experience to be extremely underwhelming.

We each ordered a wine flight to sample a range of their offerings, but unfortunately, none of the wines were enjoyable. They had a noticeably vinegary taste, which made us question their freshness — as if they had been opened and left out for too long. Hard to believe that this would even be the reason for the poor taste considering it's a winery who is pouring wines constantly. All 8 wines were undesirable. This was a disappointing start, especially for a place centered around wine.

We also ordered a ham and pineapple pizza and asked for a simple modification: to place pineapple on only half the pizza, since my grandson didn’t want it on his side. The staff assured us this was no problem at all as the pizzas are made to order. However, what they didn’t mention was that this small change would come with a $5 upcharge. It wasn’t disclosed to us beforehand and only showed up on the bill at checkout. The lack of transparency was frustrating and felt a bit misleading.

Additionally, the tasting experience was completely unguided. You are given 4 small carafes of wines and told to refer to the menu for tasting notes. We weren’t given any information about the wines, the vineyard, or their process. That absence of engagement made the experience feel impersonal and incomplete — more like a self-serve bar than a winery visit.

While we were sitting out at a table on the lawn enjoying the relaxing view 3 boys came into the area kicking a ball around the tables hitting our table a few times and climbing on the rocks next to us. There is a sign saying to stay off the rocks. As we were driving away from the winery after our visit we noticed these 3 boys at the house next to the winery. We are guessing that these boys were the sons of the winery owners? Very unprofessional and disturbing to your guests to allow your children to play near your patrons.

Overall, the visit lacked professionalism without thoughtful touches that make a wine tasting memorable. With better communication, fresher tasting wines, and a more welcoming, informative approach, this could have been a very...

The scenery was beautiful with views of Mt. Hood and a quaint patio that allowed friendly pups. The two wine flights we had were tasty although one of the reds had an extreme amount of sediment. The tasting prices were fair but we didn’t get any details about the wines beyond the paper menu. The mojito was tart, tasty, and impressively served on a gold platter.

We were excited to try the wood fired pizza and ordered a Margherita ($25), as well as a meatball sandwich ($15) and a bowl of the tomato soup ($12?!?). All three items were served in cardboard boxes/cups and we were left wondering if we should use the cocktail plate to dish up?? The pizza had arugula instead of basil so it was a unique take on a normally traditional pie. Sandwich had good flavor but we were looking for the other half after finishing it in 4 or 5 bites. The soup was the breadwinner even though we didn’t get any bread to dip in it for the hefty price tag.

Overall, glad we stopped by and gave Hood...

Good food and wine. Terrible service. Not a place for large groups and kids. Mixed up 4 different tables of orders (they used table numbers, names, and took credit cards at the beginning) causing to serve gluten allergy table regular pizza. Did not care at all about the mistakes. Caused an extra hour of recreating orders after considerable complaints. Gratuity was included for our 4 person table despite no info on the menu. Executive chef/manager had the same terrible customer service despite our concerns about poisoning our table and other bad service. Really a cute place, the service ruined our day and had to end our trip early because of the allergy attack because of severe negligence. Refused our requests to even take it off the bill. And we paid extra for...