Parley Lake Winery — Attraction in Laketown Township

I visited Parley lake on July 8th with my family. I was there with some family and stayed for about 6 hours. While I was there I personally bought around $300 in wine and drinks for my family, and had interactions with 5 different staff members. There was one man who worked at an outside bar who was very kind and helpful, I didn't get his name I just remember he was bald and had tattoos on his arms. Other than that one man, the other 4 people I had interactions with ranged from slightly curt to incredibly rude. They gave me strange looks, talked down to me, and in one case refused to provide me ice buckets and glasses for the 10 bottles of wine I was attempting to buy. It could have been because I look like a young 20's man, even though after checking my ID they could clearly see that I'm 30. It could also be because I am a person of color and going to far out of the twin cities these types of situations are more likely to pop up for me. Either way its simply unacceptable to be treated this way at an establishment. They should not treat anyone like this but you would think spending over $300 would at least have them treat me a little better. The place is very beautiful and the wine is fine. However if you have young people or POC's in your group and your planning on attending I would recommend going...

Parley Lake is a beautiful winery and a fun spot to go! I have always enjoyed their wine, dog friendliness, and the apple orchard in the fall.

The one thing I don’t recommend is the guided tasting unless you really know things about wine. We thought it would be a fun thing to do for a small low-key bachelorette party, but the man leading the tasting was crabby and unable to adapt to a crowd that clearly doesn’t know all the fancy terms and things for wine. We were a bit late, which was our fault, but we would have been happy with a shorter, less informative wine tasting or would have understood if we were too late and were sent to the bar instead. We tried to make that clear, but again he did not seem prepared to alter anything about the wine tasting. They also allowed us to book our tasting right before a wedding, so we were basically kicked out at the end of it. That did not seem fair to us or the wedding taking place there!

Again, overall I love this winery! I just don’t recommend paying for a...

With Covid19, this winery required a free reservation to visit. We had planned to pick apples at the orchard on the grounds, Deardorff, but sadly they had closed down the apple picking portion of their season. Nevertheless we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the winery full of live music & delicious wine. I highly recommend bringing your own lawn chairs, blanket or small table, as seating tends to fill up & it’s more comfortable than a picnic table in my opinion. My favorite part is that they allow outside food, so we packed a few snacks & cheese that paired nicely with the wine. There was also a pizza wood fire food truck on site, I believe the vendor rotates. Check their website to see who the musician will be, that’s how I chose when to attend. Beautiful drive out this winery. It’s quant, quiet and cozy. Can’t wait to...