Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard — Attraction in Lompoc

We used to live on the Central Coast many years ago (moved to Sheridan, WY in 2007), where wine tasting in Los Olivos was one our favorite activities to do on the weekend.

Fess Parker was always our first stop and winery of choice, and we frequented the tasting room numerous times. Of those years we lived on the coast, we had the opportunity of meeting Fess and his wife, had bottles signed by Fess, attended many BBQs, taken family pictures, and have made many memories at this winery.

My husband surprised me with a 26th anniversary trip to visit the coast of CA, and we stopped by the Fess Parker vineyard this afternoon to enjoy both wine tasting, renew our membership, and enjoy a picnic. We were abruptly turned away. The person who was in the wine tasting room told us that there was no availability and that they were not able to accommodate us with wine tasting since we didn’t have a reservation. When we said that we were visiting from WY, her response was that there were many people visiting from all over the world and that we would need to come back at another date/time. Unfortunately, this is the only day we set aside on our vacation to enjoy the various vineyards in Los Olivos.

We are incredibly disappointed by the lack of care and concern by one of Fess Parker’s employees. She was absolutely rude and dismissive. Sadly, we will never visit this vineyard again. It is certainly not the place we remember visiting when we lived on the coast those...

From the moment we arrived, the staff made it abundantly clear that we were unwelcome. Rude, dismissive, and utterly lacking in hospitality, we were curtly informed that because we didn’t have a reservation, we’d be relegated to the “dirt area” quite literally a dusty patch of land with worn, splintered picnic tables that looked like they hadn’t seen maintenance in years. Never mind that there were plenty of empty tables in the nicer seating area we weren’t even offered an option.

Out of curiosity (and frustration), I checked online while we sat in the dirt and discovered that reservations were wide open for the entire day. So I made one. Immediately. When we returned to the front to inform the young woman at the host stand, her attitude only worsened. Instead of correcting her mistake or offering a polite apology, she acted as if our very presence was a burden. No smile, no welcome, just a cold shoulder and a forced gesture toward a now-acceptable table.

We should have walked out then, and frankly, we regret not doing so. We ordered a bottle of wine which, when finally brought to the table, was already opened. The server didn’t say a word, didn’t offer a tasting or pour, just dropped the bottle and disappeared.

In a region overflowing with outstanding wineries, this place stands out for all the wrong reasons. Skip it. Spend your time and money at an establishment that values guests rather than treating them like an...

We had a recent visit to Fes Parker and to say I was greatly disappointed with the service was an understatement. This was not my first visit as I was a previous wine club member but it was for my other girlfriends. I was planning during visit to rejoin but because of the experience I opted not to. We came with reservations and the hostess was kind and sweet as she sat us. Not sure if my expectations were too high as I have had so many amazing experiences wine tasting at other vineyards and even at previous visits at Fes but this visit fell short. The server seemed as if she really did not enjoy her job and didn’t want to be there. She was not engaging and did the bare minimum which was pour . Maybe I was just used to the servers at tasting creating an experience .Not sure if it’s different when servers at winery go to lunch, but normally a server will share with guest and introduce the person that will be covering , nope didn’t happen here. The covering server came by as a hey by the way .As a matter of fact we didn’t see our server or the covering server the rest of our visit. There was no ask if we’d like to revisit any wine or any conversation at all. I’ve had better experiences at Denny’s 100% We went to counter to settle bill and left with a very mutual take on the experience .I was looking forward to rejoining but a huge factor when I choose a winery is the...