Our social club booked a seven-person group wine tasting at this venue for 6/17/17. The booking, made with the winery's event planner (Kat) included a price of $15 per person for eight wines, with logo wine glasses that tasting partipants could keep. The tasting was to be semi-private and in the pavilion at the scheduled time and at a reserved table.
These arrangements, made at least a month or two in advance, were confirmed with the event planner two days before the day of the event.
On the day of the event, no table was reserved for our group, although we were assured by the staff when we checked that they had our 1:45 p.m. group tasting scheduled and would take care of us at the appointed time. (We'd showed up about noon to picnic there prior to the tasting.)
A couple of minutes before the tasting, we checked with the staff for the tasting and were told to come in from the pavilion and step up to the bar for the tasting. When we explained that this was not what our group had arranged, we were accommodated, but the tasting at our picnic table in the pavilion did not start for a half-hour, although we'd been told that a staff member would be right with us and would accommodate us at our table.
We had to check twice more in that half-hour before the tasting began. Once it began, it dragged on while the staff member conducting it disappeared for a time after each pour.
The tasting wine selections sheets included a price of $20 per person instead of the $15 per person that we were quoted in scheduling the tasting and confirming it. When our group organizer informed the staff and eventually the manager, the manager did eventually let the group have the tasting at the $15 per person price that our organizer had been quoted in setting up the tasting. This was after he tried unsuccessfully to contact their event planner, who was not working that weekend.
While we appreciate that the staff was busy and that our group obviously must have slipped through the cracks in their scheduling no matter what they'd told us, the winery came off to our club's wine tasting organizer as dishonest in their bookings and disorganized in their execution of wine tastings.
They do have lovely buildings and good wines, but if you plan to book a group tasting, get the arrangement in writing and have your group's organizer show up early to ensure everything is in order, although admittedly that did our group no good. The winery's website currently does not list Creek's Edge wine tasting packages and prices.
The manager had told our organizer that we were not the first group to complain about receiving a different charge than what was booked per person. He said that many customers tell him this. However, his attitude about it was that many group tasting customers are lying and trying to shave down the price, instead of the possibility that in at least some of the cases, like ours, there is a genuine problem in the winery bookings that needs to be addressed.
For these reasons, our club wine tasting organizer plans to book no more of the club's monthly wine tastings at this particular venue, which had been recommended by a club member. She said that she suspects that the winery probably does not get many repeat customers regarding its group...
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