The Art of Wine — Attraction in Sedona

I am sorry to have to write this review for many reasons. First: I support small local businesses. So when looking for a gift for someone in Sedona I was so happy to order from this little shop, to talk to one of the owners, Jonathan, on the phone for help with wine choices, and loved his assurance he would personally be delivering between 10-10:30am to the gift recipient for her 50th birthday today, January 2nd. What a wonderful buying experience.... When noon January 2 came along and I heard nothing from the birthday girl I called the shop to find out what happened to delay delivery and when it would happen. And that led to this:

The owner, Jonathan, gave the delivery to someone else. He forgot all about it and when she called in sick he then did not pick up the work she was given? Really? This is the business owner. They dropped the ball completely and had I not called they would have left me charged (that happened as soon as I ordered- super efficient billing) with no wine delivery.

Mistakes happen and again, in support of a small company I asked when the delivery would happen now that they realized they had dropped the ball. Now that I called to remind them of the wine they had sold and the commitment they had made. Wait for it.

So sorry. No can do. SO- had they said "no" a week ago I might have had time to find another surprise gift delivery for this close friend on her 50th. This business has no interest in customer service, responsibility, accountability. But wait, there's more- Owner: "What I CAN do for you is refund your money. But if you don't see a refund call us to let us know". LOL- Really?! Thanks so much for refunding exactly the amount you charged me for the gift you forgot about and never delivered and now cannot deliver leaving me with no time to arrange for something else. Well done. LOL.

I own a small business. I would be out of business, and rightly so, if I had the type of responsibility (lack thereof) and mea culpa this business has. I love to pay it forward, reward great customer service, have a lot of understanding about staff mishaps and believe in making it right even if it means I'm out something or have to do more. This was almost comically horrible. The part that is not comical: my friend NOT receiving a gift from me on her 50th birthday.

The Art of Wine? ...

Full disclosure, I am not a wine drinker. Now we can continue....

My girlfriend and I were visiting Sedona for the first time taking a casual stroll through the Uptown area when we came across The Art of Wine! Being that it was a particularly hot day and we were thirsty we though we would check it out. As we walked in we were quickly greeted by a very cheerful lady who ushered us over to the granite bar and began explaining the wine tasting flights for $15.00 per person. We both realized that $15.00 for what equals out to be roughly a glass of wine was more than a little over priced, but my girlfriend decided it would be a neat experience so why not. I declined the wine tasting and opted for one of their "local craft beers" which were actually the same beer you would find at a beer and wine store except $6.00 a bottle.

My girlfriend was very impressed by all the wines and ended up purchasing a bottle of almond champagne for $35.00. They wrapped it up and put a cute little ribbon/bow on it, to help you justify the amount of money you just spent.

The store attempts to portray itself as a high-end purveyor of fine, local, and hard to find wines, when in fact it is just an over priced tourist trap. At the grocery store later that night we found the same bottle of champagne for $11.00 (no gift wrap or fancy ribbon though).

While I realize the fault is entirely ours for being impulsive, be sure to research before you purchase to make sure you aren't overpaying like we did...

The moral of the story (review) : caveat emptor, buyer beware when shopping at The...

We absolutely loved our server tonight. Got us talking about astrology and the sedona area. But appearently we were told I was too loud for the manager, at an alcohol establishment, it was pretty unacceptable. Honestly wouldn't suggest it here if you are naturally a loud person in any small way. There's no music on to decrease your volume. We had a great convo with our server and it could've been clearly avoided with a small void of music. I am a naturally louder person but not to the point of being told to shut up ever. I found it completely unacceptable and told him to close me out immediately because I'm not going to stop chatting during my vacation due to some terrible management and no music to fill the void. It all could've been easily avoided but I ended up crying on the terrace instead. Thankfully we found another place very close by with music and vibes where I could be myself. Its an okay place itself, the wineries in Page Springs were way better in tastings and the managers were way kinder. She should've came up herself if she had a problem, not forced the server to uncomfortably tell us to quiet down while the whole time we were loud we were just conversing with the people who worked here. Would never come...