WALT Wines — Attraction in Sonoma

I visited WALT Wines in Sonoma yesterday afternoon with a friend, excited to enjoy a wine tasting experience. Unfortunately, what we encountered was incredibly disappointing and frankly disheartening.

When we arrived and asked for a wine tasting for two, the person working at the reception told us there was no availability — not even space to enjoy a glass of wine. We offered to wait patiently for an opening, fully understanding that reservations sometimes take priority. However, we were quickly and firmly told that waiting wouldn’t be an option either, as they had “guests with reservations coming.” The entire interaction felt dismissive and unnecessarily unwelcoming.

The way we were treated made us feel discriminated against and very uncomfortable, as if our presence was not wanted for reasons that went beyond simple logistics. It left a bad taste — one that no wine could ever fix.

It’s hard to shake the feeling that the employee simply didn’t want us there. Whether that was due to poor training, bad attitude, or something else, I cannot say for sure — but I can say with confidence that it’s not how customers should be treated at any establishment, especially one that promotes itself as a premium wine experience.

Based on how we were treated, I absolutely cannot recommend WALT Wines to anyone. There are countless other wineries in Sonoma and Napa where guests are made to feel truly welcome. Spend your time and money elsewhere —...

Love, love their Pinots. I visited the tasting room in Sonoma solo one day on an impromptu visit.

As a single woman, I was surprisingly treated respectfully and I almost thought that they might have thought I was an insider, since it was during the week. It was memorable.

I tried to recapture the experience of a quiet and contemplative tasting experience at the newly opened room across from Oxbow in Napa where the Ahnfeldt’s Uncorked used to be on First.

It was awful. I will not go back there despite the fact that the Pinots are some of the best I’ve tasted. We were peppered with 20 questions from the start of our visit to the end. I almost felt like I was being interrogated by the young server. Horrible. I thought I was paying her for wine and the experience, but instead she seemed to be pumping my group for information.

Awful.....get it together Walt Napa, because the Pinots are actually some of the best Northern California...

I recently had the pleasure of attending a wine tasting at Walt Winery and it was an experience I will never forget. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, making me feel right at home. But what truly made the tasting stand out was our host, Terry. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the wines and each one he poured was better than the last. He had a way of describing the flavors that made me taste them even more vividly. I left feeling like I had learned so much about the wine-making process and the different nuances of each wine. I can't wait to go back to Walt Winery and have another tasting with Terry as my guide....