Somerset Winery — Attraction in Temecula

For the love of god, DO NOT get married here. It was an absolute nightmare. A little background: Keyways Winery is actually owned by a Chinese parent company called Essence Business Group which manages a ton of commercial properties (though Keyways is their only winery).

We signed a contract in December to get married at this winery in May. The contract was drafted by the winery and we were assured that Keyways was a great place to get married because it was all inclusive: tables, chairs, linens, etc. were all included in the one time rental cost/site fee.

After signing the contract and writing them a check (paying them IN FULL) which they promptly cashed, there were frequent communication issues throughout our planning process. We had to constantly ask if they had enough champagne flutes, lighting, if their sparkling wine would arrive in time for our wedding, etc. (I could go on and on). We were assured that everything would be perfect for our wedding. Great!

Two days before our wedding we learned that our site coordinator was no longer working for the winery. We were not told who was going to be taking over our event or who the next contact person would be for our vendors. Here's the worst part: we were hounded for more and more money by Essence Business Group. The accounting department told us that our contract was not valid because their representative never signed it. WE signed it, Keyways drafted it, and both parties received a copy. Thankfully, I had emails from December from the coordinator reiterating what was included for the "all inclusive price". They still said they needed to "close out" our invoice and the contract wasn't binding. They eventually honored our contract, but they continually HOUNDED us until the day before our wedding. How fun for us. Let's just say they added a huge layer of stress to an experience that is typically stressful just on its own. When we asked to speak with a manager or someone higher up than the accountant, they would not forward us and it was impossible to leave a voicemail for anyone else at the corporate office as their inboxes were all full. The situation was never made right and there was ZERO customer service. No one reached out to us aside from the accountant who lacked complete understanding.

We were told prior to signing the contract that we need to serve their wine exclusively so we should pick which wines we want to buy and serve to our guests. We can pay by the bottle or the case. The day before the wedding the accountant told us that they don't know if there is enough wine at the winery, oh and we need to buy it by the case. Um, what? That's not in the contract. The day of our wedding, they demanded that we buy cases of wine. So now we have a ton of left over mediocre wine that we weren't required to purchase per the contract.

JUST PROMISE ME, YOU WILL NOT GET MARRIED HERE. You don't need this headache and either did we. If we can spare anyone else from Keyways's total disorganization and unprofessionalism, we will.

For what it's worth: the staff AT the physical winery tried their best. What happened was completely out of...

What an amazing day! We were initially greeted by a woman who didn’t pay much attention to us and we were later helped by Chasen. He was fantastic! It was our first time in Temecula and to Somerset and we had a great time. My mom and I came shortly after opening and started with a small tasting. We walked around the property and sat outside with my dogs for the first 30-45 minutes or so. The weather was perfect and the flowers and greenery of the property is lovely! We decided to finish our tasting inside (instead of going inside and outside etc) and that is when Chasen greeted us. He was so kind and very personable and helped us decide which wines to try! He even asked my mom and I to join one of his tours and we are so glad we decided to go. The tour was short but very informative and we enjoyed it! The wines are great! I’m not very picky and loved multiple options. They had a large variety to pick from and my favorites were in the rose/red family. My mom on the other hand loved everything sweet :) Afterward we got some empanadas from the food truck and sat outside once again to enjoy the scenery. After another hour or so we decided it was time to leave so we went back inside to check out and grab a few bottles. The unfriendly woman who initially “greeted” us was there and started checking us out even though we mentioned Chasen was helping us. She was rushing the sale and told us she would make sure the order would go under him. LUCKILY Chasen showed up during the middle of the sale because she actually was trying to steal the sale for herself. Chasen handled the situation so professionally and calmly. He re-rang all of our items (which I might add- totaled to over $700). My mom and I have worked in retail, retail management, etc for 15+ years and understand that commission is a huge part of the job. Later in the afternoon I called the winery to let management know what had happened and to my surprise - the woman who tried to steal the sale was the manager. This was incredibly disappointing. On the phone she made excuses: oh this can happen sometimes when multiple people help the same customers, oh I was going to put this transaction under his name but I didn’t know his employee number, oh I was going to put it under his name after the sale because I’m able to change it, etc etc. I will definitely be coming back to the vineyard because of the amazing service Chasen provided my mom and I. He even converted us into members. I am only writing this review so upper management/ ownership can see how amazing Chasen made this experience for us and how they should reconsider management and choose a personable manager that actually cares for their employees and is excited they are thriving instead of trying to steal sales behind their back....

I avoided writing this for several months as I didn’t want to have to relive it. Discrimination is a horrible feeling.

My husband and I joined this wine club with the understanding that we’d be able to use our nine glasses of wine (per month) included in our membership package in a single visit. This could either be all for us or for our guests that we brought along.

We visited a handful of times and this policy, that we agreed to, was always honored. Until one day, our last day, one of the bar staff refused us more than one glass each per visit. She explained that the policy has always been one glass per guest per membership visit. We often didn't use all of our glasses per month as we lived well over an hour and a half from the winery. So it was important to us that we be allowed to use as many of our glass pour allotments we needed in a single visit, due to the distance.

The kicker was that we were there with our friends, who introduced us to the winery in the first place; and they were each on their third glass of the day. My husband and I are Latin and obviously gay. Our friends are straight. A white woman and a white passing man with some ethnic background. But the important thing for this incident to understand is that he’s handsome and passes for white. Whereas we clearly do not. Even while discussing this with the manager, our friend's wife came back with her fourth glass of membership-included wine.

Why were they served and we weren't? The bartender who refused us our glasses even walked away to assist a small group of white people in the middle of our interaction. We were asking questions about the wine and trying to order. I was mid sentence when she walked away from us.

For whatever reason, my husband and I were not important to her. She felt comfortable enough to abandon us mid conversation to assist a group of people she felt took priority. Our friends were served and we were not. It was a sad and devastating experience to be made to feel like a second class citizen.

We canceled our membership and have not returned.

The wine itself was good but unfortunately our experience far outweighs the quality of...