Stone's Throw Winery — Attraction in Town of Baileys Harbor

July 22, 2025

Michael in the tasting room never lets us down. We tried a new white and a new red and bought a few bottles of each to bring home and enjoy.

Maddie served us well next door. We ordered several things on the menu at Vino! Vino! — the octopus, antipasti, shrimp, meatballs—and spent a lovely, sunny afternoon with a great bottle of Petite Syrah. All in all, it was about a $450 day in celebration of my husband’s birthday. We chose to spend the afternoon at STW today.

We come to DC at least once or twice a year for a week or two at a time and have been members for a few years now.

Being a member means we get a discounted rate on the bottles of wine shipped to us and any reorders of those wines, as well as seating in the members’ lounge area when we visit. The delivered wine comes with a nice brochure introducing the wine selection, informing us about different topics related to wine, and sharing a great recipe.

Membership has allowed us to learn about and sample different wines we may otherwise have never tried. Sure, there are times we love the selections sent to us and times we think “don’t love it” but have paid for it anyway—and we have been okay with that to this point. We like to learn—and paid the $85-90 dollars monthly for the experience.

Unfortunately, at the end of our visit today we decided to cancel our membership at STW. It has nothing to do with the wine.

I grew up with parents who owned a small business— a restaurant. I always observed my parents interacting with customers. They cultivated new customers, of course, but knew that their repeat, loyal customers mattered and helped sustain their business. Those customers continued to choose their business and spend money there on a regular basis My parents went out of their way to make those people feel valued and to show their appreciation for the continued patronage. They made them feel like family when they came in.

And this is where STW falls short for us. Despite always being visible and out in the open area at one table or another, the owner just seems like he can’t be bothered to walk over and extend a welcome to club members. To say “thanks for coming” to the people who buy his wine monthly throughout the year. Not even a hello or a nod. Even when we walked through the patio to and from our seating area.

We spent a couple of hours sitting in the “special” seating while we watched him sitting with friends, mingling and visiting among other customers on the patio. As he should. Everyone who visits an establishment should welcomed.

But he’s friendly to some people and not others, or he’ll say hello on one visit and not acknowledge you the next two times. You’ll sit in the “special” seating area reserved for members and he’ll see you, but makes no effort to wave. It’s like the teacher who plays favorites in the classroom while the rest of the kids are wondering what they are doing wrong.

After a couple of hours, we thought to ourselves “what is so special about this?”. And then, “how else could we be spending our money every month”?

We can still enjoy Stones Throw wines when we visit if we aren’t members. We can still order our favorites online. The discount might be less, but we can save by not having to pay for wines we don’t like in the monthly membership shipments.

Maybe being in the “club” isn’t worth what we are getting in return. We don’t feel the investment is mutual.

Perhaps our expectations are too high. In my Italian family, hospitality looked much different when people came to your home or business.

Stones Throw makes good wine, and we hope they continue to thrive, but it is short two members as of today. It just left a bad taste in our mouths. We are going to put our money elsewhere each month.

My parents had a saying in their restaurant: if we pleased you, please tell your friends. If we didn’t, please tell US. So, we share our experience. Yes, the owner can issue the expected terse response here, but we hope this just presents an opportunity for the teacher to learn. And...

My husband and I recently celebrated our 10th anniversary in Door County. We stopped by Stone's Throw Winery for a tasting and to pick up some wine for our collection. The location was serene and inviting, unfortunately, that is where it stayed. Upon entering we noticed there were two people attending wine tasters and a lady at the counter. One of the attenders was a gentlemen, he was attending 4 others so we went with the lady who only had a couple. BIG MISTAKE! Her service, her attitude was that of a miserable retail clerk. My husband and I enjoy touring wineries throughout the Midwest so we enjoy learning about their individual wines and how it's aged, types of fruit and spices, etc... This lady simply gave us the list, advised us we had 7 choices to taste and walked away for 15 minutes. No, "Welcome to Stone's Throw", "Is this your first time here?", "Let me tell your about our wines..." NOTHING! When she returned she asked if we were ready with our first choice, we gave her the name, she grabbed 2 wine glasses, poured and walked away for 10 minutes. No explanation on the type of wine, what spices were used, how long it's aged, etc... This pattern repeated every 10 minutes, FOR A TASTING, THIS LASTED 1.5 HRS!! My husband at one point asked her if he could have a new glass because the flavors were blending, she rolled her eyes as if she were the one washing these glasses and reluctantly gave him a clean glass. We also asked if they had crackers or some sort as more reputable wineries have to clean the palate and some dark chocolate to bring out the flavors of certain wines. She looked at us as if we had just landed from Mars and rudely said no. Meanwhile, we noticed the gentleman attending the other guests has his guests laughing and he's telling them about the wines and everyone is having a great conversation. The couple next to us whom she was also attending finished their tasting and then said as much as they wanted to buy wine her service was terrible and they would never return. Mind you during all of this, she's had us and another couple while the other gentleman now has about 10 couples all surrounding him. Where was she? Standing by the cashier chatting!!!! Now I will admit there wine was fantastic, however after our 1.5 hrs tasting we contemplated on purchasing anything. My husband was now livid and wanted to leave however, I did enjoy their special reserves and we ended up purchasing 1/2 a case. The cashier was a joyful lady who chatted more with us as we checked out opposed to our attendant who didn't even thank us for coming. I write this review in hopes that management reviews this with their staff. Would I visit again? Yes, as I mentioned their products are great, they just need to tweak their...

Not all wineries are created equally. It seems like every tourist area (& plain ole suburb) has a cough syrup cranking establishment at $15 bottle & people eat it up. Still, I'm determined to check the local offerings.

Per reviews, these guys cater to old people (cool, I'm no spring chicken) & tend to favor people who "might" buy... (again, that's me) PLUS they don't serve syrupy-sweet drinks, sticking with imported grapes & keeping it dry... count me in, we have a winner!

We peeked at the products before wandering towards the bar top, where we (& everyone else) were greeted immediately and offered a tasting menu to pick 5 pours. We were given a brief overview and pens. Jim was fantastic & treated EVERYONE equally.

We made our selections, sadly the malbec isn't going to be ready til 15 July - so, we had to change the game plan. We each picked 5 for 10 total. Then shared our tastes... then added 5 more, cuz the owner came in talking about his recommendations & you can't argue the owner's suggestions.

We left with a bakers dozen of peppery goodness. Then stopped to try the duck & meatballs. Can not speak highly enough of either. Service was also on point.

While nothing was disappointing, the real surprises were the Merlot (not usually a fan) & the Rose (another one I typically avoid) - tho I must admit I was a barrel deep by this point & will revisit when I pop the corks sober... (I once bought a jalepeno apple wine after several other tastes, 100% sure it would make great chili. It did not.)

These were certainly higher in price than the spots catering to the sweet-lovers, but the price point reflected the...