Duck Walk Vineyards — Attraction in Town of Southold

Very rude, disorganized staff.

I had my 30th bday party there yesterday, May 15th. There were a few problems...

Even tho I made a resveration well in advance, when we arrived we had to wait outside for 20 min. There were about 10 ppl in front of us who told me they didn't even have a resv, and they got in before we did. I asked the man at the door about this, and he told me "it doesnt matter if you have a party/resv, everyone has to wait online". Very frustrating bc we were on a specific time schedule with our limo so this wasted the already short time we had.

I made the resv for 13 ppl 3 weeks ago. When I made the resv I spoke directly to the owner (Alex). He was a bit vague on the phone about how a resv worked - some vineyards charge u for a resv, and I wanted to make sure that Duckwalk wasn't one of them, otherwise I'd go elsewhere.

During our convo, I must have confirmed at least 3 or 4 times with Alex that there was NO mandatory tasting for a resv, and he said "well we encourage everyone in ur limo to do a tasting when u arrive", and I specifically asked "is it mandatory tho? Bc a lot of us would rather just buy a glass or some bottles bc we've been to your vineyard already, so we know what we like etc". He told me verbatim, "no it's not mandatory, but we always encourage everyone to do a tasting." That was that.

Fast forward to yesterday, I finally get to door and I'm told I have to pay for all 13 ppl to get a tasting before I can enter. I said whoa wait that's not what Alex told me, he said it was enocuraged but not mandatory. I asked to speak with Alex inside, and I did, and he was very short and rude. He told me "I'm the owner and I would never say that. It's always mandatory for a limo resv that you do a tasting before entering." Absolutely not what he told me during our convo 3 weeks ago. So I had to charge $200 for tastings on my card (they wouldn't even let us pay separately). The fact I had to buy the tastings was w.e, I think the part that bothered me so much was the owners blatant lie that it's always mandatory and he never told me otherwise.

As if the first 2 issues weren't frustrating enough, after paying, a woman led us to a bar to do our tastings and the bartender man took 20 min to even come over and greet us. Then it took about 15-20 min to serve everyone... So we arrived at 230, spent 20 min outside, and another 20 min waiting to be served, then 20 min to be served the wine... By the time we got our tastings it was almost 4 o'clock and we had to be back at the limo at 4:45.

I've been to this vineyard many times and I always liked it. I was so excited to celebrate there and have fun with my friends, and just enjoy my birthday. Sadly the staff at Duckwalk really made it hard for me to do that. In contrast, we had went to Pindar before here, and they were awesome and we had NO issues at all... I would suggest going to a different vineyard for any parties/events. The owner may try to say he told me this or that, but I know what I was told and I don't appreciate...

So Duck Walk is a favorite vineyard of my friends and I. It is usually our first stop on our wine weekends and their wines are excellent. However, in the past we would go to Duck Walk in the fall season, and we go in the mornings around 10/11 am when they first open, therefore all my experiences in the past have been super pleasant, easy, breezy, and quick service. This summer is noticeably different following more traffic due to vaccine being out, prime wine season, etc. The vineyard was very busy and the tables outside were covered in pollen, so we had to ask someone to wipe the furniture clean since we were covered in green-yellow residue. The owner was nice when he wrung us up, but it was definitely a different atmosphere from what we were used to. I would recommend that people consider arriving earlier in the day rather than later since it seems to fill up quick. But the wine is super delicious and our tasting cups were filled...

Stopped here while on a wine tour with a friend. I loved there tasting set up because it was fairly smallbut the winery itself is a huge spacious hall. They didn't seem to have as many wines as the other wineries but I loved their windmill blush. They also offered chocolates with their blueberry port dessert wine which I believe they realize helps the taste. I generally love dessert wines but this was not a good one. The staff seemed to be very knowledgeable about their wines and they were very helpful to customers choosing a wine to taste. However, a long visit here is hard because they offer no food for sale to accompany your wine besides chips. In the back there are seating areas where u can view their vast vineyard which seemed to go on for miles. In my opinion this winery is worth a visit but don't plan on an extended outing at...