Christian Klay Winery — Attraction in Wharton Township

I cannot believe the service I received during my wedding planning as well as the day of the wedding ceremony. The site is beautiful, with well groomed vines and mountain views, but do not plan on getting any help from anyone at the winery, except their groundkeeper Ray. I made an initial appointment to visit the winery and check out the site to host my wedding there. I emailed with the contact from the web site and set up a time for a Saturday morning as I lived in Virginia and would be traveling to PA for the visit. No one showed up. No one even showed up to open the winery on time.. Eventually Ray showed up and was able to drive us out to the site. We did love the site and didn’t have many other choices for wineries in Pennsylvania, and other vendors mentioned there were weddings at Christian Klay all the time, so we figured it must just have been an off day. So we coordinated with the owner over the phone and booked our wedding. As our date approached, about a month before, we thought we should reach out and go over all the details. We set up another meeting on a Saturday morning and were very excited to figure out everything for the wedding. When the day came, the lady we were supposed to meet was not there. The lady working behind the counter was very rude and just said she doesn’t work Saturdays. I could not believe this was happening again and was very upset. Luckily the owner lives next door and was able to come over and show us the site again and talk us through some details. She said to draft up an email myself with all these details and email them to lady that did not show up since she coordinates all this. I did and received no response in return to my email. Eventually I called a week before and she said she got the email and everything was fine. No apology or explanation was ever given for missing our meeting. On the day of the ceremony, no one was there to assist in coordination, except for Ray who drove the hay-wagon and was very friendly and helpful the entire time. After the ceremony my guests went to the winery to do a tasting and were turned away. It is a public winery, open to everyone and did not close for an hour, but they were given no explanation just told they could not do a tasting. Every time we went in for a tasting ourselves we were treated very rudely and it seemed we were an inconvenience for the lady behind the counter. Overall it was a very terrible experience for me and my guests and I would not recommend anyone to even visit the winery let alone get married there. I think Ray did an exceptional job and the site is gorgeous but the service is so bad that it cannot make up for...

Don't go here if you're gay, or an LGBTQ ally!

My same sex partner and I are looking for rustic venues for our commitment ceremony/wedding (whatever you want to call it in PA!), and my mother had suggested Christian Klay Winery because she knew that we want a barn. The woman who had answered the phone (we'll call her Kay) was extremely pleasant and accommodating, and offered to look into availabilities for us to come and tour the grounds and call us back. Everything sounded great, and we anticipated spending a nice afternoon this weekend touring the venue, and enjoying a nice lunch/wine tasting together. When Kay called me back, I had thought it would be with a list of times that we could schedule a visit. Instead, I was met with the sour news that our business was not welcomed in their venue.

Speaking for her employer, Kay (apologetically and empathetically) let me know that the owner, Sharon Klay, was not "comfortable" booking a same sex wedding given the "questionable legality" of our union in Pennsylvania. Kay was clearly surprised by this and, sadly, put in the tough spot of speaking for a bigot when she seemed to have no idea that her employer was operating the business in such a discriminatory way. I asked Kay to pass along the comment that the legality of our union has nothing to do with the venue where we celebrate it, and that it's a sorry excuse to blame "questionable legality" for ones own blind prejudice. Apparently gay money doesn't spend as well as everyone else's at Christian Klay Winery.

We ask no one at Christian Klay to break the law, or even to be concerned with state recognition of our union. It's none of their business, frankly! We are looking for a place to welcome our family and loved ones to share in an important moment in our lives. I am saddened and appalled that the owner would be so discriminatory in the management of her business. Further, if the venue were in Allegheny County, this would be illegal! Not only is her refusal to accommodate us wrong, it's bad business practice. They are turning away potential gay clients at a moment where same sex celebrations are only becoming more commonplace, and also alienating heterosexual couples with LGBT friends or family.

The venue seems stunning, but my partner and I will never know. Our dollars, apparently, aren't as valuable as the dollars earned by heterosexual folks. I discourage any and all LGBTQ people, as well as their friends and supporters, from having anything to do with Christian Klay Winery.

Goodbye and good riddance! This makes the task of choosing a venue for our big day that...

A lovely little winery/vineyard. We came across it because we like using ‘Harvest Host’ sites to spend a night boondocking. The allowed us to park our trailer out in a field just south of the winery.

The host was very friendly and helpful when suggesting a wine that we might like. And, there were a couple of wines we did purchase.

The shop is a nice little shop, well laid out with all of the current available wines. They also have facilities for events, should you desire.

The owner stopped by to say hello after the first day of picking grapes.

Fayette Springs Road is difficult to find, IF you’re coming from the west. The street sign is hidden behind a commercial sign. Not so bad from the east.

Good place to boondock, sample and purchase wine. IF we pass back through here again, we plan on...