Upper Shirley Vineyards — Restaurant in Hopewell

I want to preface this review by saying that I have worked at three Virginia wineries behind the bar and my husband has worked at two. My husband and I also like to visit other Virginia wineries with our toddler when possible.

My husband, mom, 20 month-old toddler and I arrived at Upper Shirley Vineyards and noted before we went in that no pets were allowed but children were permitted in the tasting room. This is something that we are very much aware of as not all wineries allow children in the tasting room.

First, a little about this taster. I did not catch the name, but he was pretty distinctive in appearance. He was tall, with blonde hair and a blonde handlebar hipster mustache. He wore a black polo shirt with a weird logo on it: a skull with bunny ears. I assume this is not a winery logo?

The bar was medium busy, at least by my husband and my standards. Our taster was waiting on another couple. Our taster gave us our first wine but then busied himself with the other older couple, pouring them several more wines. After 15 + minutes. My husband, who is used to giving tastings to 10+ people at a time was getting annoyed and said to the taster, “Hey can we get our second wine?” The taster replied over his shoulder without even looking at us, “Yeah, in a minute.” My husband wanted to leave but I convinced him to stick it out. It’s not like the taster was giving lots of profound information anyway – just reading from the sheet. So we waited…. Another couple who was standing next to us finally went to the other end of the bar because the taster wouldn’t even acknowledge they were standing there.

By the 15-20 minute mark, our toddler was getting fussy. We were trying to pace back and forth from the bar trying to get her comfortable, but after all that wait, you too would get tired being held by your parents or playing below the bar. Frankly, with our daughter getting fussy I was hoping the taster would speed things up. But nope, still he stayed focused on this one couple.

Finally, the taster finished with the other couple, but apparently there was an issue with the taster getting a tip and running payment on the POS system. The taster called a manager over to help so at least from this I know a manager was available to help the taster with at least taking payment and getting his tips.

At this point we were 30 minutes into the tasting at least and we were only on wine #4! My husband and I were going back and forth over whether we should just leave, shifting the toddler around, etc. When out of the blue, the taster says to us, without making eye contact, “You’re gonna have to take your kid out of here!” He says this as he’s pointing at the door. We were shocked. No manager was called over. No suggestion of handing off the baby to another family member. Nothing. Just unceremoniously thrown out of the tasting room. I was so angry that I said to him we were fine with that because he was probably the worst taster we had ever encountered. To this he responded that “it wasn’t fair to the rest of the people at the bar that our child was crying and disturbing them.” Again, no eye contact and then he proceeded to turn his back to us.

In fact, there were at least two other babies in the room, one of which had been crying throughout the 30+ minutes we were at the bar.

Maybe that's just how customers are treated at Upper Shirley Vineyards? I don't know if we didn’t look rich enough to give this guy a big enough tip or maybe this taster just really hates children. But I will tell you something that is certain: my husband and I are going to tell anyone and everyone who will listen to never go to Upper...

My wife and I visited Upper Shirley for the first time today. The venue was beautiful, and the food was out of this world good. We arrived not long after they opened, and went into the tasting room. There were no tasting menus printed yet (even though they know when they open, they were not prepared). However, our tasting experience was very pleasant. I wish I could remember the lady who did our tasting. She was incredibly sweet and knowledgeable, and very pleasant.

Halfway through our tasting thou, what I assume was a manager came over with the tasting sheets. Since she had been going by memory she reached for one and he pulled it out of her hand, and put them away. Not long after that, what I assume was another manager came over and rudely interrupted her mid-sentence to ask what the last name of the gardener was. Not only was that incredibly rude to us as guests, but that is no way to speak to an employee, and definitely not the way you speak in front of paying customers. They gave us our wine tasting glasses, but instead of quickly rinsing them, they wrapped them in a little bit of paper, and shocker, now my wives purse has red wine in it.

We had lunch on the patio, and since there were several doors to exit from we chose the one closest to our table. Apparently we walked in on a private wine tasting. There were no signs indicating so, and upon arriving in the room we immediately felt uncomfortable. We apologized and tried to walk as quickly through the room as we could. As we were apologizing, the employee giving the tasting (based off reading the other reviews, its safe to assume it was the owner) rolled his eyes and said some not nice comments. I've never seen an owner of an establishment less worried about the companies reputation. Not every body is a wine snob, some people just like to have a glass of wine at a beautiful place. Hopefully the owner will read this and the other comments and realize he should...

Disappointed with Upper Shirley’s decision to maintain operating style due to pandemic, it seems as though you are paying a premium price tag for subpar wine and experience.

The restaurant is now seat yourself - bistro style menu - all food comes out in a takeout box, with no plates. I cut my flatbread on a napkin with a plastic knife. The tables were very cramped and the dining room was extremely crowded, they had live indoor music which, when paired with the noise from guests talking, made it impossible to have a conversation at your own table.

The tastings are still provided as a self-guided experience at $15 - nearly all vineyards I’ve been to have at least reverted back to some level of interactive tastings. Adding that there are two separate ordering systems for food and wine - which causes guests to wait in two different lines.

No real heated outdoor space. There is a medium-sized fire pit with few chairs scattered around it. No propane heaters anywhere on the large veranda, which seemed unusual.

Tips are also a bit forceful from staff. Paying a high price tag for wine, on top of a service fee, and then an added tip seems to be a lot to ask for. I paid $17.50 for one glass of wine. Likely will not return until the weather warms up.

Suggested approach for USV: heat your outdoor space in a broader capacity; move your live music to outside; provide plates; eliminate the need to order through two separate lines/POS system; consider working on a price point that will help offset wages to your staff, rather than being tip heavy when there are no services...