Beringer Vineyards — Restaurant in St. Helena

Extremely Unprofessional and Discriminatory Behavior by Tour Guide "Chris"

We joined a guided tour at this winery, hoping for an enjoyable and enriching experience. Unfortunately, the entire tour was ruined within the first five minutes due to the extremely inappropriate behavior of the tour guide named Chris.

As soon as we arrived at the meeting point, Chris asked us where we were from. We replied, “California,” and he immediately responded in an impatient and raised tone, demanding, “Where are you from?” His tone was aggressive, disrespectful, and unnecessarily confrontational, making us feel uncomfortable and shocked.

When we answered “Bay Area,” he repeated his question even more loudly and sternly, nearly growling at us. His tone was hostile, and his body language and expression showed clear disdain, as if our answer wasn’t “good enough” for him. It wasn’t just rude; it felt personal and discriminatory.

This behavior made not only us feel deeply disrespected, but also visibly unsettled the three other guests in the group. One staff member even walked away due to the uncomfortable atmosphere. We felt humiliated and singled out, and we could not shake the impression that his reaction was rooted in prejudice, perhaps because we didn’t speak in a way he expected or wanted.

As visitors, we do not deserve to be treated with such hostility and condescension. We were so upset that we decided to leave the tour within just five minutes of it starting.

As we were leaving, another staff member kindly approached us to ask what happened and invited two managers to follow up. We are truly grateful for their concern and professionalism.

We are writing this review to strongly alert future visitors to the unacceptable and unprofessional conduct we experienced from Chris. His aggressive questioning, emotional outbursts, and what unmistakably felt like racial bias have absolutely no place in a customer-facing role or in any environment that claims to value hospitality, diversity, and inclusion.

The way Chris spoke to us, compared with how we’ve seen other guests treated, leads us to believe with confidence that his behavior would have been very different if we were native English speakers. This kind of differential treatment is not just inappropriate; it’s harmful, alienating, and deeply disappointing.

We sincerely urge the winery to treat this incident with the seriousness it deserves and to take swift and appropriate disciplinary action. This is not just about one unfortunate encounter; it’s about protecting the integrity of your brand and the experiences of future guests. We hope this review brings awareness and motivates real accountability, because every visitor, regardless of ethnicity, accent, or background, deserves to be welcomed with basic respect, fairness,...

I recently visited Beringer to celebrate a birthday. A reservation was made for a tasting at 1:00PM on Saturday, January 11th. Our group consisted of 9 guests. When we arrived, we were marveled of the vineyard's beauty and explored the grounds. When it was time to gather at the meeting point for the beginning of our tasting, our host, Andrew, gave us a warm welcome. There, we encountered another group of 4 guests who had also reserved for the 1:00PM tour. Andrew was respectful and kind. He was knowledgeable of the vineyard's history and the wine selection too. At the end of the tasting, our group of 9 guests sat down in the garden to enjoy some charcuterie boards which were complements of the vineyard. We purchased 2 wine bottles from the gift shop to accompany the light snack. After about 1.5 hours, we decided to make our way back to the parking lot and end our visit at the vineyard. On the way, my group took some pictures throughout the vineyard and decided to purchase another bottle from the gift shop to take home.

However, outside of the gift shop, we were approached by Nicole, one of the managers. In the moment, she did not mention who she was and claimed that our group of was intoxicated and causing disturbances. From our group, nobody was inebriated. Also, she stated that several members of her staff had approached us previously which was untrue. We questioned her and she insisted on her presumption-that our group was inebriated. Nicole was rude, disrespectful, and unprofessional. Since we did not appreciate her dismissive and unflattering way of speaking to us, we asked to speak to a manager and also asked for her full name. She answered "Nicole Fagerhaug" and added with a smirk, "Goodluck remembering that." The comment was not only unnecessary, but insulting. As guests at Beringer or any other place, we should not tolerate this type of demeanor. If the problem was that Beringer could not sell our group any more wine bottles due to state laws, Nicole should have informed us about it in a different way. Our visit to Beringer Vineyards was the first and last.

I'm hopeful that this review will initiate reflection and reconsideraton for Beringer staff, members and...

First, let me start by saying that this rating is based on customer service and the service we received during our tasting, the actual wine is phenomenal and the grounds are beautiful which is why it is so unfortunate that the level of service provided does not even come close to what should be offered. I brought my out-of-town friends here for their first weekend in Napa and did a tasting on the veranda. I understand we were running a little late due to an issue with our Uber, so maybe this frustrated the man hosting our tasting. We received NO history or information about the vineyard during the tasting. For each pour, he came and described which wine he was pouring and went back inside. There was no small talk or other information given to us, which I found odd since I have been to quite a few wine tastings in the Napa/ Sonoma regions and have always been given some information about the vineyards. It was also strange since the table next to us had a woman host that was very cheerful and talked a lot with her table. Despite having a subpar experience with our host we still enjoyed the wines and decided to purchase quite a few bottles. I inquired about a specific discount and he confirmed with the manager that we would receive that discount. I didn't realize until later that day when I was looking at the receipt closer that we actually were not given that discount. I called immediately the following morning to ask if this could be adjusted. I was told that a manager would call me back in regard to this. It has now been 3 WEEKS and many phone calls to them later where I keep getting told a manager will call me back and still have not received a call. The actual customer service representative I have been dealing with, Patty, has been very nice and has repeatedly tried to put me in contact with a manager to no avail. I am kicking myself that I didn't analyze the receipt in more detail before leaving the winery, but also appalled that a company would not even do the courtesy of returning my call after 3 weeks and after expressing having a poor experience at one of their tastings. As beautiful as this place was, I will never be returning and definitely do not recommend a...