Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery — Restaurant in Town of Pulteney

1 star for the tasting room experience​; ​5 stars for quality of wine

Having visited Dr. Frank's winery many times over the past decade, our party was thoroughly disappointed in the surprisingly generic and rushed experience we had​ in August​.

Our prior experiences have been lovely - we were given time to taste, learn, and talk with the servers who, in turn, would take what they learned about our preferences and palate to suggest other wines to try. It was a wonderful and unrushed back and forth between the taster and the staff and always left an impression that earned loyalty. There was no charge for the tastings: the wines spoke for themselves and we were always happy to buy more than our fair share.

On our most recent trip​, we were informed by a rushed and somewhat robotic staff member to choose which wine tasting experience we wanted (this was new, but we were open​ to try something different​!). We learned that while there is still a complimentary wine tasting option, the wine choices ​were​ now limited. Looking for a more sophisticated experience, and because we were mostly interested in tasting their sparkling wines (not available in the free tasting), we opted to pay $10 each for the second choice: the 1962 Reserve Room, which touted to "offer guests an intimate and personalized tasting experience, perfect for connoisseurs looking for an intimate experience with the very best wines in the Dr. Konstantin Frank portfolio." Moreso, "the in-depth educational tasting" was to be "led by (their) most senior wine educator staff." Unfortunately, our experience was far from intimate or educational and left much to be desired. It felt like we were simply a cog in the assembly line wheel where the almighty dollar was King. Our "most senior wine educator staff" had no passion for the wine or for us - two of the most significant ingredients we had felt all these years prior. ​Something we had come to love about visiting Dr. Frank's was the feeling that all the staff loved their wine and were passionate about sharing their craft with you. There was no sharing, we did not learn anything, in fact it was the most generic tasting of all the wineries we visited that week - a crying shame considering the competition in the region. If the increased foot traffic has compelled management to find a solution on how to better ​move visitors through their winery in a more efficient way, hopefully they can do so without losing their ability to treat their customers right. They do make excellent wine which cannot be denied), so perhaps skip the tasting room altogether or just reframe your expectations...

We visit the Finger Lakes at least once a year and have visited over 20 wineries. This is by far the absolute worst experience we've ever had a winery and will not return.

We visited on a weekday afternoon and did not have reservations. I knew that they sold flights if they couldn't accommodate you for a tasting and I was fine with that -- a lot of times I actually prefer flights.

It was a chilly day and we were escorted outside to purchase our flights and told that we could drink our wine in the "heated" tents. We were also told that if we needed additional heaters on, just to let someone know.

When we arrived in the tent, it was quite full, with only two open tables. Two of the four heaters were lit and they weren't doing much to warm things up. My husband went to ask if additional heaters could be turned on. He was told no. The reason? "Propane is too expensive, so we are only running two heaters." Are you kidding me? You're charging me x amount of dollars for a wine tasting, and the tent is filled with 18 other people who also spent money at your business and you can't bother to spend some money on propane?

To make things worse, the wines were quite lackluster. I didn't finish any of them (weren't worth the effort). The wines across the lake at Weis and farther north at Stever Hill put these wines in the dust, where they obviously belong.

We will never, ever return to this winery. And, by the way, if you have any sort of mobility issues, make sure you have a reservation for an actual tasting and don't want to do a flight. The path to the tent is gravel and was brutal to traverse.

They do offer some basic food options, but the food options weren't quite what we were looking for and I'm glad we didn't buy anything. It would have been even more unpleasant to attempt to eat in that...

Being in the retail fine wine business for over 35 years, I have always been a fan of Finger Lakes Rieslings and Dr. Frank's wines have always been considered one of the finest. After visiting the three OG's of the region, and tasting a healthy cross section of two of the three wineries mentioned (the third one, name rhymes with wiener, wasn't accommodating because I didn't make an appointment while they were doting over a group of tourists from Virginia with diplomat license plates). My wife and I were told that they would pour us wines from their list at $9 each, and we had a Chard and an off-dry Riesling. I was hoping that the wines would have redeemed their holier than thou disposition. They didn't, and I won't go into detail other than to say that were a far cry from the memorable wines I remember from the 80's and 90's and the prices were obscene for the quality. This is coming from someone who ran a small wine shop with over a hundred Rieslings and Gruners from Germany, Alsace and Austria on our shelves so this is not my first rodeo, nor is it sour grapes.

Pardon my digression, and back to my impression of Dr. Frank's. They were very busy, but were very friendly and cordial, and within ten minutes we were seated and tasting through a comprehensive selection of their portfolio, which across the board, was the most impressive lineup during my visit, and we purchased three different wines because we really liked them and they reasonably priced. It was the best experience, with some of the finest reds and whites and sparkling wines I tasted from the area. A solid Pinot Noir, Blanc de Blancs and Bordeaux varietals that exceeded my expectations. A killer entry level Riesling and a dry Rose' loaded with red fruits on the nose, and most of all, genuine...