After visiting 9 other wineries we ended our 3rd day up in Calistoga in The Grade, a little…read moreboutique winery that no one has ever heard of, this was very cool, after all that's why we went to Napa, to experience new things, hard to get wine and secluded intimate fine wine.
The parking was on the street but we found a spot easy, I guess depending on the day and time this may be a little difficult since there are several other business and restaurants on the same street. We went in and Justin had everything set up for us. The place is tiny but nicely organized, the presentation and the wines were all excellent. We only bought a few bottles because we were already over our luggage capacities. So we finished in around one hour and left with a good impression and taste...
When we got back home, I received an invoice from them charging us for the wine as we were expecting, however, unexpectedly, we were also charged a tasting fee of $75 per person (total of $300). I emailed Justin to clarify the mishap, to our surprise, we were charged a tasting fee, despite the purchases of wine, thinking that they operate like most of the wineries do, waiving the tasting fees based on wine purchases or applying that fee towards the purchases. One week passed by and Justin failed to reply to my inquiry, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and I resent the email in which I included the confirmation email he previously sent prior to our arrival outlining the tasting fee of $35 per person. So at this point the worst case scenario I was expecting was to pay $35 each, and my real hope was not to pay any fee because in our experience, none of the other wineries charged us a tasting fee. After my second email Justin got back to me saying;
"The experience you had with us during your visit is an experience we typically charge $75.00 per person. You will see in the receipt that we did take care of 2 of the experiences."
This statement is a flat out lie, I assume this guy didn't even take the time to check his computer and see that we had 2 separate receipts and each receipt included $150 in tasting fees. So I wrote back with the invoices attached (mine and my brothers') and also attached the initial email he sent me that clearly stated the tasting fee was $35 per person.
The third email was sent on October 24th and here we are today - November 9th, I have yet to receive a phone call, an email or anything, extremely disappointing! So in chronological order:
09/29 we visited the tasting room in Calistoga and had a good time.
10/03 I received the receipt with the unexpected charges.
10/18 I sent the first email, I took a long time due to work activities.
10/23 I sent the same email again.
10/23 Justin replied with a scrawny argument and didn't take time to see the facts.
10/24 I responded to him with both invoices and his first email attached.
11/09 I'm still waiting answer, refund or a convincing explanation...
So as it is right now this was the only tasting fee of the whole trip and the most expensive experience when you divide the bottles bought versus the total amount paid. In my opinion and experience, I believe if you have special rules you MUST make it known either via email before the visit or state it clearly during the tasting, neither occurred. If we knew the tasting fee wouldn't have been waived with a purchase we wouldn't have bought anything because of space. Although we understand being charged $35 for the tasting fee because we did receive this information, but being charged $75 is unacceptable.
Very displeased! I would highly suggest them to be more personable with their customers. I was looking forward to visiting them again and going to visit their vineyard next time... but from the silence I assume they don't value their customers so I won't be recommending this winery to anyone and I won't be back.
If you happen to go here make sure to ask all the relevant questions to avoid surprises later. At the end this was more expensive than eating lunch with the Owner of Moone Tsai and drinking their best wines the following day...
