falconer vineyards

We had a similar disappointing experience as other travelers because of the mediocre customer service when we visited this vineyard in October 2014. We drove several hours from Iowa to Minnesota to visit Red Wing and this vineyard for their “Federweisser Festival”. The information we obtained online sounded like it would be a fun wine tasting and was described it as a German “Oktoberfest” to sample this year’s wines BUT boy were we disappointed. Matter of fact we never quite figured out what the “Federweisser Festival” was because there was no festival to speak of or anything special about this vineyard. The location of the vineyard is beautiful but the parking lot is small and awful. Apparently a lot of other people must have come to this festival because the vineyard was very crowded when we visited. The tasting room is quite small with a bar and a handful of tables. Since there was no place to sit, we stood close to the bar, basically in line behind another couple, and waited for someone to address us but none of the staff behind the bar or walking around ever acknowledged us or the other couple waiting. We probably waited for more than 15 minutes before finally one (!) stool at the bar opened up and we eased ourselves to the bar. The wine tasting itself was disappointing too. For a small fee we could sample a few wines, but unlike other vineyards, we could not choose which wines to try but instead were told which wines we would sample. The lady doing the wine tasting was cordial but not very friendly nor very informative nor very attentive, quite the opposite of what we had experienced at other wineries thus far. A couple of the wines were decent, but nothing worth purchasing. All in all, this was a very disappointing experience.

The area surrounding the vineyard was pretty but that is about it. The service was subpar and seemed like it was an inconvenience to do the wine tasting. After we were done with round 6 the waitress never came back to see if we wanted to purchase a glass.... Not that we would have as the wine was just okay. Disappointing

This was my 3rd trip to Falconer and each time I've taken a walk through the vineyard then had wine & pizza. I've not had a bad experience. The loaded bake potato pizza & white wine were delicious!

I seriously wish I could give this place zero stars.My boyfriend surprised me with an afternoon trip to this winery and we were very excited to try it out. We parked in their weird parking lot and walked up a pretty steep incline to find a pretty crowded open room with only a few tables and a bar. We didn't really know the protocol or how we were supposed to get the ball rolling on the tastings, so we stood in a make shift line behind another couple (since there was no where to sit) thinking that someone would be with us soon. Boy, were we wrong. Numerous employees (at least we assumed they're employees, they had wine bottles!) walked right past us numerous times without uttering a single word. No "Welcome!", no "Hello, we'll be right with you!". Nada. We were at a point almost 10 minutes in that we just stated to get embarrassed thinking that WE were the ones doing something wrong here. We finally just turned around and left. So utterly unimpressed. I don't even know how they are still open with such bad customer service. Apparently they do have food, but they didn't have any kind of a menu up for people to look at while waiting. The ONLY good thing I can say about this place is that it has beautiful grounds and a nice building. Other than that, no one should waste their time and money on this place.

I went there with my girlfriend. We had never been before. When we walked in they were a little busy, all the tables were full but not a mad house. We waited in what seemed like a like for a tasting with 2 other couples. In the 10 minutes we were standing there we had 2 separate employees walk by us. Not even acknowledging our existence. No greeting. Not even a simple we will be with you shortly. They could have at least informed us that there was an outside seating area. We just left. We will not be back.

We made a mistake by taking friends to their first cold climate wine tasting at Falconer Vineyards. They produce a number of wines, but select 6 for the day rather than allowing tasters to choose from the entire list. The server (who may have been the owner) seemed inconvenienced by our presence. There was only one other couple tasting, but she (the server) was preoccupied with other unknown tasks. I was able to pry a few answers to questions from her, but it was not the pleasant experience of staff from other wineries who take pride in their product. A couple of the wines were decent, but nothing worth purchasing, which is unusual for us. We usually select two or three of our favorites.We may have landed there on a bad day for the staff, but even so, there is nothing to draw us back for another visit.

We stopped at Falconer as part of the Great River Wine Trail, and thus far this is the one we like the least. Which is sad to say because I typically like every winery I go to. Before you get into the tasting room, you need to find parking in their small lot. Then once you get in there is limited seating. It was fairly busy but the two of us were able to find a spot at the tasting bar. Before we could even blink the person serving us said it would be $6 each for the tasting. We didn't even have the list of wines in front of us yet. This is the first winery I have ever been to that has made us pay first, guess they didn't want us to buy anything afterwards. This is also one winery that chooses the wines you will be sampling, which is not a huge issue, but personally I would prefer to just sample red wines. There were not really any wines that I found all that good; although, if I had to choose one I liked it would be the Chambourcin. Needless to say we did not purchase a glass to enjoy after our tasting as there was no place to enjoy it. We were probably in and out after 20 minutes. They do have a deck which we did not see as it was a rainy day. We also did not purchase a bottle as nothing was worth a whole bottle of it. They do have pizza's but from what we saw they did not look that great either. Overall, I was really disappointed at Falconer Winery and do not think I would go back.

We wre her for a tasting on a rainy cold afternoon...I'm a fan of local wineries and realize that this is MN and not Calif .. having said that We have been to enough Minnesota and Wisc wineries to know that very drinkable wine can be produced...we had been here years ago and the wine tasted very rough and homemade tasting ...BUT they WERE growing all the Uof M grapes and had just gotten into making the wine...so I gave them another try...well lets say they are real good at growing grapes AND making Pizza and let it go at that...I feel going to a tasting is like a Tupperware party you should buy SOMETHING to take with you..We didn't find anything we would drink so passed on a bottle..I agree that there is little attempt to teach you about the wine you are drinking which is why you go to a winery as opposed to a liquor store.

I hosted a girls weekend recently and we were going to do a wine tour.. Things started out fantastic and then went down hill once we arrived at Falconer. I was super excited when I arrived because they have done a TON of work on the grounds and the building since I've been there so I was hoping to have a great time!The place was packed and that was understandable because of the beautiful day.. went into the tasting room and waited for a place to sit down.. it's not a big room but it was cozy. We finally found a barrel to sit down at and the place began to empty out.. that will be an important statement soon. We waited for someone to come around and help us and they helped everyone BUT us.. it was like we were invisible. So one of us went to the bar... same thing... looked right at us and walked away. WOW! Finally we were able to pull a server aside and she said she would be right back, nope... she disappeared. So we continued to wait. No help. Frustrated that we could not get help we went to walk out and decided to talk to a Manager. To my amazement the manager was the person at the bar. She totally blew us off and said that it was first come first served and that they were REALLY BUSY.. They were busy but it did empty out and still no service. Not ONE time did she apologize or offer to help . I was stunned and embarrassed that I took my friends here.We left with no wine tasting, no wine for home and a sour taste in our mouths.We will not return.

Visited the Falconer Vineyards as one of the stops of a 5 winery tasting tour. Very disappointed in this winery as it felt as if our visit was a huge inconvenience to the owner. First they did not greet our group of 35 enthusiastic wine tasters. The amount of wine served for the tasting was way less then any of the other wineries that we visited. We had to ask the owner what the name of the wine was that he was pouring. We planned to eat their pizza for dinner and it ended up being a total joke. The owner served us one piece at a time cut in 1 inch wide pieces...amazing. Guess they didn't want to wow us with their pizza either. Actually went to Smokin Oak restaurant to have dinner later. I can not believe how this winery treated us, they really lost out on a lot of revenue from a loss of sales as I did not see many people from our group purchasing wine. Most business owners would have been thrilled to have a bus load of customers walk into their business. We visited another winery in the area the following day and I saw at least 20 cases of wine leave their business as they really sold their wine to us and were very welcoming to us. It was a sad day for the Falconer!

I just returned from bring a group on a MN Wine tour. Falconer was one of our stops and this is the third time in 4-years that we have been here. I made the arrangements approx. 6-months ago and have called and updated them many times of my dates, arrival time and number of people. When we arrived, they had nothing on the books, not prepared at all, basically could care less if we were there. The owner, John, had us all- 35-people, stand in the small tasting room, vs on the deck where we have been in the past. A very small pour, maybe half an ounceand did not do any explain of what we were tasting, etc. After the second tasting, I asked him if they had started our pizza that I also had ordered in advance. Oh- you are having pizza too,Yes, approx. 12-14 of them. They were supposed to be large pizzas but were more of a small to medium size, at $25 each. Not very good either. John finished up the tasting, the pizza and asked if there was anything else I needed. I told him how disappointed I was and asked how he could help us out, offer more pizzas free, as everyone was still hungry,etc. He took off 20% but then made up for it by adding on tax and a 15% gratuity. As we tried to talk to him again about it, he walked away and would not talk with us. I then spoke with the ladies that work there, they have said this is not the first time this has happened and worked with me on a much better credit towards my issues. The ladies there were wonderful and I really appreciated what they did for me. As for Falconer Winery...I will never return!

The tasting bar was very small, the servers didn't seem very attentive or knowledgeable. We felt like we needed to taste the wines and get out. There is only one very crowded bathroom. the deck is beautiful. We didn't eat there because we seemed so rushed. We didn't really like any of the wines either. This was probably our least favorite winery on the Great River Road Wine Trail.

This weekend we participated in the Great River Road Wine Trail,and the Falconer Vineyards was the 7th stop on our tour. I will say the wines were good BUT the horrible service is what led to the 1 star rating. I don't know where to begin, the "attitude" by the people working there made us feel like we were an inconvenience. The tour offered a "Food Tasting and Wine Pairing" experience but what they considered a "taste" of wine was incredible, looking at the amount in the glass you would think it was poured with an eye dropper, which is too bad because the wine as I said was actually quite good.We wanted to order food, but again the inconvenience of us being there was incredible, it was like pulling teeth to get someone to come to our table, we finally walked up an ordered.Then when it came time to pay we were directed to 3 different people, evidently no one wanted to take out money either. . . .while we were waiting to pay at the 3rd person, an employee came to pay for her purchase and we were once again ignored (either she was an employee or they give certain friends an "employee discount").Based on a few reviews below and a number of reviews on Yelp.com I am not alone in this type of customer service from Falconer Vineyards.Of the 8 wineries we toured over the weekend I think this was the only one that I would not recommend anyone going to and it is the only one I will never go back to (and as I said it is too bad because they have good wine).I hope the owners read this and take this to heart you have a good product that is being killed by employees that seem to have no idea what customer service is and what there purpose is there. . . .to serve the customers, the people that are willing to come in and spend their hard earned dollars.

This is a very nice winery with very good wine and excellent pizza. There is a $5 dollar charge plus tax for tastings. I would like to see them wave the tasting fee if you bought a bottle of wine..Nice deck and grounds.

Went for a couple's evening wine tasting. Falconer was busy, squished in at the counter. Staff was too busy to spend any time discussing the wines...and the wines were not good. We like to buy at least a bottle everywhere we go and couldn't find one that was tolerable. Other reviews discussed the poor service and we found the exact same experience. Too many customers (some were really loud) and not enough staff to help those actually interested in the wine. Seemed more like a Red Wing bar than a winery.