Ponte Family Winery

I think this place is called a "Family" winery because they let people bring the kids to hang out at the bar. There were so many people at the bar (tasting and not tasting) that when we arrived at 4:45pm we decided to look around a little before tasting. Around 5:01 I got the chance to step up to the bar and told the guy that I wanted to purchase one tasting. He told me that the winery closes at 5:00. I said that we were there 15 minutes ago but there was no room at the bar. He acted like he didn't understand what I was saying and repeated that they close a 5 and he can't serve me. I said that I thought this was a lousy way to treat customers and that we were here before 5 and there was no room at the bar because all these kids were hanging around. He then said that they need to clean up so they need to stop serving at 5pm yet it was 5:03 at this point and others at the bar were still being served. I told him to forget it. He then said that he could serve us while they cleaned up but it's going to be messy. I told him to just forget and walked out the door.

I guess the problem is that they hire snobs to work at these places and pay them minimum wage. There is no doubt in my mind that were we in Santa Ynez, Sonoma, Napa, or Portland we would not have been treated so rudely.