点评:I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to Rayson winery today. I live in Davie county and only knew it as Raylen winery – the previous owners. Not to be confused with them of course.. as a staff member snarkily pointed out.. “Rayson bought the property, not the business”. Anyway, I went into the tasting room with an open mind and have definite mixed feelings. We walked in and were not greeted by one single person. There was no one at the reception stand outside the door either. We made a reservation online for a tasting but had no idea where to go once we got there. The people that came in and sat next to us said that they called to make a reservation after not being able to figure out how to do it online, and never received a call back. The woman doing the first pour told us that they were having some issues with the phone system since switching over. I find that very hard to believe since they have been there a few months now – find a new excuse, or better yet, be honest. Finally, I asked someone and they told us to go back outside to the hostess station and someone would be with us shortly. After about five minutes, someone did come up to the counter and asked us if we had been helped yet. She took us in the tasting room and sat us at one of counters. The first thing I noticed was a humongous gaudy chandelier in the middle of the room and high top gray chairs around the tasting bars. I was there with my 75 year-old mother who had a horrible time getting up into the chairs. The people that sat down next to us were in the same boat and had difficulty getting up into those chairs as well. They are not bolted to the ground and are very wobbly.. felt very cheap. Another issue- like my mother, the people next to us had a very difficult time hearing us as we tried to have a conversation. All of us agreed that the acoustics in that place are absolutely horrible! The four of us then proceeded to sit there and wait for someone to come and start the tasting. The first woman that started out (Cat?) did a very small pour and a quick description of the wine before walking away. We didn’t see anyone for another 15 minutes – I timed it. the next woman that came along, her name was Coleman- was very approachable and actually pretty pleasant to talk to. She seemed to know what she was talking about without being pretentious, unlike the woman that did the first pour. Our next pour was done by an unpleasant woman named Sophie, and the nicest thing I have to say about her was that she at least poured a decent size amount for a tasting that cost $25. The pattern was that there was no pattern. No one stayed to talk to us about the wine or asked what we thought – they just poured it and walked away.
Now, onto the good – the wine was actually very, very good. We were pleasantly surprised, and though a little discouraged by the price, especially being in Davie County (a little offputting that it is not going to be affordable to most locally), though at least we felt like we were getting good wine for that high of a price. Two tastings and a bottle put us over $100.
I don’t think I will be back – which is sad because I used to really enjoy that winery. I don’t care that they decided to change it to no children and no pets, I just wish they would’ve kept a more low key atmosphere. I used to go there after work in my scrubs and never felt out of place – now, I would feel very uncomfortable walking in there. Another HUGE reason, my wife doesn’t drink, but still likes to come with me to relax. Her only option while I have a glass is water. Ridiculous… believe it or not it Rayson, there are people that don’t drink that would like to come to a winery.
翻译:今天我去雷森酒庄时,不知道会发生什么。我住在戴维县,只知道它是雷伦酒庄——以前的主人。当然不要与他们混淆……正如一位工作人员尖刻地指出的那样……“雷森买的是这块地产,而不是生意”。不管怎样,我怀着开放的心态走进品酒室,心情很复杂。我们走进去,没有一个人迎接我们。门外的接待处也没有人。我们在网上预订了品酒,但到了那里后不知道去哪里。进来坐在我们旁边的人说,他们打电话预订,因为他们不知道如何在网上预订,但从来没有接到回电。第一次倒酒的女人告诉我们,自从换了电话后,他们的电话系统就出现了一些问题。我觉得很难相信,因为他们已经在那里呆了几个月了——找个新的借口,或者最好说实话。最后,我问了一个人,他们让我们回到外面的女服务员站,很快就会有人来。大约五分钟后,有人走到柜台前问我们是否已经得到帮助。她带我们去了品酒室,让我们坐在一个柜台上。我注意到的第一件事是房间中间一盏巨大的华丽吊灯和品酒吧台周围的高顶灰色椅子。我和我 75 岁的母亲一起在那里,她很难站到椅子上。坐在我们旁边的人也是同样的情况,也很难站到那些椅子上。这些椅子没有固定在地面上,而且摇摇晃晃……感觉很便宜。另一个问题是——就像我母亲一样,当我们试图交谈时,旁边的人很难听到我们的声音。我们都同意那个地方的音响效果非常糟糕!然后我们四个人继续坐在那里等待有人来开始品尝。第一个开始倒酒的女人(Cat?)倒了一点酒,然后快速描述了一下酒,然后就走开了。接下来的 15 分钟里,我们没见到任何人——我算了一下时间。下一个过来的女人叫 Coleman——非常平易近人,实际上和她交谈起来非常愉快。她似乎知道自己在说什么,并不装腔作势,不像第一个倒酒的女人。下一个倒酒的女人叫 Sophie,她很讨厌,我要说的关于她最美的一点是,对于一场花费 25 美元的品酒会来说,她至少倒了相当多的酒。没有规律可循。没有人留下来和我们谈论葡萄酒,也没有人问我们怎么想——他们只是倒了酒就走开了。
现在,说说优点——葡萄酒实际上非常非常好。我们感到惊喜,虽然价格有点令人沮丧,尤其是在戴维县(有点令人不快,因为大多数当地人都买不起),但至少我们觉得我们以这么高的价格买到了好酒。两次品酒和一瓶酒花了我们超过 100 美元。
我想我不会再来了——这很伤心,因为我以前真的很喜欢那家酒庄。我不在乎他们决定把它改为不让孩子和宠物进入,我只是希望他们能保持一种更低调的氛围。我以前下班后穿着手术服去那里,从来没有觉得不自在——现在,我走进那里会感到非常不舒服。另一个重要原因是,我的妻子不喝酒,但仍然喜欢和我一起放松。当我有杯子时,她唯一的选择就是水。太荒谬了……信不信由你,雷森,有些人不喝酒却想来酒庄。