"edit: Szilvia got in contact with me again and rectified the error and assured me that the system will be updated to prevent this from happening in the future. I arrived in a group of 6 with my girlfriends and the place was not very busy in the early afternoon on a Saturday. We mistakenly had not set a reservation, but we were luckily able to be taken in despite of this. We ordered wine flights and Christian did a fantastic job presenting the wines and giving us a fun and enjoyable wine tasting experience. We enjoyed the wines and experience so much we wanted to buy some bottles to take home. We were told that if we purchase 12 or more we would receive a 20% discount, so we decided why not? I ordered 15 bottles to take home on my tab and was charged 20% gratuity on the bottles of wine in addition to the items we consumed at the winery. After having a few glasses of wine and enjoying the afternoon, it hadn’t registered to me that there was anything off about the gratuity charge, since my bill was very large anyway. I am accustomed to 20% gratuity on large groups, however, when I have purchased wines at other wineries, I have not been charged gratuity for the wines being purchased to take home, the wine purchase was separate from the wine tasting and food. Granted, I have not been to that many wineries, however, had I caught this earlier, I would not have purchased so many wines because a 20% gratuity charge on a $530 tab is quite large. I could have returned with a smaller group and purchased the wines without being charged the 20% gratuity for being in a large group. This almost makes me feel like I have been tricked, however, I take full responsibility for my inability to have caught this earlier and ultimately I could have prevented the purchase if I had noticed sooner. I thought that the gratuity charge on the wines was a mistake, so I contacted Szilvia about this and was informed that this is industry standard and that we generously received a 20% discount that we didn’t have to receive at all. The experience at the time was great, the wines tasted good, Christian was fantastic and Szilvia was very welcoming and kind when we met her at the winery, however my friends and I will not return to this winery due to being soured by the way in which the forced gratuity is applied. It is accepted that a 20% gratuity charge is applied to items consumed but it is not common to pay forced gratuity on items purchased to take home. No service was provided that warrants a tip when you are ordering bottles of wine to take home. In addition, Texas Administrative Code defines Mandatory gratuity charge as “Any amount required by the seller for the service of meals and food products for immediate consumption including soft drinks and candy.” I hope this review helps others not make the mistake I did. If you have a large group, do not order bottles of wine unless you want to be charged 20% gratuity for the bottles of wine. I likely would not have noticed anything off with the purchase if I had not ordered $500 worth of wine. I have definitely learned my lesson."
