Delmonaco Watertown, Tennessee, United States

1yamtastic 5:00 PM Nov 9, 2021

Blatant deceit
On October 16, 2021, a couple of friends and I took the Fall DelMonaco Wine Tasting Excursion Train hosted by Tennessee Central Railway Museum from Nashville to Watertown. I’d heard about the wine train during a wine tasting at the DelMonaco Winery in Baxter a year or so prior. Because I love the Baxter location so much, I had high hopes for this experience! Upon arrival, parking was organized, the boarding process was fast & easy, the staff was friendly, and we got settled into our seats on the train. We’d been provided our complimentary wine glasses, the train departed on time, and the tasting began. During the ride to Watertown, we were told about food and entertainment that would be available at our stop in Watertown. We inquired about purchasing wine to drink on the train and were told we could purchase bottles once we were back on the train headed to Nashville. Everyone’s wine orders were collected before we arrived in Watertown. Our stop in Watertown was roughly 2 hours. There was live music and outside seating. We walked toward the square to get food before exploring further. On the way to the square, there was one food truck. Once in the square, the food options were a coffee shop and place selling quick bar food. The other choices we’d been told about on the train were Mexican food and a pizzeria. For whatever reason the Mexican restaurant was closed during our stop, but the pizzeria doesn’t open until 4p which means this was never an actual food option during a midday stop in Watertown. This led us to question why this option was even mentioned. We settled on food from the coffee shop and ate outside. We realized on the walk back to the train there was also a meat & three type of café. The DelMonaco Tasting Room was not open during our stop, so wine was on pause until we boarded the train back to Nashville. Back onboard the train, we asked why there was no wine in Watertown and were told there were licensing issues, so things were temporarily closed. We inquired about the wine for purchase on the train and were told to wait until the train started moving. Once the train was moving, we were told to wait 5 more minutes, or the wine could be brought to us. We decided to wait because we’d grown frustrated at this point. The wine tasting guy came back around to double check everyone’s wine bottle orders that he’d taken before we got off the train in Watertown. While confirming our order, we asked if we’d get the bottles in time to drink it on the train. We were told yes and proceeded to wait 1 hour and 15 minutes. We were finally given our bottles of wine once we were 2/3 of the way back to Nashville. Apparently, the wine tasting guy had the only corkscrew so we STILL couldn’t drink our wine. At that point, we didn’t want the wine anymore because the experience of drinking it onboard the train would’ve been rushed. We paid $75 per person for an all-day train ride excursion that promised wine tastings & bottles for sale on the train, plus lunch, shopping, and more wine tasting in Watertown. The whole point of a wine train excursion is to drink wine on the train. If I’m being honest, I wanted to get a little day drunk like I’d been sipping mimosas over brunch. Instead, we barely had ½ a glass of wine the entire day, were dropped off in a dry town with no bar, barely any lunch options, and lied to repeatedly on the return trip when proactively trying to purchase bottles for consumption on the ride back as promised by staff onboard. What are y’all charging folks $75 for exactly?! This was a terrible experience, a waste of time, and a waste of money. We could’ve driven to the Baxter, TN location, had lunch, wine, and been back with ½ the time to spare. You do a disservice to your customer and the DelMonaco brand when you half ass deliver. If you can’t offer the experience advertised, cut the price or discontinue the trips. A better approach would’ve been postponing to a later date when DelMonaco’s Watertown location was back up and running, offering refunds, or complimentary bottles of wine to drink during the train ride. I’m not sure if DelMonaco or the Tennessee Central Railway Museum is to blame, but I’ll be sure let everyone I know to forego this experience.