Reviews of Festina Lente Estate Winery and Meadery (Winery)

Simran Jeet Sadiora

Best place in abby

Sam Seto

Super friendly, super informative, learned a lot about meade and wine, and tried some awesome honey based wine. Would go again. 100% worth a visit!

Mark Giesbrecht

Great products. Many choices for meads. The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly. Worth the day trip from Vancouver.

Sarah Woods

What a delightful experience! Staff are so knowledgeable and extremely friendly. Beautiful scenery and delicious wine. I really appreciated the pairing cards you receive with the wine purchase. Looking forward to returning ????

Oksana Shvets

The place is so beautiful! We really enjoyed the time we spent there tasting unique mead wines. Great experience and wonderful service ????we will be back again!

Caprice Almasi

Phenomenal first time experience at this boutique meadery. The owners were super friendly, and obviously very passionate about what they do. Festina Lente has a massive variety of product, and as a fan of the weirder stuff, I was delighted by the tomato mead. Will definitely be returning with friends in the future to try out the ginger mead and the new elderberry when it is released.

Trevor Scoffield

Very nice meads and knowledgeable and friendly staff. The tasting room is just the right size and they have lots of varieties to try and purchase. Teresa and Bill clearly love what they are doing. We will be back and hope to introduce others to the world of mead. As I'm sure was the plan, a trip to FL and Township 7 makes for a nice afternoon showcasing very complementary products.

Farid

This was such a great stop! Miss Queen Bee was incredibly informative and friendly! My husband and I took a couple friends from France and we were all very surprised! The Mead wine was delicious! None of them were too sweet and I could see myself drinking a bottle with friends anytime! The tasting room was small and cozy. Really pleased with this little winery!

Lexy Wishlow

A goodly range of delicious mead presented by charming and knowledgable staff :)

Foxandkat

Loved this new winery. I’ve never had mead before and would’ve liked to have bern able to try the original flavour but they only open four bottles. I’ll go back and hopefully be able to try different flavours. I ended up buying the blueberry Don’t bother with township 7 Visit chaberton and vista doro or backyard vineyards instead

Alyssa Steinhubl

I tried to commit the name of our wonderful hostess to memory, but I'm not sure I was successful. I believe Teresa (?) guided us through a wonderful tasting experience this afternoon. Her explanations of the meads and their history was thoughtful and detailed and truly enhanced our tasting. The meads we tried were delicious and unexpected. The property is stunning and we were so fortunate to enjoy our tasting outdoors. The Covid-19 procedures were flawless and we felt completely safe participating in a tasting here. They have many meads to try and we can't wait to return for more!

Inga Liimatta

Great service!

Stephen Baker

Very impressed with this winery on our tour today. Their honey wines all had quite interesting flavours and weren't too sweet. Unfortunately I didn't decide to buy any wine from here while on the tour, but I wish I did!

Krista

Great experience, wonderful meads, knowledgeable staff- highly recommended!!!

dave t

lovely little spot, not to commercial looking but folksy and friendly... wish them well n I will be back in the fall to try the other seasonals as they sell out in a few weeks... $5 for 7 1/2 oz tasters

Kim A.

Not too impressed with the customer service I witnessed from Teresa, she clearly needs to learn how to handle a large group. No need to get into a female pissing contest with your customers. I was a bystander to the event, but it definitely didn't leave a "Sweet" taste in my mouth. To add to this they are putting it off as they have the right to refuse service to people who are intoxicated. Of course they do! But no one was!!! How do you get too drunk on 7 wine tastes / samples at two different wineries over the course of 3 hours? Please

Claudia Guerrero

Was a delicious testing

Dwain Berlin

Funny thing. My wife and I watched a video on how Mead is created, and being inspired by it we decided to see if there was such a thing in the lower mainland. To our surprise we found Festina Lente Estate Winery and Meadery in South Surrey. After a taste testing with a couple flights, we took five bottles home with us. It wasn't too long after that, we came back and bought a mixed case. If you are looking for something a little different than the usual wines from the liquor store, then you'll want to wander over to South Surrey for a flight. Something tells me you'll be bringing a few bottles home yourself .

Emily Gregson

Second time here today, loved this place both times!

Kelly Burnett

Such amazing owners. Always accommodating and going above and beyond. And the mead is fantastic

Ayissi Nyembaa

Adore their work

Robin Jarvie

Lovely honey wines :)

Timothy Whalin

Forget everything you know about Mead and come try Festina Lente’s delicious mead. Bill was a welcoming host as he walked us through the history of mead, the reasoning for naming each wine, let us sample 8 Meads, and was just a delight to talk to. Ask him the origin of “honeymoon”. Your bound to walk away not only with happy taste buds but also more informed as a person. Enjoy!

Stephen Walker

Amazing wine/mead will be back for sure.

Hunter Smith

Lovely place super helpful and tasty 10/10 will be there again :)

Badger McTavish

Great informal and friendly ambience. A large selection of meads to choose from and chickens you can feed! A great place to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon!

Kimberley Brookes

I love this place! Theresa and Bill are wonderful to talk to; very friendly, funny, and knowledgeable. I’ve already visited them twice and really enjoy their seasonal selections - make sure to try their mojito mead in summer and pumpkin mead in fall!

Teresa Thompson

Wonderful tasting and great service!

Samantha Day

I don’t even drink wine and I’ll be back! Went in for a tasting with my bf and his sister who was visiting from Ontario, they tasted but I didn’t (I was driving and again, I don’t drink wine) but the service was phenomenal! I’ll add we went on a rainy Sunday so it wasn’t busy. But when we arrived we loved the atmosphere and we were promptly greeted by a nice gentleman. He was extremely knowledgeable about each wine and he made it really interesting and fun, and the flavours were very intriguing! We ended up buying two bottles each (two for me and my bf and two for SIL to take home!) Bringing a bottle with us taste it for myself this week when we go to Whistler, and this might just make a wine drinker out of me! They have cute gift baskets and an excellent display of their wines. Throughly enjoyed my time at this winery and would definitely recommend it. Most likely will be returning in the future!

Robert Cole

Excellent Meadery! Very helpful and attentive staff! If you've never had mead (ancient honey wine, no grapes) it's a must!!! Had a great time, bought a bottle and a jar of honey! ????????

Farid

Amazing wines. I highly recommend you go there and try the wines. It blew my mind away. Plus they are experts in what they are doing and are not "salesmen". This is my to-go place.

D.C. Fraser

Great place to visit. Unique flavours to try. A fixed and rotating menu from season to season. Friendly staff and a warm atmosphere tasting room. Not much of a wine guy, but I liked everything they had on offer at my time of visit.

Jennifer Landels

An incredible selection of fabulous honey wines to go with any meal and any occasion. This is not your mother's mead!

Ali Bubba

Best experience I had in this winery very knowledgeable people

Jack Peters

Very impressive business from the moment we got out of the car. Great wine tasting experience with a huge selection of creative combinations. From the knowledgeable staff to the original naming of the wines made this stop an extraordinary tasting experience. Thanks for the fun time .....

Kristi Vanskiver

This was such a great stop! Miss Queen Bee was incredibly informative and friendly! My husband and I took a couple friends from France and we were all very surprised! The Mead wine was delicious! None of them were too sweet and I could see myself drinking a bottle with friends anytime! The tasting room was small and cozy. Really pleased with this little winery!

Ayla Martinoff

Such a unique and wonderful little slice of heaven. Knowledgeable tasting room staff/masers. Tasty mead and an ever evolving bottle list! There’s always something new and something classic.

Claire a

Incredible experience with this couple of passionate business owners, who sound like they're doing everything by the book!!! The meads are delicious and the conversation we shared was so very fascinating. + I'm sipping their "mojito" flavored mead right now - it is such a surprising flavor and yet it's on point.

Michelle Sherstobetoff

Extremely impressed with their customer service - the story telling was quite the experience for each new wine we tired during our tasting. And their mead is exceptional! Highly recommend going for a tasting, you will most definitely come out with a bottle or two on your way out.

Gee

Delicious honey wine, large variety! Delicious, and knowledgeable owners, all locally sourced ingredients. Chickens and horses!

Joan Randall

Had a wonderful time. Recommend to anyone who enjoys wine

Megumi Lopez

Amazing wine! Love it!!

Stacey Bodill

I really enjoyed the honey wine. The service was spectacular. The Festina was outstanding. My new favourite wine. Looking forward to going.

BelsKitchen

Amazing wine and service, please be sure to try them out, we came all the way from Mexico. Wonderful

caroline jeklin

Been trying a few different wineries, breweries and cideries since I moved out this way, and I just don't see the attraction to this one. Maybe it's just me.

Scotty Schumann

Good mead, friendly service!

Nicole Stratton

Love this magical place! Delicious mead and beautiful nature all wrapped together.

Marissa C

We came here during the end of the pride event. Sad we missed it but could tell it was a great event. There was a lot of seating outside with music and there was a pizza pop up as well for the event. This place is also dog friendly. Unfortunately due to the event they didn’t offer tastings but I had a flight of different meads instead ($10/flight). It was a great experience and service was great.

misha lin

We had wine tasting and pizza here with the kids on Sunday. The employees were super nice and everything was amazing ! They even gave us a discount because we had a little wait for the wine tasting . Much appreciated!

Michele Hunt

Worst experience in wine tasting ever! I strongly urge that the hostess, Teresa, to go back to school and improve on her customer service skills. She clearly was angry with our group and in turn as we were tasting Festina's honey wine, she informed us that the wine was comprised of "Cow Dung"..... "CLASSLESS"!!!!

Chanel Harrison

The absolute greatest wine! I'm usually not a fan of meads, but I'm so glad I popped in for a tasting - I walked out with 5 bottles and I've been planning my return ever since. Phenomenal wine, and such a great wine tasting experience. The Luna is my favourite - "Christmas in a glass"

Alan Boysen

Very enjoyable and informative. Delicious wine, not sweet as you might expect. Nice to think outside of the grape and drink wine that pre-dates grape wine. Cool thay they are growing oranges and other non traditional fruit on their property. (Hurray for climate change?) Saw a young olive tree on the way out as well. Will definitely go back when we run out and find ourselves in "Eastern Canada".????

renee duckett

Have enjoyed the wines we have purchased and have our favorites. We have had wonderful service and the owners have gone above and beyond anything we could have ever asked. I highly recommend a visit and a tasting. Looking forward to trying the new releases this Thanksgiving.

Jesse Lee

This place is really great .The pumpkin melomel was superb..

Kathy Curtis

Lovely staff, nice patio to enjoy a tasting on. If you like mead definitely check this place out.

Annie Pratt

Highly recommend!! I went to my first tasting today before closing and I couldn’t have been more impressed. The wine was delicious! The gentleman was very informative and more than happy to share his knowledge. Very comfortable atmosphere:) Despite one of the negative reviews I read, Festina Lente Estate and Winery was more than happy to suggest the other local wineries and HIGHLY recommended that we do so. 5star 100%

Michael Tylor

Fantastic experience and wonderful, always changing menu of wines produced on site.

M.P.

It was to observe the male worker with no participation with the guess what so ever. Weird

Jacky Ly

Outdoor tasting. I come back every couple of weeks and they have new bottles. Coffee and honey and wine, they knock it out of the park.

Olivia Fournier

Wine didn't taste good at all. Could barely choke it down. And our flight and seating fee was $25? Mmmm way overpriced for what we got

Eric Logan

Tasty meads, friendly owners who are quite passionate about their brewing and will happily explain to you the process.

Mark Sheane

**Updated** I went on a wine tasting tour *last summer* and this was by far the worst stop we had, not just the mead but the whole experience. Through some confusion with the company that provided the tour the tasting fees were not paid up front. Instead of handling it in a professional manner and letting us know there was a mix up, the owner/operator heckled us as we got back to our tour bus and basically accused us of trying to steal from them. This could have easily been solved with a simple conversation, but instead we were made to look like we were up to no good. Definitely soured my experience at this winery, I will not be returning.

Steve Vogel

This is a neat setup. Honey wine is not really my cup of tea but you like that sort of thing go for it. The thing I was not impressed by was, I'm not sure if it was the owner or other staff, but any time I mentioned another winery she would cut them down. For example I was talking to the neighbors next to me and asked them what wineries they've been to and I told them to check out Backyard in that I really like their Nosey Neighbor white. The lady of the winery than said "yeah that's alright but doesn't keep well". Then I mentioned Glass house and she chimed in again and said "That place is clearly catering to weddings and who uses glass corks?!?" Anyways, I get she has competition and is trying to sell a product but I found that very classless. Anyways, not saying I wouldn't go back since as I said, neat vibe to the point where there was a Hen in the parking lot just roaming around! But don't knock the places who you may need to spread the word about you. If there is one thing I have learned about the wineries, the good one's tend to light each other up. It's how I found out about glass house, when I was at Chaberton!

Brent Black

Always a wonderful time when I come to the Langley area and visit Festina Lente. I always have to bring a few bottles home with me and whenever I share with friends everyone is always delighted by the delicious wines. Thank you to the owners and wonderful staff of Festina Lente!

meghan mcdonald

I made made a reservation for twelve people for a tasting. We wanted to try somewhere new. I spoke to an employee on the phone regarding the $120 reservation fee ($10 tasting flights X 12 people). Standard. Boy was I wrong. This winery charges $10/ head fee to reserve a table. Yes….$120 to reserve a picnic table outside. For our group of twelve to have one tasting flight each, the total bill came to $276.

Emily

Visited in May and very much enjoyed the tasting. The honey wine is delicious, the atmosphere is lovely, and the owners are extremely knowledgable. Later I decided to order a bottle for my dad on Father's Day. I ordered online and spoke to Teresa on the phone to work out the details of the order--she was so helpful and pleasant! All around the experience was excellent. Highly recommended.

Michael Lawrence

Excellent service and products perfect boutique liquor for gifts and Christmas

Robin Fast

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Festina Lente with a friend and had my 1st experience with mead. Honestly, as a wine drinker, hadn't really heard of honey wine but found several varieties that I really enjoyed. Then I met the wine makers and haven't looked back ???? They are such an amazing family at the winery and you feel like a member the minute you walk in. I'm a merlot drinker at heart but I really love many of their wines of which there are many such as the Fig and the Mojito varieties. Unfortunately they sell out fast!! This isn't for everyone but give it a chance and I promise you that you will find at least one option that you will love. Come for the wine & stay and return for the service you receive! I've become a wine club member for good reason. Friends of mine hold a Pride picnic at the winery every year and it's a huge party with the family ❤ Visit once and the service will bring you back time and time again!!! See you there ????

Susan B

Incredible wines; absolutely delicious! We had a lovely time there and the owners are extremely knowledgeable and welcoming.

Tammy Taurus

Unique wines and friendly staff

M MVancouver

We came to Festina Lente Estate and discovered they have a wide range of wines. Whether you like light or full-bodied, sweet or dry, their wine and mead offering covers any palette and occasion. Plus, some of their more unique products are not only delicious, but great conversation starters.

Deborah R

My son and I went here for wine tasting one Sunday I have been back several times to buy more wine Great tasting honey wine I love it Go and try. You won’t be disappointed

Wine Time

Been trying a few different wineries, breweries and cideries since I moved out this way, and I just don't see the attraction to this one. Maybe it's just me.

Chai S.

I cannot rave about this place enough! We saw its sign while on our way to White Rock and turned around to check it out. The girls (Maddy and I-didn't-catch-her-name) were informative and unbelievably friendly! Between them and the delicious wines (our favorites were the Minerva and Saturnia), we will definitely be returning! Thank you for the experience and congratulations on your one year anniversary!

Holly J

Lovely selection of interesting meads. Must try a tasting flight to experience the selection of flavors.