Huston Vineyards

I love Huston Vineyard. I’ve been a few times on wine tours with a large group of friends. Both times they handled our group flawlessly. They didn’t hassle us with paying tasting fee prior to the tastings, they kept track of who bought a bottle and who needed to pay at the end without it seeming like a convoluted mess (there were 20 of us besides their other customers). Another unnamed vineyard down the road handled this very poorly so the contrast was very noticeable.
I’ve seen the owners at various tastings. They are always friendly and keep things moving. Yesterday at the Idaho Wine Run the line for Huston was easily 4 times longer than any other winery because their wine is so fantastic. The Chicken Dinner Red is my fave but the White is also delicious. I’m not a huge white fan but their Chardonnay is really good. Some white fans might not like it as well but my friends and I who love reds find it wonderful.

I think I would have enjoyed this winery more if we hadn’t come near the end of the day. I felt like the people working there were ready to go and kind of wanted to serve us and get out. The tastings were only $ 5 for 5, and if you bought a bottle, it waived the tasting fee. However, they only have 5 wines to choose from for the tastings which I didn’t love. I prefer to have a little bit of a choice with the tastings. And my mom doesn’t like red at all, and there were only two whites, so she only tasted two. The staff was friendly enough and when they closed at 5 pm, they recommended another winery for us to visit that was open until 6 pm. However, we had mentioned another winery we had visited earlier in the day and said how much we liked it, and the girls working there kind of bad-​mouthed this other winery which I thought was in poor taste. I know all the wineries must compete with each other to some extent, but I am sure they also support each other and I would have liked to have seen that more from the people working here.

Huston has some great wines and such an amazing staff and atmosphere. Even when they are packed, you feel like you are part of their family. They don’t rush you through a tasting and always ensure you got something you liked. If you loved one of them, they will even offer for you to try it again.
Try the Reserve Syrah, it’s amazing.

I wasn’t a big fan of Huston. I thought the service was pretty terrible, to be honest. Although I have only been there once and experienced one… what do you call a wine pourer? She kept chatting with the other couple there and ignoring us while we were obviously waiting for the next sample. I even had time to use the rest room (which is outside and around back) and get back before another sample was poured! It was frustrating.
Anyway, their $ 5 tasting fee only covered four samples, as opposed to the other wineries offering 6. On top of that, I actually thought some of the wine tasted pretty bad. I made my boyfriend finish one of my samples, and I’m a big wine lover (not above cheap wines either!)
There are many other wineries in this area, so I’d save your money and continue on to the next if I were you!

Great vineyard in the Snake River Valley Wine Region. We stopped by the tasting room on a sunny Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the pretty outside sitting area. Mary was a wonderful, hospitable host and we enjoyed tasting the selection of wines. Our favorite was the Merlot but the Chicken Dinner Red and Chicken Dinner White were both excellent too. With a pretty location, wonderful sunshine, and welcoming hosts this is a perfect spot for enjoying the area.