I'm going to start off by saying the one star is -only- because of Rex. More on Rex later. My wife, some friends including a Bent Creek Winery member and I came Saturday for a tasting after visiting another winery a few minutes away. This is our first time going to Livermore wineries, normally it is Napa and nearby. Lets start from the beginning. Bent Creek is a few seconds off the main street and you immediately encounter snug parking circumstances, not the best winery for huge vehicles so just know that up front. We were greeted with what turned out to be the first glass of our visit. A cover band was present and playing, and because we didn't intentionally go to a concert but wanted to talk and enjoy each other, we sat far away - the band was pretty good, for the record. Unfortunately while I don't know the condition of the closer seating areas, far away can get a bit sketchy. The table we found open was on a slope and the ground was a little uneven too - the member almost fell out of her chair when the left rear leg dipped into a hole in the dirt (and no she wasn't tipsy, she is a lightweight and limits herself). Enter Rex, our server. Rex was great, simply put. Rex spent time answering all of our questions, getting to know us a little bit, revealing a little about himself, but not so much that he neglected other visitors. He even made sure that we got a chance to test the port a little bit when he found out some of us like port. Thanks to Rex, our experience so far was going to lean toward the positive. The wines we tried were ok, nothing earth shaking but ok. However into the picture comes an older gentleman that wasn't gentle at all. I was so dismayed by his behavior that I forgot to ask for a name. Closing time came. Rex gave us the last of what we were having, and told us to take our time so we did. About 20 minutes later an older man resembling what is listed here as the owner popped up. He was very blunt and rude. Now remember, there was at least two other tables of people sitting happily enjoying their conversations and wine and whatever. But we were bluntly told "we closed at 4:30 and it is 5p and we want to go home so you need to leave". I understood the sentiment and concept behind "I want to go home" but as the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. This guy came spewing vinegar like a sprinkler system. I was actually ready to go anyway but because we were having fun I instead kept an eye on the other tables and was fully prepared to tell my group "we should leave too" but never got that chance. We started packing up. Meanwhile this man also complained that we were using a chair that belonged to private property and needed to be returned. Didn't ask any questions, no apologies for the gruff approach, nothing. So one of us apologized to him, told him we were leaving, and also that the chair was already at the table so we had nothing to do with some private property being there. All this man did was return back to "we're closed and we want to go home so you need to leave" and hover over us like we were children. At this point, if I was going to buy something to take home, it flew away like birds migrating away for the winter. So we apologized again and continued packing up. There are demographics at play here that I won't mention so as not to get flagged and removed, but suffice to say we didn't react to this blunt rudeness like some would have considering the location and clientele. It would have been vastly better for this man to say something along the lines of "hi folks, how was your experience? Yeah? Great! Well hate to be that person but we're x number of minutes past closing and need to put things away. Is there anything else we can do for you? No? Ok let me grab some of these glasses cause we've have a long day and its time for us to go." Bathrooms - the slight-walk-away bathroom appeared to be one person at a time. We had time for three people to use the bathroom one at a time, and other customers were still slowly sauntering away from the winery, showing no signs of having received a rude "invitation" to leave (remember I earlier said I was watching other still-occupied tables). Since we didn't get run out of the restrooms as well, we finished that up and left. Sadly what had been a very decent day almost had the rug snatched out from under it because of this one older man who chose nastiness instead of tact. Rex, we wish you all the happiness and success. Anyone who chooses to visit Bent Creek, I hope you get Rex. As for the older man, a learning experience hopefully. When you are the only game in town, maybe you can get away with being snotty. But when you are but one of many games in town, playing hardball may send you back to the dugout with all strikes. We personally have zero interest in returning to Bent Creek Winery after this guy's behavior. Time will tell if the member remains one, as they were pretty embarrassed by the behavior we experienced. read more