We don't like dry wine and that's all they have The views are nice It's cute inside Didn't stay here or try anything The people were nice We would not come back read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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I've visited wineries both as a tourist and a local (my family moved up here 2 years ago). I've tried a lot of wineries and this has made it to #1 on my list. The wine is DELICIOUS, the bar staff is super helpful, and the views are some of the best out there. The indoor section is also very cozy - this is the perfect winery for all seasons! read more

Bonobo Winery - The view! - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

The service was okay. The vibe of this place is so nice. I love the decor and the simplicity of the place. There were small sitting areas that just add to the cool vibe of this place. The outside is amazing. Im sure it's super fun in the summer time. The Riesling wine tastes amazing. Im not a wine connoisseur but it was really good. They dont have flights but you can surely taste before you get a glass or a bottle. Definitely would come back for some more wine. The mural is awesome too. Thanks Bonobo for a great experience! read more

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I wanted to stop in here because I heard it was a good winery and I've never really had Michigan wine other than my New Buffalo and I was pleasantly surprised because the wine was not that bad. It was super crowded more than I thought it would be and they weren't a lot of places to sit inside so we went outside. It was kind of chilly, but they have a really nice upstairs patio and a lower level that has a swing and a bunch of seating down there too. It had more of a feeling of the stop that everyone stops at for a bachelorette party, but the wine was decent and had really nice views and I think they offered like charcuterie boards if you wanted that . I think it's worth a stop if you are on the Peninsula because it's really pretty especially in the fall when we went it was amazing with the changing leaves. Highly recommend in the fall. read more

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My partner and I LOVED this winery! The ambience was absolutely perfect. It was beautiful in every direction. From the moment we parked our car and stepped outside, the vineyards stretched on with the sunset on the horizon over the bay and gorgeous fall colors in the distance. It was festively decorated with pumpkins outside at the entrance of the building. When we stepped inside, it had big beautiful windows looking out at the view and was very spacious. Outside, the patio deck had cute string lights, bonfires, and comfy seating. You can walk down some steps to the vineyard where there's a swing and gazebos and more chairs to take it all in. Scenery and ambience were PERFECT. Vibe was perfect too because the staff were so friendly and welcoming and the place did not give off a pretentious vibe at all! They let us sample 2 wines before selecting one, they were knowledgeable, and they let everyone keep the wine glass to take home! I had such a fun and romantic time with my partner and I'm glad to have the memento. Wine was great, and the olives were so flavorful and fresh. Perfect amount of oil and seasoning. Definitely recommend this spot to anyone looking for a chill place to enjoy wine with friends or a date. It was also one of the few wineries that were open later in the evening on a weekday which I really appreciated. read more

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I'm not sure what to say. The views are beautiful and it's very nice inside. The wines were nothing we liked. The lavender lemonade slushy was delicious I have to say. The food options were ridiculously priced for what little you got on a paper plate (also had to hunt down napkins and any kind of silverware). The employees were just so lackluster. They made you feel that you should be thankful to be there. They were completely unhelpful when we tried to talk about the wines with them. There are what feel like chorales you walk up to be helped and they were just trying to get you in and out. And we had this experience with multiple employees there that day. I accidentally tipped our charcuterie plate that we purchased and two employees who were just chatting with each other, saw me do it, made eye contact and didn't even offer a napkin or any assistance. We scrambled around trying to find something to help clean it up. We have been to every winery on the peninsula and this one is way too pretentious for what they have. read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

Super inconsistent. We're locals but Bonobo is still a 20 minute drive for us. We planned our late afternoon to include a stop at Bonobo for wine & pretzel bites. Just after 5:00 & the kitchen is closed. I checked before heading out on hours & food service & nowhere do they explicitly say kitchen closes at 5:00. There are better wineries. If you're from out of town, Bonobo employees are full of themselves. You can find better all the way around. read more

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Maybe the host was having an off day. We asked if Bonobo offered tastings or wine fights. The host replied quickly, "No, we only sell by the glass". Then we were offered a sample when the host saw disappointment in our faces. My wife wanted to try two whites, and a red. We tried the first white. The host then poured the second tasting in the same glass - that was not empty. Understand, same glass - two different white wines. Really? I felt we were wasting the host's time. The red was okay. We paid for 2 glasses of red wine. Enjoyed the views and then moved on. We did not purchase anything else. As comparison to others places we stopped- We paid for tastings and flights at other places - and then bought additional products. Bonobo looks like they are doing okay. Maybe an off day for the host, or someone wanting to end their shift. PS - others places were really busy. read more

Bonobo Winery - If the glass represents my my review, would you say I felt Bonobo's atmosphere was "half-full" or "half- empty"? - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

Wine is really good and deck out the back offers some incredible views. We also tried the pretzel bites. Really good with the Bomobo red. Our bartender was super cool and really knowledgeable about the wine. Great place to sit and chill with some my pretty decent wines. read more

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We had an awesome visit here in August to see our favorite ban Chasing Denver. Just an absolute fun evening outdoors and an awesome view. Found a few favorite wines, just felt the food was a little pricey. read more

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Visited Bonobo with a group and we had a wine tasting package/reservation. Pulling up to the vineyard - I didn't see a prominent sign and the building was sort of nondescript? I didn't get where the name Bonobo came from until stopping at the gift shop where it explains bonobos are chimpanzees and bonobos are the closest extant relative to humans. Fun fact! Inside is impressive with very tall ceilings. Lots of seating options - inside the tasting room, on the porch, or outside. Instagramable moment - swing outside with the view of vineyard behind you. Bottles were a little too pricey for me and I wasn't in love with the wines. Ranges were from $22 to $65. Our group did a wine tasting of 5 wines and it included a charcuterie for the table to share. The staff explaining/pouring the wines was friendly and did a great job with explaining the notes and flavors in the wine. However, she was the only person pouring wine and our group was pretty decent, so the flow of pouring the wine to each table/person was slow. Not many sweet options of wine either. The wine maker spoke with our group and explained their history and wine making process. Bonobo is one of the newer vineyards in town with opening in 2014. Not overly personable kind of guy - down to business but very knowledgeable. I didn't get a carefree or overly welcoming vibe from Bonobo? Little more upscale or not as accessible to understanding wines? I think if you take wine more seriously and are more of a wine expert, then visiting Bonobo should be on your bucket list. The views of the vineyard are beautiful though! read more

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This winery had the best food - light bites of our trip. We tried the goat cheese, pretzel bites, and hummus and they all paired great with the wines the team recommended. I felt like the staff here were attentive and knowledgeable to have us try the wines they thought we would enjoy. I appreciate the time they spent with us to suggest similar and alternative wines to what we liked and explain them well. They don't have flights here but you can still order 2oz pours to enjoy the different flavors. The indoor seating here is a plus especially as the day gets hotter and there's plenty of comfortable couches and tables with large windows facing the vineyard and water. read more

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One of the only wineries open later and one of the best views! My husband and I stopped here when we were visiting the area. We noticed that most of the wineries closed early in the day, but Bonobo stays open later, which is one of the main reasons we chose to go here. Service was quick on a Monday night. We each got a glass of wine to enjoy on the beautiful patio. The wine was great - super refreshing on a sunny, warm day. The view was even better - you can see the water from this winery, and as the sun was beginning to set, it was a beautiful setting. Big fan of Bonobo! read more

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Wonderful hospitality, all the staff was extremely friendly. Our server was Nic, she was very knowledgeable and friendly. All the samples we had were great. We w Are a big fan of the the Bonobo White. read more

Love this winery! Nice and spacious inside and out, the staff is super friendly and knowledgeable about their wines. The food was absolutely a perfect pairing to go with our glasses of wine. Great first stop on Old Mission. read more

Bonobo Winery - Charcuterie and hummus platter - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

One of the wineries we visited on this trip. They did offer wine slushies and another seasonal drinks in addition to their wine. There were a couple of rooms to sit; however, seating seemed very limited. I will say that the weather was not particularly nice, so no one was outdoors. Seating was also in odd areas, for example, a bar table, bench and a round table in a tight, cramped, narrow, hallway. Drinks above the head to get through! Service was standard, order, pay, and go. Order at the counter, get your drink and enjoy. They did offer small plates or shareables, but we did not partake. read more

Amazing view and such a great place. Gave you a free glass with the wine you got. The owners don't believe in tastings so that was the sad part but they allowed you to try before buying a glass. read more

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Amazing pretzel bites and dip. Wine is by the glass, no flights. Disappointed they didn't have any propane for the heaters outside. We were told it was for the weekend crowd.:( read more

Beautiful vineyard on Old Mission with lots of seating both indoors and outdoors. You order everything at the bar and then can sit wherever you would like. Taking a star off because they don't allow you to buy bottles to drink there, everything has to be ordered by the glass which I like how it allows the group to try a variety but it's definitely way more expensive to get 5 glasses of wine vs just sharing a bottle. I'm not really sure the reasoning behind it but nonetheless, we enjoyed our wine outside at one of their picnic tables. read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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Beautiful winery! Staff was friendly and it was anniversary weekend so we got to keep the glasses!! Great wine slushes!

The location is beautiful. The wine tasting is good. Do not waste your money on the charcuterie board. It was $22 and it was probably one of the worst boards. Not much on it and it was not good. We had been at this location previously and they had a prepackaged charcuterie board, which was good. This week we went back and were not happy to see such a poor charcuterie board for the price. Definitely do not recommend. read more

Very upscale looking winery on the Old Mission Peninsula. They had some great food options and their outdoor space looked gorgeous but it was too hot to sit outside. The inside was just as modern but cozy. Where I dock a star is because they don't offer flights - only wines by the glass - but you can sample as many as you want before you get the glass you want read more

Bonobo Winery - Rose overlooking their vineyard - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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Beautiful place! Although we didn't have the best experience here we still enjoyed the views, drinks were amazing, food was super overpriced for what we got but I will give them 5 on their fried goat cheese balls and their special peach whiskey drink. We came here twice, first we couldn't enjoy anything at all because their kitchen was closed for the day for an event, second time we came the patio was being worked on so we couldn't sit out there but they had tables below the deck. Overall an okay place, Would come here again. read more

Bonobo Winery - Goat cheese balls - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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Loved the vibes and the wine of this place! However....you have an employee here, a man with long blonde hair who was rude to every single one of my girl friends. He did not say a word to us and kept slamming down everything and snatching our credit cards from us. There was a male in front of us who he chatted it up with, but then when it came to us, he did not say a word and kept giving us stank eyes. I really don't know what his problem was but it just brought down our vibe read more

There was such a beautiful view! They were booked for tastings and such but buying by the glass and then picking a bottle was nice! Lot's of great pic opportunities! The wine was really good too. It was the second winery we stopped at that day and it was beautiful! Just know your limit. I was 2 glasses in at that point and got another by the time we left I was no linger the DD! Great wine and I live the idea of the place!! read more

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I read a lot of negative reviews about this place and I have to disagree. This was the first winery I'd ever been to. The views are spectacular. The wine was really good. Even if the wine was bad, I don't think you'd think about it as you examined the beautiful view. I would highly recommend the BDX if you prefer cabs or just a dryer red in general. They even had an amazing peach whiskey slushee type thing if you're not into wine. No flights when we visited, it was all by glass. Not that big of a deal. Like I said, we were enamored by the views. All the servers were in great moods, willing to make recommendations; I look forward to coming back! read more

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Pretentious. They would not serve us tasting because of their "24 hr reservation" policy. even though we were there on a Monday right when they opened and there was literally NO ONE else there. We left. read more

Bonobo Winery was our third and final stop on our brew bus trip and it was easily the fanciest, which definitely means $$$! Immediately upon walking in to their building, you're greeted to this high-ceiling, natural-light infused space where you can place drink orders and food orders (their food menu was SO elevated and everything sounded so delicious, so definitely recommend saving room for food here). For me, the non-drinker in the group, they had a delicious non-alcoholic beverage that I believe they make in house and I could've had 20 glasses of it given how delicious it was. It's also served in one of their tasting glasses, which everyone is allowed to take home with them, so I appreciated both the souvenir and the ability to match in experience with my friends who were doing wine tastings! We came here on an August weekend in the late afternoon and Bonobo had a live musician playing for the entire winery as well. Once you place your food and drink orders (if you place a food, they give you one of those pagers that'll alert you to come back into the building to pick up your food at a different counter when it's ready), you head out to the connected patio that overlooks a gorgeous view to find a seat. There are smaller tables for the most part on the patio, with one larger section of couches for a potential bigger party, but otherwise your best bet for a larger party is to go down the stairs (once you're done soaking up the view of Old Mission Peninsula at the higher vantage point the walk-out patio offers you of course) and search for seating among the many picnic tables on their lawn. They have a cute swing, a bunch of different seating areas, and at the edge of the lawn, another few rows of Adirondack chairs where you can once again look out at the view from a lower vantage point, but I think this would've been the perfect place to enjoy a sunset. Because we only had our brew bus for a certain amount of time, we couldn't stay here for that late summer sunset, but I would love to come back and check it out! Thanks Bonobo! read more

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Came to try some different wines after a nice hunt! Teresa was absolutely amazing. Helped us with the selection and ended up buying several bottles. Highly recommend! read more

We wanted a visit a winery we haven't been to before, and chose Bonobo, owned by the HGTV stars. It's a work in progress, the patio was unusable & being worked on. It will be very nice & the view is spectacular, looking down on the vineyard, and off in the distance, the bay. Really lovely view. The interior is pretty but wow, even with a handful of people, it's one noisy place. The sound just bounces. On to the wine. Please note--even though they say walk ins are welcome, you must have an appointment to do a tasting. You can reserve easily on their website. If you walk in, you can only buy a glass of wine & sit & sip. The server did give us a sip in a paper cup before we committed to buying a glass. We both got reds & maybe their white wines are better. The reds were not very good. Overall, we were not very impressed & probably won't return, at least not for a few years. Maybe by then, they're grapes & winemaking will improve. There are many other vineyards who are making very good red wines. **note: we are noticing that the wineries all seem to be having trouble getting enough help, so walking in & trying a tasting just has to be handled differently, & the wineries are having to adapt to that. read more

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The atmosphere is what gave this winery its 4th star for me. We loved the quirky antique decor and plenty of seating space at Bonobo. We wish we were more into the wine itself, but they weren't doing tastings when we visited, and it's hard to choose an entire glass when you haven't had it before. I was let down by the white wine I had. My husband ordered a red and he said it was mediocre compared to all the wineries we had visited over the long weekend. Maybe we'd come back to do a tasting another time, but with all the wineries we do enjoy around here we may not. read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

Our tour stopped here and it was beyond crowded. The building is cool but it was so crowded that the employees were basically just directing traffic to the closest bar and then spitting you out to the vineyard to stand around. The menu was very limited and the girls working were just moving everyone through as quickly as possible. This place was one of our least favorites simply because it felt like an overcrowded bar, even during COVID. read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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Great wine, great food, great place!! Pretzel bites and crab dip were amazing!! Go here! read more

Bonobo Winery - Outside area with swing! - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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Seemed to be a very popular stop for tastings. Many group tours were here for the fun outdoor atmosphere. The inside was busy and set up to just order inside and enjoy outside. They have a fun swing outside so many people got their pictures. This location did not serve wine tastings at this time so we settled for our complimentary glass of sparkling wine (with wine pass) which was a rose or blanc de blancs. I got the blanc de blancs, which was surprisingly good, and enjoyed the weather. Would try coming back at a different time. read more

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Chris, Linda and the staff were amazing. Ambience and the patio were great and the inside is beautiful!

Bonobo was super busy when we arrived but all of the employees were moving everyone along and making the wait go by fast. It was a beautiful location with an awesome mural! We had a glass of Blanc de Blanc that wasn't bad too. read more

Really loved this place and the atmosphere. It doesn't look like much from the front but everyone should stop in and see how beautiful it is and relaxing! Love the seating areas, the big swing, the mural and the red wines! Dog friendly and everyone was so friendly! read more

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***SINCE YOU HID MY GOOGLE REVIEW, I figured I needed to post on Yelp. Read the review in the image for context about this post.*** If I could give zero stars, I would. Clearly your review team isn't properly reading the reviews given. Someone in my party previously states how Bonobo had MORE than enough time to make sure our table be ready at 4 PM for our 4 PM reservation that was for 4 people, since we were an hour early, thus showing we'd be on time. We did NOT expect to get sat early, but DID expect to have proper seating based on our 4 PM reservation and to be able to sit together since our reservation was for 4 people. If you are aware that certain reservations will take longer than others then you need to adjust your reservation schedule on your website to not overbook reservations causing people to wait past their reservation time. I have since heard horrible reviews of this winery after telling people about my experience, and it's interesting to find out we aren't the only people we know who have had bad interactions at Bonobo with their employees. I don't see the point in making a reservation that you have to pay ahead for, to be mistreated upon arrival, or for your table for the reserved number of people not being properly met, it defeats the point of having a reservation at all. We also bought drinks and food while waiting for our 4 PM reservation, again showing we were sticking around for our 4 PM reservation. It felt as though we were being brushed off since we had already ordered things and the servers didn't care one way or another about meeting our reservations request, since they had already gotten money from us. It seemed they were surprised we were still there and then scrambled to throw us into two tables just to get us sat and get rid of us. I am truly not one to leave bad reviews, but after seeing your response to the other person in my party I thought one was due. As a business owner I know first hand how to respond to customers with reviews as well as how to treat them when dealing with my business, and Bonobo employees clearly need more work on this. I also I find it interesting that when the previously mentioned person in my party posted their review, MY NAME (which is not the previously posted review) was looked up on LinkedIn by Bonobo employees, yet it took TWO WEEKS since the review/Linkedin look-up to be responded to? and then YET AGAIN Bonobo employees are misunderstanding the situation. Horrible place, don't waste your money. read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

We really enjoyed Bonobo Winery. The building provides a rustic but modern feel that is welcoming. We visited during peak color season in the fall and it was incredibly busy, and most of that being because of fall color tour people and it was a Saturday. It was shoulder to shoulder standing room only. The lines went pretty fast though and the service was great once you got to the counter. The older gentleman who poured for us was very knowledgeable and kind. He was cheerful and seemed happy to be there. I enjoyed the sparkling rosé. It was very smooth. The prices are a little higher but being on the peninsula, it was expected. There were not a lot of seating options when we were there. If the weather is bad it takes away all the outdoor seating which is a bummer. The view is great of the bay and the area for outdoor seating is quite large. Overall we had a great experience and we will be back. read more

Bonobo Winery - Wineries Near Me - Traverse City, Michigan

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2nd visit. - Great atmosphere - we were stuck inside due to weather. Sorry, forgot the womans name that initially served us at the counter. That person was truly excited about her job and very knowledgeable about the wines. Shockingly so. (Blonde female) We have been to many of the wineries and Bonobo is our favorite. I am definitely a wine snob and have only good things to say about the Bonobo wines. read more