Shelalara Vineyards & Winery

Amazing
I had bought a wine tasting for two plus 2 free complementary wine glasses from
«a different version of groupon». First you pull up to this strip of garages and you wonder what’s really inside. Then you are greeted by the owner herself «Shela» and you are checked in and then asked to find a table. Now I have been to many local Vineyards and they have the usual «of come in and try a few samples!» and then u are pressured to buying their product. But not here. At your table they will have a list of the wines they make and also they provide you with the amazing pizza chips from The original Italian bakery in Johnston, which are always amazing. And they give you a sample of all there wines that they make slush out of and by far will blow you away! who knew wine slushes. And then from their they tell you about where they get their grape and fruit products from and give you free samples of all their product. Yes I said FREE samples of all their products. The process takes about 2 hrs. which I was very happy with and didn’t feel rushed at all and actually made me want to buy their products at the end which I got their half case deal which they give you another free tour and taste. I was very happy to see that the owner and her son were very friendly and took time to come to everyones table and answer any questions and give idea’s of what you can make with the wine.
I fully recommend this winery for everyone that likes a different spin on wine and for the ones that aren’t fully big into the strong oaky flavor of wine because all these wines are made in stainless vats. which is my most favorite wine to have and also low sulfites.

my boyfriend and i visited here for the first time today. i had purchased a groupon, and we thought it would be a fun little day trip. please heed the advice of the other Unilocalers: it IS difficult to find. we drove past it and had to turn around. that said, once you make it inside, you should be set to have a great experience.
the space, as other reviewers have mentioned, is not at all like your typical winery. it is a (very small) industrial park, and this is an industrial building. it has a really high ceiling, and the «tasting» area is actually made of folding tables that are set up in rows. each table seats 6, and reservations are required. we happened to go on a pretty light day, and had a table to ourselves. a few other parties chose to mingle, which is encouraged. shela the owner introduced herself as soon as we arrived, and checked in on us periodically throughout the tasting.
per taylor, who led our tasting, they usually start with the wine slush, and then proceed with the wines. since the slush was not ready yet (we were their first tasting of the day), we started with wines, and then moved on to the slush. since you are seated, the wine is brought to you. like other wineries, their bottles do have the measured pourers, but they’re not short on samples. you get to taste every wine that they have in stock at that time. note: each table gets a very generous sampling of breads and «pizza» from the original italian bakery, inc. located in johnston, RI. it’s not hot, but it is yummy. they also have a cheese and cracker plate you can purchase for $ 8 (pretty reasonable when it comes to wineries).
this winery is known for its wines infused with fruit essence, but they do offer a few others, which is what we started with. neither the chardonnay nor the melot did anything for me, but my boyfriend really enjoyed the merlot. they do have a blend called rosso grande, which was excellent; one of the better red blends i’ve ever had. i would have purchased a bottle, but it’s more expensive than the other bottles and we ended up getting one of their specials (details in a bit…).
the highlights for me were the strawberry riesling, pomegranate wildberry, and the citritini which is a rose with lemon and tangerine essence: oof– this stuff was amazing. the perfect apéritif, the lemon note at the end definitely got me ready for the lunch we had planned afterward. my boyfriend was also in love with the strawberry riesling, as well as the sangria with orange, and the green apple gert (gewurstraminer).
then came the slush. it was dynamite. for some reason, the slush seems to bring out the flavor of the alcohol itself. if you’re not a fan of the actual taste of alcohol, they offer a number of recipes that you can use the slush in. for instance, they made us the OMG chocolate covered strawberry which was strawberry riesling slush, chocolate syrup, and a touch of cream. taylor then came around and added a bit of the pomegranate wildberry to turn it into a chocolate cherry cordial.
we were so pleased with our experience, and the wines themselves, that we decided to buy a case. the deal is this: buy 9 bottles, get 3 free, plus 2 vouchers for 2 tastings for 2. it worked out to be about $ 13 and change after tax for each bottle (they retail at $ 15.99). this was a superb value.
this winery is a bit of a drive for us, so it won’t be one we frequent, but we will certainly be back again. also– this is a much longer experience than other wineries we’ve visited. the whole process took almost two hours, so, again– value.

Went there for their complimentary wine tasting over the weekend. I am a big fan of red wine but wanted to try even though their wines are very fruity and they are known for their wine slush. The wine slush is something very unique to this winery (if you can call it that… basically a warehouse type place with not a grape vine in sight). The wine slush makes for a great summertime drink.
What impressed me the most about this tasting is that you tried EVERY wine they make, they served pizza chips (not sure if that is what they are called but it is those rounds small pizza things in RI that is cooked crispy like… poor description I know but they were amazing) and a cheese and cracker tray. They also use their wines in different ways and make it for you mixed with other ingredients so you can actually try their recipes.
The tasting is almost 2 hours and really worth it, just know you are not walking into a vineyard

I came here knowing that this wasn’t going to be a vineyard, plus the wine tasting was at 530 pm in November, so it wasn’t like I was going to miss out on any sights to be seen.
The event was fun, I was told it is the pretty standard wine tasting. There is an introduction to their wines and founding, and then once given a wine slush (yes, a wine slushie…) you go for a tour through the manufacturing portion of the business, but note as we are the general public and their machinery could hurt us, nothing is whirring and spinning and operational, but you get the basic gist of what goes on and where.
It is a dessert wine tasting, I will say that, complaints about the pours, apparently there are specific measures that the pouring tops they utilize dispense and it all ties into their license etc… the owner was explaining to the person who organized the event with them for the evening. The even more RI version of party pizza, pizza chips are on hand for nibbles as well as cheese and veggies to have with the wine.
You’ll notice that the more traditional wines are made with grapes imported from California, while those made with local grapes are the sweet fruit essence wines. My favorite besides the napa style wines was their blood orange sangria.
One fun part of this tour and I would reccommend doing this when its warmer is they turn 3 of the slushed wines into some fantastic dessert treats.
I’ll definitely go back with friends once the weather is warmer

Not worth going unless you have a Groupon. It’s in a warehouse (not a big deal). Samples of wine were less than a sip. The wine slushie was the good, however when you sample the wines separate that are used to make them, the wines are mediocre. Bathrooms are located away from the building. The best part was the pizza which they served with the tasting.

Not impressed one bit. Including the words «Vineyards & Winery» inspires visions of grapes on a vine, or endless rows of grapevines traveling in parallel lines down the Coventry countryside.
When your phone announces that you have «arrived at your destination,» you’ll shake it a few times in confusion because all those visions will be dashed when you realize you’re in an industrial park and the winery is simply a warehouse next to a humongous pile of firewood.
How was the wine? It was fine, nothing to get terribly excited about. Now that I’ve been on other winery tours this is a distinct case of you get what you pay for.
Would not recommend. If the groupon is still being offered, and you really want to collect your two wine glasses, then go for it, but don’t let the visions of grapevines con you into thinking this is anything other than what I’ve described.

This was a fun tour and wine tasting and their wine slushies are totally awesome (I want to rent a machine someday!). I really enjoyed myself. Only reason I can’t give them 4 stars is because they aren’t really a «vineyard» or «winery», they are in a warehouse and the vineyard is located elsewhere. I have to admit I was a bit embarrassed by this when I brought out of town guests here who were expecting a full vineyard experience. Whoops! Luckily their wine more than made up for it. I’d go back to try the slushies again!

The wines were ok but the tasting was not your typical tasting. It took an hour and a half and there were wine slushies, pizza, wine dessert concoctions. It was fun! We bought a groupon so it was worth it all. The samples were wicked small, almost too small to give an accurate tasting. Overall, cool and laid back. They have a big variety but they import grapes so it’s not locally harvested and despite the name there is no vineyard. The building is two rented storage units so it has a fun, hipster feel (if you like that sort of thing). Overall, worth the few hours to chill and do something different. The hostess clearly knew nothing about wine though so don’t expect an educated, Napa valley type experience. Give it a try!

Let’s just say that this is not the place to go to if you are a wine snob. The tour does occur in a warehouse because it’s not on a vineyard like some other facitilites. If you don’t like sweet wines, then this is not the place to visit. I like a sweet wine every now and then and Shelalara is genius in making the wines into a slushie. These wines are really meant to be dessert wines and they were very good. We were also served some food with our wine which was great since we didn’t have to worry about driving around to look for dinner.
I’m not sure if I would go for another tour but I would definitely buy more of their wine to make slushies especially now that the weather is warming up.

Not your typical winery. We walked into a warehouse and at first we were quite put off. We waited a while before our started.
Marissa greeted us at the door and made sure we had everything we needed. Jason gave a great tour, was very informative and personable, visiting each table. Sheila was adorable and made us feel very welcome.
During the wine tasting we tried 14 varieties of wine. (Not including the delicious wine slushy that we tried prior to the tour.) The Rosso Grande is an awesome choice for red, the Wildberry pomegranate was my favorite of the fruit essence wines. The OMG chocolate covered strawberry was a must try. The snacks provided by The Original Italian Bakery were great as well. All in all a great experience. I highly recommend this tour and go for the five o’clock tour, you can take your time and not feel rushed.

Not the fanciest winery tour you’ll ever go on, but a pleasant way to spend a few hours with some friends. You get a brief tour of the facility that covers both their wine making process and the history of the company (impressive that this started as the owner’s hobby!), and then you move on to the tasting, where we got to try 10 – 12 different wines and eat snacks from an Italian bakery in Johnston that we’ll also be seeking out in the future. Most of the wines range from the quite sweet to the incredibly sweet, so if that’s not your bag be warned. There’s also the wine slush (which is exactly what the name implies), which wasn’t to my taste but others in our group enjoyed.
Basically, if you’re looking for a nice afternoon sipping wines and supporting local business, this is a good way to go about that.

A really fun place to go with a date or with friends to sample different (mostly fruity) wines and munch on some cheese ‘n crackers.
The wine slushies though too sweet for some reviewers, was PERFECT for me. There were 4 flavors to choose from, with strawberry being my favorite.
The wine «factory» tour was short, sweet, and not really that informational purely because I’m not a good listening when I’m standing, sipping an alcoholic slushy and walking around with a bunch of other people waiting to get to my wine.
The owner herself was SO welcoming and walked around to greet every single table to share her story of how the winery was started. If you get a chance to go, talk to her, feel the love from their family, the sense of community, and just relax. :)

Groupon review
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I signed up for the wine tour, so I will do y’all the favor and dispel the misconceptions.
1) this was an indoor event in a makeshift winery that looks like a storage facility
2) there is not an outdoor portion of the visit
3) the majority of the wine are very fruity
3) you will be fed with cheese, crackers, and pizzas
4) talk to the owner, Sheila; she’s an absolute sweetheart
Overall, I had a great time here with my girlfriend. The tour wasn’t earth shutting since we didn’t really see anything in action. But we did try some of the wine slushie and got to socialize with the other customers and owners. Their wine is… well ok, but the key points goes to the fruity concoctions. You can buy the wine there too, but its a bit pricy.
Experience: 3 stars
Service: 4 stars
Price: 3 stars

This place just isn’t good.
We were intrigued by the groupon and I’m thankful we bought it but I just didn’t enjoy the wine. It tasted fake and sugary to be honest.
The stories weren’t interesting and they didn’t show us how they make the wine. We’ve been to many wineries in RI and I would rate this our least favorite.

I don’t get why there are so many good reviews for this place. My friends and I went this past weekend and let me mention, we love wine. What we drank was not wine… it was like a glorified Boone’s or I can even go as far as calling it a wine cooler… something that I do not like to drink, at all. It tasted like stuff I drank when I was 15 bc it was the only thing we could get our hands on. The staff was very friendly though but that doesn’t make the wine any tastier.
They start you off with their slushie and at first taste it was gross and after a while you do get used to it. But I don’t know about you, I like my drinks tasty from the get go, not several sips in. Then you go for a tour but the facility is tiny so it was more like a walk through. After we went back to our tables where they served pretzels and cheese and crackers (I enjoyed those more than what I was drinking). They gave us scoring sheets and had us try almost everything on that list. The only thing I have to say that I enjoyed, aside from the snacks, was the end when they had us try their chocolate strawberry concoction. It was made with their strawberry wine, chocolate syrup (I think) and I believe he said heavy cream… Throw any cream into anything, its good… not good for you but its good.
So I say, unless you like super fruity drinks with loads of sugar, this place is worth the try. But if you have a wine collection at home with Pinot Noir, Cab Sav etc, then you will be greatly disappointed, so not worth the time or taste buds.

I am surprised by all the rave reviews.
Although the experience is nice and the product promotion is great, the wine here is just not good.
When you check in (reservations are required for tour and tasting), you are seated at a table and offered to try their wine slushies.
What is great about their slushies is that there are no artificial flavors. its all wine and it just freezes into a slush. Downside, you can hardly taste any alcohol and it was kind of hard to drink without a straw/​spoon.
The tour was interesting but if you have been on a winery tour, you kind of know how it all works. One thing I did like was how green they try to be and nothing goes to waste.
The tour was maybe 5 – 10 mins and then we were on to our tastings.
they have about 10 tables and the group that day was large. about 6 ppl per table, we were seated with 3 lovely ladies.
we got to try about 7 – 8 different «wines». You are also provided with cheese, crackers, and pretzels. the cab and merlot were the 2 «real» wines we had. Nothing to special about them, the grapes were from CA.
Next came a bunch of their fruit essence wines. All these wines tasted like juice, our table joked how it would be great mixed with vodka.
The final taste we had was their chocolate cover strawberries concoction which is a mix of chocolate syrup and their succulent strawberry wine. we got a shot of it and honestly, it would be all i would drink because anymore would be too much. I am not a huge chocolate fan but I do love chocolate cover strawberries and this just did not wow me.
its a family run business which is really nice. We were talking to the son and he was telling us about how they were panning to get a huge screen tv to host football games/​movies and other events. I am not sure how well this would be since the wines are so sweet, its not really something you can drink and eat pizza with. The space is great since its so big. But i find it would be hard to draw men here unless they had a liquor license and could have beer or other varieties.
Overall, we had a good time but the wine was nothing to rave about for us.

Totally perplexed by the rave reviews across the board for Shelalara (Sheila Lara).
Like everyone else, I was brought to this warehouse by a Living Social coupon. And the best part of the experience was the ridiculous off key story I walked away with — wine slushies on a snowy day, fake tasting wines in a warehouse, weird labels and order forms riddled with typos. We were so disappointed that we saved the day by buying a Christmas tree to put us back in the holiday spirit.
A list of my grievances:
— tour and visit felt like I was getting pushed through an assembly line. Little explanation, little intimacy, felt somewhat rushed
— none of these wines tasted «real.» But I guess that’s the point? Fruit essence wines? I get that RI doesn’t grow the best grapes, but what about importing grapes from CA and adding a whole bunch of sugar flavorings to make it taste like «Tropical Calypso Bianco» or «Orange Passion Fruit» makes this RI-​made wine? Or wine at all?
— the setting was warehouse meets Knights of Columbus hall — small tables close together with tsotchke table cloths, candy apples to buy on the counter, raffle baskets, and bowls of pretzels on the table. I expected my all-​you-​can-​eat pasta dinner to arrive at any time.
— they did a terrible job selling the brand and the story. Why Shela Lara? Why another winery in RI? What’s the credibility of the wine makers? What does the woman on the label looking like she’s having a spa massage with a happy ending have to do with the product and experience? What niche are they filling in the wine market?
Maybe I hit it on an off day.
But I prefer wine when I order wine. Not slushies nor slurpies nor syrup-​tasting cocktails nor added sugar anything. Wine. Just wine.
And «just wine» is apparently not something that Shela Lara makes. And if they do they’re not doing a very good job promoting it.
Grateful for the funny story (and the Christmas tree) at the end of the weekend… but that’s about it.

Look for a garage looking building when you’re on your way there. Don’t worry you’re in the right place.
Ive been here twice so far and have enjoyed it both times. The tour guide Andrew is helpful and always eager to answer your questions. The tour is like walking through a laboratory rather than your typical look at some grapes tour.
They start you off with a wine slushie. I opted for the watermelon and strawberry reisling mixed together. Can’t beat it. Majority of their wines are fruit flavored but they do have a really nice red wine called the Rosso Grande.
All in all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon especially when it’s only $ 5 a person!

This is my second visit here. If you use a livingsocial or equivalent coupon, it’s only five dollars pp.
Like others have said, you don’t come here for the atmosphere. You’ll be tasting wines in a warehouse. But it’s still a great experience, and decent wines.
The tour is about 15min of Andrew, the winemaker, ranting about the chemistry and process of winemaking. But you really don’t want him to stop as he is very passionate about his craft and eager to get you informed. The tour is accompanied by a glass of wine slushie. Try the strawberry riesling slush.
After the tour, a selection of ~15 wines will be available to try. A small selection of cheese, vegetables, crackers, and dip are served. They do like sweet fruity wines. I had no complaints about the tasting, and I guess I got a slight buzz too.
Then they have a chocolate, cherry and cream drink that tastes like a cordial. You will want seconds, as well as the recipe.
A couple of ice wines will conclude the tasting. All wines are available for purchase at a modest price, so buy your favorites.
I really really wanted to remain at the table for the five o click tasting, however my party wanted to disperse.
Well worth the price and time.

I was first introduced to Shelalara wine when visiting the 2012 spring women’s expo at Twin River Casino. They had a a booth set up with samples of all their wines including their fruit essence wines, their Gaspee wine slush and some delicious variations that can be made with the slush. (chocolate covered strawberry is to die for!)
At the end of the long line of samples they were taking orders to purchase bottles of their wine and included a voucher for a wine tasting, tour of the winery and an etched wine glass for two. I ordered a bottle of the succulent strawberry wine which is made with riesling, and the voucher for $ 16.99. A great deal since a bottle of their wine is $ 15.99 and the tasting and tour is normally $ 10/​person.
I finally used the voucher this past weekend and had a very enjoyable experience. They offer tours Saturday and Sunday at 1pm 3pm and 5pm with advanced reservations required. The winery is located in a very industrial looking building that resembles a storage facility. But don’t let the exterior deter you. Inside is inviting, spacious and absolutely spotless. I was very impressed with their cleanliness. Upon arrival they checked everyones ID (even my middle aged parents) and asked who was driving so they could make sure those people didn’t become too impaired to drive. The drivers were still given the same amount of wine, which is my opinion wasn’t enough to get someone drunk, but the fact that they took this step showed responsibility and concern.
We were then given the choice of a glass of strawberry, watermelon, sangria or one other flavor (so much to remember!) of their Gaspee wine slush and were taken on a short but very informative tour of their small facility. Following the tour we got to sample each of their wines, we’re given complimentary snacks and were able to talk to the very knowledgable staff including the owner Shela and one of her sons. It was clear it was a small family run business who took a lot of pride in their product. And the wine was great. I loved their fruit essence wines which were made with wine, fruit essence and sugar. No chemical, dyes or artificial flavors.
The faculty is open any time to purchase wine as it is not yet widely available and they allow customers to come in and buy a bottle or glass of wine and enjoy it right there. They even suggested bringing food along to make it a nice little happy hour. They are currently renovating the building next door where they want to add couches and TVs so their is a more elegant place to come and enjoy some of their wines.
Even though I have tried all their wines twice now I would definitely go back again. The employees and knowledge and personable and it was a great way to spend a couple of hours. I highly recommend it!