sonoma wine tour
 

I am planning a surprise get-away for my husband. We will be staying in the Sebastopol and I would like to arrange a winery tour. Has anyone had a good experience with a smaller tour with an informed guide.
I had a terrible experience several years ago arranging a tour with 12 people. They did not show and then sent only a driver when I had been promised a guide and a driver.

Yes! We've done 2 tours with this company. They are a bit expensive but worth every single penny!

www.burdickwinetours.com

I was just on the website and I don't think the pricing explains all available options. Just call. The second tour we went on included our party of 3 and another couple that we didn't know. I think we paid about $200 per person (that includes lunch and tasting fees).

Believe me...it is so worth the price if you are concerned about the cost. We had the owner as a tour guide both times. He's extremely knowedgeable and will tailor the tour to your preferences (i.e. red / white, big winery vs. boutique) and you will learn a ton.

On our last tour, we did the following:

1. Very small winery just outside the town of Sonoma (I'm forgetting the name?) - the owner gave us a tour of the vineyard and his very small cave (that he dug himself). Tasted 4 or 5 wines.

2. A bit bigger winery but still considered boutique. Again just outside Sonoma called "Moon Mountain". We tasted first (probably 4 or 5) and then had a tour of their operation. Very interesting and a huge cave. We tasted from barrels too. That is a really cool thing. While we were touring, John left to get our picnic lunch which we ate at that winery. The picnic was fantastic and what a great location looking out over the vineyard.

3. Another small winery called 'Aurora' I think. Way up on the mountain with fantastic views. Another tour of the operation and tasted 4 or 5 wines again.

This took pretty much all day. We were picked up at 10am and got home around 4pm.

I hope you check it out.

Cary

Caryanne,
Thank you so much for posting. I will definitely check this out. I feel better arranging it when I know that someone had a positive experience!

Critch--

I'm trying to arrange a tour for 10 people, so I'm very interested to know who your bad experience was with. Can you tell me the name of the company?

julies,
I looked back to get you the exact information. My booking came from E Bus Charter. The person who promised me everything and delivered very little was Danny. I do think he tried but just could not deliver what he promised. The site was not called E Bus but something else which I cannot remember. I should tell you that I did receive a deposit credit on my credit card. It was very embarrassing for me. We were able to book another company for a different day and had a lot of fun. Sorry, but I don't remember the name of that company. I did try to do this as cheaply as possible and that might have been the problem. I was trying to keep the cost low as some of our group were very budget conscious.