My mom and I went on the Wine Hike and had the most wonderful time! Our group was small – just four people – but we hit it off right from the beginning. Our guide, Kurt, was wonderful, and took us on a prolonged tour, describing the history of the winery, the lands, the plants (including some edible ones that we got to try) and the exotic animals we would visit while we were there. The menagerie includes zebras, llamas, yaks, water buffalo, and of course, Stanley, the Celebrity Giraffe (you pay extra to visit with him, but it’s totally worth it!). We got to feed and interact with most of the animals while we there. Kurt told us the rule was that we don’t feed anything with horns, so the water buffalo were just photographed (from a safe distance).
After visiting with and feeding Stanley – a truly majestic experience – we traveled up a short hill to the new wine tasting area that looks out over the lands of the Semler/Saddle Rock property. The pours were generous, the wine delicious, and the conservation so interesting.
From there, we moved on to a bit of a history lesson, where we were shown The Four Horsemen – original cave paintings in an area where the body of an Indian princess was once recovered. The animals all had hilarious names (whether these were their real names or just ones we were given, I still don’t know, other than with Stanley, who has his own Facebook page), and interacting with them was a lot of fun.
The hike usually lasts about 2.5 hours (or so I’m told), but we had such a good time on our trip, we were there for 4, and I was still sorry to see it end. I highly recommend it and would definitely do it again. And definitely ask for Kurt to lead your tour; you may not get him, but if you do, it will be an even more wonderful experience.