I must say that Steve was the most wonderful tour guide! He was full of interesting tidbits of info about each location that we visited. He also provided the most scrumptious charcuterie tray, full of cheeses, fruits, chocolates, nuts and candied orange peel. There was more than enough for the two of us and we noshed all afternoon on it.
The first tasting room, Corral Wine Co., was by far the best of the three. The wines were superb and even more impressive was the service that the owner showed us. I felt like royalty as we sat in the tasting room, sipping on amazing sauvignon blancs, chardonnays and pinot noirs, among others. I ordered a few bottles of the Sauvignon blanc to enjoy when we get home.
The other two tasting rooms, Kori and Puma, were more of a disappointment to me. And yes, I know wine is very subjective but these just didn’t measure up to the wines at Corral. The service was not as attentive and the wines not as impressive. Had I been the tour leader, I would have begun with Kori or Puma and ended with the Corral Wine Co.
Lastly, the biggest surprise was the way the tasting rooms operate. You aren’t going to wineries for a tour of the winery as the title suggests but to specific storefront operations that serve wine tastings for a fee. The fee varies, depending on how many wines you choose to taste. Corral charged $28 for 6 different wines, waving the fee for one person if you bought at least 2 bottles of wine. This fee is your responsibility, and is not included in the $185/person fee for the tour. That totally surprised me when I learned it as I thought it should have been included. Or, maybe the fees should have been discounted for us as tour participants. Had I learned this or understood this difference before I booked the tour, I probably wouldn’t have booked it. After paying for two people for the tour, and three tasting, we spent about $500 for the afternoon. Of course that did not include the wine I purchased. Sorry Steve but this was a very expensive afternoon that did not seem like a good value to me.