A friend of mine booked this tour for us while we were staying at Pechanga Casino. The comfortable, air conditioned coach picked us up in front of our hotel. We picked up a few other people from nearby hotels. A few people from a hotel that was across town were picked up and driven to the first winery so that we did not have to drive across town and then back to the vineyards to begin the tour. I appreciated that!
The first winery for us was Lorimar Vineyards & Winery where we were given a tour and we listened to an informative chat about wine.
We received 4-6 tastings at each winery. It would have been fabulous if they had given us a small snack with each tasting experience as only 2 of the wineries gave us crackers with our wine.
Lunch was quite good. Our lunches were ready and waiting for us, labeled with our names, in the barrel room at Cougar Vineyards. We were given a 1/2 glass of wine to drink with our lunches. Two of the wineries let us keep our stemless wine glasses with the names of their wineries on them. This will help me to remember the experience. A good number of the people on the tour purchased wine, as that is what the wineries hope will happen. The tour guide will pack your glasses and purchased wine into the back of the coach in a bag/box with your name on it. You will be given the box/bag at the end of the tour. At that time, it is customary to tip the guide. Our guide was sweet, but was not especially knowledgeable about the wine or the wineries we were visiting.
My friend and I had a lovely time chatting with the others also taking our tour. There was a couple on their honeymoon and ladies in their 70's on a friend retreat. Everyone got much more talkative and friendly as the tour commenced.
This tour would be amazing with a group of family members celebrating a birthday, graduation or wedding party. It was a fun-filled day - for sure.