We went on Mike’s winery tour for my friend’s bachelorette party on March 1st and it was fantastic from beginning to end! By far, the most worthwhile winery tour in Traverse City for the cost and experience (we researched and compared with other all-inclusive tours). We cannot wait to do it again on our next Traverse City trip!
Mike is communicative, attentive, and funny which we learned even before the day of the tour. He and my friend were messaging in the days leading up to the tour to confirm details, accessibility needs, general preferences from our group, and who our driver was going to be.
The day of the tour, Troy, our driver (and basically second guide for the day), rolled up to our airbnb early in an immaculately clean silver GMC which was the perfect size for our group of 5 women. He had also picked up water bottles for us beforehand!
We met Mike at the first winery where he introduced himself, recommended wines, and escorted us to a private room he had saved for us. We learned that Mike had 4 tour groups out that day including ours and that he would be checking in on all of them throughout the day. We took a little longer at the first winery than expected, so Mike and Troy encouraged us to take our time and enjoy ourselves while Mike went ahead to the next winery with a couple other groups.
At every winery Mike and Troy secured us empty rooms or tables while we ordered our wines. This was super helpful by mid-day because the wineries really filled up! They were polite and professional without being overbearing by seating us at every winery and checking in on us every so often as we enjoyed our wine. They also both had great reporte/relationships with the staff at the wineries. They helped us take our empty plates/glasses to the counters to make the staffs’ lives easier and keep our tour moving smoothly.
Throughout the day Mike and Troy both enthusiastically shared history of Traverse City and Michigan as well as their own experiences related to the area/wineries. We really enjoyed this because all of us were from out of state. They were also happy to take photos for our group all day, both on their phones for their own promotion and on our phones, which was so appreciated! They sent us all photos they took during and immediately after the tour.
As we were nearing the end of the tour, when we told Troy we had dinner reservations at 4:30pm, he offered to drop us off at the restaurant. We walked right through Taproot Cider House’s doors at 4:30! If we hadn’t already made dinner plans, we would have gone to Troy’s own pizzeria in the area, That’sa Pizza. We plan to go there next time we visit!