I booked this trip for my sister trip to celebrate my birthday. It was originally scheduled for Saturday 20th, and they called saying it would need to be moved to Friday unless I wanted to cancel- due to scheduling conflicts.
I rearranged our plans to accommodate so we could attend Friday.
Our driver was late but did call to let us know- super awesome.
We began our journey after we picked everyone up and they were all speaking German the whole time which made us feel left out.
When we arrived to the 1st winery - V. sattui- awesome place- we didn’t get to enjoy-we didn’t get to be in the facility tho there was ample space. We didn’t even get to enjoy their amazing our door area, but we were led to the back area with EZ ups in the dirt to be directed through the wine tasting with our driver. We did get the wine from the facility- but it was raining, cold, outside, and in plastic cups and was so uncomfortable and hurried that we left in a rush onto our next spot.
Next we went to a private facility Peter something- the guy didn’t talk to us, about his wine, didn’t offer any commentary other than he runs the whole show. Again - outside, but it was a covered patio and had heaters, thankfully. I bet it’s pretty on a clear day. His 4 dogs were beautiful and friendly and jumping on all the guests (which upset some people getting all dirty) with no avail for help. We left quickly.
I would not recommend that place.
The 3rd winery was Homeland (the only one on the list of where we were told we were going) which was pleasant- fun and engaging operators and I would recommend them.
The issue I had more than anything- other than being outside all day in the rain, not having proper hosts for the amount of money that we paid, was the driver was very clear that he was not the original driver and he was filling in and was especially verbal about how important it was that we tipped him -each of us- individually, 20%. He mentioned it at least six times and actually gave us a dollar amount of what was appropriate.
At they end of the day, I gave him money, he looked at it, and told me “this was not nearly enough. This was barely enough to cover one person”. It was a $30 tip. He was so aggressive about it, that my sister felt so guilty and pulled out more money to give him.
We gave him a $30 tip, that to me was above and beyond for the day that we had just had.
then he had the audacity to tell me that it wasn’t enough and that he deserved and needed more.
I would not recommend this tour.
We had so much fun on the other tour that we did- I would recommend tower tours over this small vintage tour any day.
It could have just been a fluke day, but I did not feel taken care of and I felt shuffled around and overall it was terrible birthday experience.
I would also like to add that I am in the service industry, and I am very well-versed in wine country, wineries and typical protocol.
This was the least kind experience I’ve ever had.
Bummer.