红酒王国之旅

参加完红酒王国之旅,我就在想以后一定要再来一次!班车离开码头大厦是在早上的8点半,上车之后我看了下表,离出发时间还有5分钟。另外,一般的班车只能坐10个人,但他们宣传说是人数很少的私人之旅,其实能坐35-40个人,车里只有两个空座位,所以不算小团。不管怎么样,我们还是出发了,先是很快地在旧金山绕了一圈。我们的导游是Eric,他渊博的知识和丰富的故事让这趟旅行非常开心!红酒之旅的第一站是V Sattui酒庄。大家说得没错,这里是所有酒庄中最好的,景色也十分漂亮。在这里我们呆了一个半小时,品酒、吃饭、休息。品酒单共有两份,一种是花35RMB品6种比较一般的酒,或者花70品尝6种好一点的,我们两种都选了,这样算下来每个人就能尝12种。倒酒的Tracy让我们尝了一种比较高档的酒,2008的莫斯卡特起泡白葡萄酒,非常不错,最后我们还花175RMB买了一瓶。旅行社还给每人发了10美元的优惠券在这里吃午饭,我们吃了顿美味的火鸡大餐和草莓三明治,还有鸡肉、杏仁沙拉和法国布里白乳酪,所有的东西都很不错,我们两个人一共有20美元的券,这么多东西自己只用掏32美分。午餐是在野餐区吃的,我们都很享受!我只在这里看见有人买酒带回去,几乎每个人都买了。下一站是Domaine-Chandon酒庄,它已经被我无情地无视了。游览酒庄要49RMB,品酒+游览酒庄是70,我们选择了第二种。这一站简直是个笑话,由Mark组织的,他当时已经喝醉了,很不招人待见。他带我们看了一些不锈钢的大桶,说里面是酒,然后告诉我们气泡酒是怎么由葡萄酒制成的。至于品酒嘛,我们尝了三种气泡白葡萄酒,都很一般。接下来是Andretti酒庄,70RMB可以尝4种,我们买了一种两个人分着喝。酒还成,但没什么特别的。最后一站是Black Stallion酒庄,这里品尝4种酒只要35RMB。给我们倒酒的人手脚很快,根本没时间细细品味,所以谈不上好坏。刚把酒杯凑到嘴边,他就开始倒另一种了。我在这里买了一瓶巧克力红酒汁,打6折,很便宜。就参观的这4个酒庄,还是有很多时间品酒、购物和放松的。下午三点就回到班车,准备回码头了。红酒之旅可好可坏,我说不好,因为期间我打了个盹儿,哈哈!坐船很好玩,在水上可以看见旧金山,还经过了恶魔岛。大约5点左后我们就到旧金山的码头大厦了,跟预计的时间一样。我肯定要向大家推荐品酒之旅,我们玩得不错,但要是碰见一个不好的导游或者讨厌的队友就很恶心。我们很幸运,一个都没碰到!

首先,这趟行程可好可坏,主要取决于同行的人,我们就很倒霉。这个团里一半人都从这家酒吧喝到那家,而且都喝得醉醺醺的。说话越来越大声,有时候变得很猥琐,真让人受不了!最后终于到了Vallego,上了船,一个年轻的姑娘醉得都没办法走路了,倒在我身上,都这样了还是要踉跄着去酒吧要酒喝,人家酒吧才不管你醉不醉呢。一会儿我们回到旧金山之后,走路到Embarcadaro, 看见有些人都醉成一团烂泥了,我真无话可说。至于行程吧,我们先到的是Chandon酒庄,刚到他们就说品尝红酒每人要70,好吧。当时差不多是早上9点半,我觉得喝酒还太早,于是就没品尝,但他们说如果不品尝的话,还是得交50块钱。不好意思,我刚刚花了665块钱参加你们的红酒之旅,这就开始要50块钱了。这个地方不错,但完全不值50嘛,这时候喝酒也太早了点吧。下一站,V Sattui酒庄,这里很漂亮。网站上说保证我们能吃到一个半小时的美味午餐,还说午餐券可以用来品尝红酒,这都是假的。我们排了25分钟的队等吃饭,结果只能吃半小时。匆忙吃完之后,给了我们15分钟去红酒品尝室和礼品店,这点时间品一半的酒都不够,也没学到任何东西,给你倒好之后就忙着给下一位游客倒了。根本没有任何讲解,啥都没有就是吃饭,然后花70品酒,然后马上上车离开。下一站是对面的Flora Springs.酒庄,这里只是个酒吧而已,完全是浪费时间!!没有葡萄园,没有讲解,只是在那里坐了40分钟,这算什么品酒啊!!我们想过马路回到V Sattui酒庄的礼品店继续品酒,但他们不让我们走(天哪,我感觉自己像个做错事的孩子)。这里也一样,花70块钱,喝点红酒,然后走人。下一站是Andretti酒庄,很漂亮的地方,红酒很好喝,当然也没人讲解,同样地花70。同行的人依旧很粗鲁,直接抓起酒瓶和杯子自己倒,别人说的话一句都听不进去,让你也听不见别人说话。这时候我快忍无可忍了,于是就跟酒庄老板聊了聊红酒和酒庄。老板人很好,对于其他人的行为也见怪不怪了。旅行社的网站上写着"如果你买酒的话,有些酒庄会让你免费品尝",别指望了,这是假的。我个人建议可以租辆车开到纳帕谷,挑几个酒庄慢慢参观,记得来V Sattui吃顿午饭,这里的熟食很好吃,但估计会比跟团要贵,不过很值,接下来就可以去不同的酒庄参观品尝了,不用跟着旅行团像赶集似的,我下次就打算这么干。而且导游基本上没什么用处,只是说了几个他的故事而已。

这趟旅行我们是和旅行团一起去的,而且也看到了这里登出的不好的评论。不管怎么样,它看起来是最棒的,但我们有点失望。导游Chris见多识广,而且总是滔滔不绝的,不过有几次觉得有点太吵了。第一站是香槟站,有点被抢劫的感觉,因为他们要我们为这次"旅行"多付21元,而且还得再付70元作为"旅行和品尝"的费用。旅行持续了2分钟左右,到处都要给钱,在网上预订的时候怎么不说呢?余下的旅行还不错。巴士比较小,不过20个人坐还是蛮舒服的。在旅行的最后,旅游团在城市北面的码头下了车,所以你可以在那坐45分钟的气垫船回到城里,穿过阿尔卡兹,还能看到旧金山美丽的风景。我们在渔人码头下的船,那里是我们住的地方。

就像我看到的那些留言说的一样,预订的时候他们承诺的事很多都没有做到。整个行程的路线是改了的,行程的最后是去一个叫弗洛拉春天的酒吧,那个酒吧真是烂透了。当然,一天下来也去了一些好玩的地方,但是和我付的钱相比,我确定下次我们会另外找一家旅行社。

在市里玩了三天之后,我们去了红酒王国之旅,非常好玩。导游Jason上知天文,下知地理,在从旧金山到纳帕山谷这一路,跟我们讲了好多庄园的历史和奇闻异事。第一站是V. Sattui 酒庄,这也是我个人最喜欢的酒庄。每人拿到一张价值70元的优惠券去他们的熟食店吃午餐,那儿有很多奶酪、熟肉、法式棍子面包和沙拉,很简单,这样下午茶就可以多吃点儿啦。第二站是Domaine Chandon,品酒之前他们还告诉我们红酒发酵的过程来着,导游Mark可有意思了。个人认为这个酒庄比V. Sattui要商业化一些。第三站是Andretti酒庄,挺小的,可是很漂亮,不过我不喜欢在这里品酒的方式,因为选择很少,还要排队。最后一站是Black Stallion酒庄,也挺不错的。整个旅程一路的风景非常漂亮,酒也很好喝呢!品酒的费用是要单独给的,其中两个是35,另两个是70,能品尝3-6种酒。在V. Sattui 和Black Stallion是可以选择的,我跟我妹妹不是很爱喝红酒,两个人品一杯就够了。他们安排的酒庄顺序比较不错,很多酒庄都挺小的,而且酒只在酒庄出售。途中经过了Robert Mondavi酒庄,他们家的酒在加州之外的地方也有得卖,所以没觉得失望。

I am sure glad I booked this tour over a month in advance only to get a phone call from Mario 3 days before my scheduled tour saying there were some "operational issues" with the wineries on our tour and they needed to cancel it. Well, I was lied to and found out the truth when calling back that they didn't have enough people scheduled on our day to take the tour so they cancelled it all together. So, please be aware that they will cancel your tour just a couple days prior to your scheduled date if they don't have enough people!! And they don't care! It completely messed up our trip as we were left scrambling and rearranging 2 days before to find another tour, which most others were full.

Lots of fun, great guide, good wines - this was an awesome wine tour and we enjoyed it more than just driving out to Napa ourselves. So easy. We met at the Ferry Building and gathered everyone together. Then headed out to Napa stopping first at the Golden Gate Bridge overlook for pictures. The day was sunny, slightly cool and just perfect. The wineries we visited were all great: Robert Mondavi, Mario Andretti (for lunch), Menage a Troi, Napa Cellars, and Francisian. Best of all was our guide, Cary Crites, who had such knowledge to share along the way.I highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting San Francisco that wants to spend a day in the beautiful wine country!

Easy to book. Easy to find at Ferry building. On time. Both Molly our guide and Ken the driver had great information and were enjoyable people. The Mondavi stop was a comprehensive overview of the wine making process with tasting along the way. Three other winery stops with a nice lunch at Andretti winery and ferry cruise back all topped off a perfect day.

A 9 hour tour of Sonoma and Napa Valley in a small shuttle was the perfect wine experience. The vineyards were unique and stunning, each one offering a variety of wines and tips. I was surprised by how much I didn't know. Lunch in Sonoma was perfect and gave us an opportunity to shop a little as well. My tour had 7 different countries represented so the bus trip was a hoot. It was a long day. I think I would spend a few days in the area so I could see more wineries and visit one of the area spas.

Fine wine tasting with good briefing on the area by our tour guide.Lunch stop in Sonoma village was a long enough to take a look on the interesting artisanal boutiques.

We had a great day with a wonderful guide, Phil,who was very informative and friendly without being over the top. Nothing was rushed and we had time at each of 4 wineries. Did not like the last winery The Franciscan where they would not let us listen or share tastings unless we purchased full tasting.

A very well organised tour. Phil our driver was great and I was very pleased with the vineyards we visited. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, I would highly recommend this tour to anyone.

We really enjoyed our Napa tour with Phil as our guide. Though the day started rainy, he was cheery from the first moment. I really respect his energy and pleasant demeanor. It can't be easy to be 'up' for a bunch of tourists day after day but Phil treated us like we were his friends out for a private trip with him. He was full of interesting information, good humor, good singing and made the effort to get to know us and to interact throughout the tour. The wineries visited were good choices- Mondavi's tour guide Steve was also very interactive. The guides were good at Andretti and Franciscan, as well. The lunch was substantial and good and a bonus surprise for us was winning a bottle of wine at Andretti! Of the tastings, Foile a Deaux was the least informative and less interactive but all were delicious! I was a bit apprehensive ahead of time, having purchased this tour off the internet with no other information. I felt that this trip was a really good value for the money and was very pleased with the result. Having a great tour guide was the key to taking a good basic value and making it a great experience. I really commend Phil for his energy, good nature and personalbe approach in a setting that made an indelible good memory for his clients. Thanks, Phil and be sure to come to North Dakota! Sue Nelson

This was a great tour. Rain and threat of rain could have made the tour less enjoyable, but the selection of wineries and the informative and fun way in which our guide, Phil, took us through the tour made it a delight. Phil was an impressive tour guide. Not only was it obvious that he knew the region, knew wine and knew the wineries, but he made it a point to get to know every one of us on the tour. He is very personable (it was obvious that all the winery staff liked him). Not only did we get to taste a great variety of wine, learn a lot about the California wine industry, but Phil created a great environment where we got to know our fellow travelers and we left the tour feeling like we had a new friend in Phil. Thanks for a great experience, Phil! Our goal is to have Phil finish off his fifty state visit by visiting us in North Dakota.

The pros: Ease of booking and prompt departure.Neutral: The lunch served was a platter of cold cuts, macaroni salad, potato chips, and fruit. It was satisfactory given our hunger, but nothing close to what we expected given the $120 pp fee.Cons: Ken is unquestionably educated on wine and the Bay Area. But due to his constant talking and rambling, our trip to wine country, which is supposed to be a peaceful, romantic getaway for couples (our entire group was comprised of couples), was hardly that. He spoke without hesitation throughout the entire drive and the sheer noise pollution in the van prevented us from enjoying the scenery in a quiet, intimate manner. There was not three seconds of quietude on the ride up and the high volume of his microphone had our ears ringing during the rare moments of silence. Throughout the entire ride, we and the passengers were darting awkward glances at each other.In between each winery, Ken continued to ramble on and on and made it a point to tell us every detail about each winery, and while his knowledge of wine and the wineries is impressive, he essentially spoiled the tour experience. Whatever presentation that the winery hosts had for us became redundant. Did I mention that he followed along every tour and spoke up over the hosts, "correcting" and adding on to whatever each host had prepared for us? It was awkward and I applaud the patience of the winery hosts and their ability to absorb Ken's behavior. My favorite part: the host at Mondavi was giving us a brief history of the winery and he began talking about the late Robert Mondavi and how he ran the winery for decades. Ken chimed in with a very insensitive joke along the lines of "not anymore, because he's dead!". Holy hell, that was awkward. The Mondavi property is stunning and is quiet magnificent when it's peaceful, but you could hear Ken loudly talking in the background about his collegiate years, how he used to box, how funny it was that he was eating grapes while we were drinking wine, etc.The third winery, Folie a deux, was crap. Get this: the wine tasting was $10 per person, but one of the wines we tried were priced at $10 a bottle. How does that make any sense? I couldn't care less about the price if the wine was good, but it tasted like the cheap variety you buy in bulk to make happy hour grade sangria. The employees at this particular winery just waited for us to finish and hurriedly poured the next tasting, without talking up the product or making any vested effort in providing them with business. It was the only winery that I and most of the group poured out their tasting samples after a lackluster sample. Terrible selection.After hours of drinking (and mind you all of the passengers were up early in the morning to make the 8:15am time), we expected a quiet ride back - time for the couples to reflect on our experiences or take a nap. Nope! Ken talked and talked without fail about wine, about sewage, about the Native Americans' occupation of Alcatraz, and about every imaginable thought from the moment we boarded the bus at the last winery to the drop-off at the ferry. The ride to and from the wineries were just platforms for Ken to yammer on and on.Overall, this experience was poor because of the tour guide's inability to recognize his boundaries. Wine country isn't a children's museum or Ripley's Believe it or Not - it's one of the most elegant, inspiring, educational, and historic attractions in the world, but it certainly was not treated as such. Most of all, wine country is supposed to be a stress-relieving getaway for adults to enjoy, but Ken's persistent rambling and pedantic attitude prevented us from experiencing what Napa was truly about. I've been on a few other wine country tours with other companies before (all around the world) and they displayed the decorum of a tour guide to a tee. We left the tour without any good memories and I could not wait to board the ferry and end the tour for good. I get that he was just trying to be friendly and helpful, but it was way beyond what anyone wanted and quite frankly not what a tour guide is supposed to be.