Wine Tours - Self-Serve Or Guided? Which Do You Prefer?

We love touring wineries.  We love tasting the wines, walking the vineyards, and talking to the staff.  The setting is almost always spectacular...and if your really, really fortunate you might get to do things like barrel tastings and talk with the winemaker.  As we have stated previously we prefer it when tastings are complimentary.  We do understand why some wineries choose to charge for their tastings, but having it be waved when the customer buys wine makes much more sense.  Tasting rooms are not bars but it is certainly a place where a product is better sold when you can taste it and get the back-story of the wine.  Our take is that is a better experience when free or with very few strings.  Then again, we don't own a winery.....yet.

Back to the tours.

We like doing these tours in a self-guided way (though responsibly when it comes to drinking and driving).  Taking our time and figuring out what we like and getting a feel for the place appeals to us, but we are more and more considering the benefits of have a guided tour.  We were at an event last night which had a silent auction.  Of the about 100 plus items up for auction, around five of them were wine related.  Two of them were wine tours.  That got us thinking, other than the safety of being able to enjoy wine without the worry of having to drive, what else adds to the experience of a guided tour?  We have a couple of local companies doing this including one called Grape Escapes.  They provide these types of tours including afternoon tours with lunch, tours with dinner, or build your own.  These seem to be common theme in most of these types of tours, but there are exceptions such as the Napa Wine Train but the mode of transportation can vary with Buses, Bikes, Limos, or Vans.  There also seems to be a focus on hospitality during these tours in terms of a vineyard lunch or something to that effect.

All these things will add to the experience but for us we are looking for more of an insider's edge.  That might include access to tours or tasting experiences that the general public don't get.  Other than the cost of fuel and tasting room fees and safety, as wine consumers we are looking for some special.

So, we ask, how do you prefer your winery tours?  With friends and a DD?  As a group, self-guided?  With friends and guided?  As part of a larger group of like-minded strangers?

Any interesting stories from the tours?

Tell us about your favorite experiences....we would love to know!

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon