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Amicis Tours
Categories: Hotels & Travel Tours Hotels & Travel Transportation Limos Tours, Limos [Edit]
19201 Sonoma HwySte 125
Sonoma, CA 95476
Serving Sonoma and surrounding area
(707) 235-2648
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 8 am - 8 pm
$75 for $99 Certificate
Julie P. said: "A great experience! We visited four excellent wineries during the course of the tour, most of which we would not have discovered otherwise. The…" read more »
5 reviews for Amicis Tours
5 reviews in English
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Review from Lynn C.
7/8/2011
Eloping in Napa means we had to schedule a wine tasting tour! I found out about Amicis Tours through Yelp. After speaking to Lahni (and a few other wine tour companies) I decided that Amicis was the best option.
Amicis Tours charges $75/hour and includes everything - service fee, PUC fees, license fees, fuel, etc. They also use a Lincoln Navigator which worked out for us since it was just the two of us and some of the wineries we went too were off of narrow roads...it would have been hard for a limo to get through! We wanted to take advantage of Sonoma and Napa and we scheduled a 4 hour wine tour of Napa (which we actually extended to 6 because we were having so much fun!!!) and then a 6 hour tour of Sonoma.
Lahni was very responsive and thorough. I never felt like I was waiting for a reply and Lahni made sure that I felt comfortable with the terms of the tour. They will customize your tour to your liking. My husband and I don't know much about wine but we did give them a couple of wineries we wanted to go to but the rest we played by ear and left it up to Ralph!
The day of the tours, Ralph was very prompt and prepared - he had lots of bottled water ready for us! He also provided us with a couple of their wine tour books which were wonderful keepsakes from the day! For lunch, he found us great picnic spots and we had sandwiches from local delis. He even had picnic supplies - a tablecloth, napkins, etc. It was cute.
Ralph is extremely knowledgable about wine but also about the whole wine country area! We loved riding around with him as he spoke about the terrain, landscape, and milestones in wine country's history.
Ralph also brings a personal touch - he'd walk us in to some wineries, explain how the tasting worked (especially for our very first stop!) and then he'd let us have fun and enjoy it.
We went to 10 wineries in total, between two days and not only did we sample some great wine, we were able to tour wine caves, and experience biodynamic farming.
I would highly recommend Amicis Tours to anyone who is looking for a great day of tasting wine. :) It was not your average wine tour and felt really personalized and comfortable. -
Review from Melissa B.
Frankfort, IL
4/19/2011
My friends and I had the pleasure of having Ralph drive us around on our last day of tastings in the area. The three of us decided on 4 different wineries. Ralph and Lahni were very helpful in suggesting tastings that would be appropriate for the mood we were looking for.
Ralph was extremely knowledgeable!! It also really helped having him around to keep us on track. Not always the easiest thing to remember reservation times, etc on your third glass of wine!
I won't hesitate to book Ralph again on all of my future wine tasting weekends! -
Review from Todd A.
San Jose, CA
12/21/2010
My wife and I were visiting Sonoma over the holidays, and read the Yelp reviews for Amicis Tours and decided to give them a try.
I called their office, while at breakfast, and they were most accommodating as to our location, time of pick up as well as knowledge of the wineries in the area.
We had a great time. Ralph was very knowledgeable of just about everything in the area. He's rather fascinating and seems to know a lot more than just great wine.
His Lincoln Navigator was spacious, clean and easy to get in and out of. After the 5th winery, that automatic step-in bar comes in rather handy.
He was thoughtful with helping my wife keep dry with his umbrella as it was particularly rainy that day.
The only suggestion I would make to improve this tour experience is for you to talk with the driver before starting the tour to determine the experience you want to have.
Would you rather be driven to the wineries and be dropped off, or would rather have the driver accompany you inside the tasting room.
While we appreciated Ralph's extensive knowledge, we would have preferred going into the wineries ourselves, and having our own individual experience rather than having Ralph accompany us into the tasting rooms, and trying to offer information in parallel with the winery host. We should have clarified this with him after the first winery, but just decided to go with it.
Overall, it was fine, we learned a lot. In hindsight we would probably prefer to be more on our own.
We would certainly use him again. He also has written many books about the region as well as created a helpful Iphone/Droid application with pictures and descriptions of the Sonoma wineries. -
Review from Margi T.
San Jose, CA
1/10/2009 1 photo
Ralph DeAmicis is the best wine country tour guide! Very professional, yet personable. From wine to restaurants to herbs, Ralph has a vast knowledge of many interesting topics. And he has amazing hook-ups at the wineries. He knows what to expect (service, wine, crowds, location), where to go for the experience you're looking for, what time to go to avoid crowds, etc. Bless his heart, he even brought a case or more of cold bottled water with us to keep us hydrated between wineries. And the five of us totally downed it all.
Leave your day in Napa/Sonoma in his hands and you won't be disappointed. I'll definitely call him next time we're up there.Listed in: Wine Country Love
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Review from C R.
South Pasadena, CA
7/26/2010
I was introduced to Amicis tours a few years back when a group of us went to Napa on a friends get together weekend trip. Since then I have continued to use Ralph and Lahni each year. I go to Napa at least once a year.
Reasons for using a tour guide/driver for your wine country adventures:
If you are planning on a full day of tastings and no one wants to be the designated driver, use Amicis tours.
Not all that familiar with the area and want a scenic, well planned and executed tour, use Amicis tours.
Want to pamper that special someone for a special occasion, use Amicis tours.
I schedule well in advance each year and both Lahni and Ralph are experts of the area which is a huge asset in engaging them on planning the itinerary. Just read the books he and Lahni have authored on both Napa and Sonoma. I have never been disappointed with any part of the process and trip, they are friendly and professional. Ralph has been our tour guide; he is full of great local information and history. The guy is well wired into the area. I have compared notes with friends on their experiences with other tour guides/drivers and based on my own experiences using similar companies in other cities, hands down Amici tours wins. Ralph is an engaging tour guide. They treat people like they have known you for years.
Amici tours use SUVs which I really prefer over limos. Why, because a limbo sits low and you really want to see the view of the vineyards as you drive by riding high. This last trip my date is a budding professional photographer; Ralph made some amazing suggestions for new wineries to me, that had photographic opportunities. He also picked a fantastic picnic spot. Tip; don't waste your time picnicking at V.Sattui. Ask Ralph and Lahni to help choose a cozy and romantic spot, get food at either Dean and Deluca's or Calmart along the way and enjoy. Notice I did not mention Oakville; I will need to write that review. They can also recommend hotels and restaurants. I have had some memorable experiences with Amicis tours therefore I cannot advocate enough to use them for your wine country adventures.Listed in: Napa
Specialties
Staying in San Francisco or Napa and Sonoma? We're happy to bring you up to wine country for the day. We create private winery tours tailored to the desires of the client. As the authors of several guide books about touring Napa and Sonoma, we stay on top of all things wine country! We have also written 2 apps for iPhone with thousands of photographs to help you decide on your perfect tour.
We tour in SUVs for the ultimate comfort of our guests. With advance notice, we can accommodate larger groups and we can conduct our tours in several languages; Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, and a little German. Let us arrange your perfect day in wine country.
History
Established in 2006
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis originally came to the Bay area through speaking at a San Francisco convention. They visited wine country and fell in love with the place. They relocated their offices to Sonoma and when visiting the wineries realized there were few good 'winery' tour books. So they wrote one, and then two and then...
As authors of 7 winery guide books, they found that the best way to stay up to date on all of the wineries (old and new) was to tour as much as possible. So, after working as tour guides for other companies for several years while doing the book research they started their own tour business. Yes, they continue to speak at conventions and lead seminars.
The Smart Phone Apps grew out of a joint venture with Sutro Media. The founders Kevin and Tobin had created a San Francisco App and now wanted to do one about Napa. The results were the Napa Valley Wine Tour App, and the Sonoma Winery Tour App. They are awesome!
Meet the Business Owner: Ralph D.
We (Ralph & Lahni) spend most of our time on the road visiting wineries with new friends. It is a tough job but someone has to do it. In the off season, We write new tour books for our popular Amicis Winery Guide Series. We also update our iPhone Apps, Napa Valley Wine Tour, & Sonoma Winery Tour. They are the top selling Apps for the region and we update them frequently. We shot all of the photos (more than 2000 per App) and the videos. The descriptions are the real story of the winery, not the publicist's slant, A guest recently told me the App was the second best souvenir of wine country. The first? A bottle of wine, of course!
We are authors of over 25 books and speak for conventions and groups on wine country, How to Create the Most Effective Office, and How to Stay Healthy at Work.
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