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Santa Barbara Trip
Here's a list of a few places my wife and I stopped by during our 1 year anniversary…
Wine Edventures
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 9 am - 5 pm
I Dream o. said: "This is based on my Grapeline tour in Temecula, but I have a strong feeling every one of their tours is this stellar! My friend and I decided wine tasting in Temecula was the perfect Memorial Day excursion. We opted for the full day…" read more »
35 reviews for Wine Edventures
35 reviews in English
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Review from Morgan M.
Oceanside, CA
2/6/2012
A winery tasting tour is something that's been on the docket for my wife and I for some time now. We finally had the opportunity to indulge, but I wasn't certain where to look.
I peeked into Yelp and was intrigued by the high praise of Wine Edventures, especially since the site wasn't listed in my initial Google search. I have to say, I'm supremely grateful I checked this out because my wife and I had a blast.
Shawn, our tour guide, was fantastic. He was entertaining, but not cheesy. Engaging, but not irksome. His energy level was perfect and he has an excellent speaking voice--which is helpful as the amount of information he shares regarding how to drink wine, wine production and wine growing basics is vast.
If you've been wanting to expand your wine pallet or are looking for a day long tour through some of the most gorgeous countryside in California, I HIGHLY recommend Wine Edventures. -
Review from Austin F.
Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
12/27/2011
Hip and expensive restaurant in Las Vegas. Dinner with high school friends. Waiter asks for a wine selection to start, and I make the embarrassing gaffe of suggesting a strong red I like.
If this has ever been you, or if you don't really understand why that was a gaffe, or if you like drinking wine but that's about all you know about it, or if you just want to know more about wine, this is the tour company for you.
Unpretentious. Eager to help. Knowledgeable. Helpful but never in the way. Chris our driver guide was a lot of fun, and if you ever run into him tell him 'ya tebya lublue."
I really liked the flexibility, the responsiveness of the company and loved the tour. Have fun! -
Review from Bill H.
Washington, DC
10/11/2011
My wife and I took my father and his wife on a private Vineyard tour with Wine Edventures last week. We had asked for Lisa based on prior comments on this site - and we were not disappointed. Great attitude, fun, incredibly knowledgeable. We were staying in Ojai; she picked us up in a nice van and off we went! We leaned so much throughout the day: history of wine making in the U.S., impact on CA vineyards and recovery from prohibition. You name it, we learned it.
We visited three vineyards (Lisa was prepared to do a fourth - but we were spent). This was money really well spent. We were wholly unfamiliar with wine making (although we love to drink it) so the day was a huge success mixing fun and education. Just as promised.
Great job, Lisa! And thanks for the restaurant tips, too! -
Review from A J.
Boulder, CO
2/5/2012
Very educational. Well paced tour of four wineries and about 20 plus wines. Great lunch as well. Absolutely worth every penny and more! Shawn is a very knowledgeable and seems to enjoy each tour as much as every customer! I highly recommend this tour, whether your an expert or a novice about wine making.
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Review from Bryan T.
Newhall, CA
10/10/2011
This was my first wine tasting experience and despite my low expectations, I came out with a very positive view on wine and the process of making wine.
Shawn, the owner of Wine Edventures was our driver/tour guide and boy did he know his stuff. He picked us up from out hotel and was very friendly and easy going. So easy going in fact, when I asked him which wineries/vineyards we were going to he said he didn't know yet!! lol
Before we even entered the tasting room of our first stop, Lincourt Vineyards, he took us out to the vineyards and grabbed some grapes and told us to try them!
To make this short and sweet we also went to Sort This Out Wine Cellar, Rusack Vineyards, and Shoestring Winery.
Sort This Out was definitely our favorite place even though the owner, Mike, didn't grow his own grapes. His shop was decorated in a casino/pin-up girl style and my wife and I really liked that.
We had lunch at Rusack and even though it was just a Roast Beef or Turkey Sandwich with pasta salad, Kettle Chips, and a gourmet cookie it actually filled me up. Rusack was beautiful, tucked away in Ballard Canyon.
Shoestring was interesting because that was there Shawn took us in the back and explained the exact process of wine making to us. Shoestring also sold these chocolate/mocha wine wafers that were So Good!
Overall, Wine Edventures is a great deal when you figure about $10 per tasting at each winery/cellar, a box lunch, GAS, and the convenience of not having to drive home after all that wine.
I will definitely be coming back for the beer tour or soon to come wine/beer combo tour!
Thanks Shawn! -
Review from James R.
Santa Monica, CA
1/17/2012
As many others have suggested, Wine Edventures was a fantastic way to spend a day in Santa Barbara wine country. We were lucky enough to have the owner, Shawn, as our guide and he did a fantastic job entertaining and educating our group. We've visited various wineries along the CA coast in the past, but it was nice to learn some of the history behind the industry in Santa Barbara to help broaden our understanding of the local wines and viticulture in general. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone interested in not only tasting wine, but also learning something about the region and industry.
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Review from Nestor V.
Bell, CA
12/8/2011
Wine Edventures made my birthday weekend one of the best!! That weekend we had inclement weather and there was an accident with Amtrak and another car delaying from reaching our destination in time. I got on the phone with wine edventures and I come to find out that they were already on top of it. They had already sent out our driver to pick us up in Ventura!! I was impressed!! But I was more with our tour guide, Hans!! He is the best tour guide!! I definately reccommend him. The tour was very fun and educational at the same time. I've been wine tasting before and with other tour companies, but this one surpasses all other experiences!!
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Review from Brian L T.
Los Angeles, CA
9/3/2011 23 photos
For your introduction to wine tasting and a good overview of the Santa Barbara wine culture and vineyards, look no further than Wine Edventures. Booking through a tour through them is so easy, and they literally take care of you the whole way through. They picked us up at our hotel at 10 in the morning onboard an immaculate Sprinter van, brought us to 4 wineries (Rusack, Koehler, Kalyra, and Persidio) and even threw in lunch as well. Top notch service!
I loved their choices in vineyards as they represented a broad spectrum of what you can find in Solvang, Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara. We also could not have asked for better travel companions, and we were fast road trip buddies by the end of the experience.
Every bit of it was informative as it was relaxing. Perry, our tour guide, also happens to work in the film biz, and added his skills of entertaining and acting to his already very extensive hosting repertoire. He was very helpful, open to questions, and unpretentious throughout, and if he did not know anything, he would even text his girlfriend (Wine educator extraordinaire) for an answer. There was never a dull moment and he made the trip both educational yet not overbearing or boring. Who knew wine could be this fun?
At the end of the day after being dropped off at our hotel doorstep, I had to say that I had an excellent experience and would be happy to repeat it again in the near future! -
Review from Simone V.
West Covina, CA
8/1/2011 6 photos
The husband wanted to do a getaway to Santa Barbara for the 4th of July weekend. Since it was a last minute plan, I yelped things to do in Santa Barbara and of course wine tasting was on the list of things to do. We haven't done a wine tour before, so we weren't sure what to expect. So I yelped and Wine Edventures came up with some pretty good reviews.. and so I chose them to be our first wine tour.
Shawn was our tour guide and he was great! He was really nice and funny. We learned alot from Shawn about the wine process. There wasn't a dull moment with him. We were the last to show up for the pick up and he wasn't worried about collecting payment from us right away, but more to get everyone ready and excited for the tour that awaited us.
We went to Koehler, Kalrya, Presidio, and Shoestring. My favorite winery on this tour has Koehler and Shoestring. Lunch was yummy too. We had lunch on our second stop at Kalyra, which was a sandwich (roast beef for him and turkey for me), pasta salad, kettle potato chips, and a gourmet cookie. I can't complain, it was a really nice lunch. We enjoyed it picnic style under the nice trees and grassy area of the winery.
I definitely will do this tour again. I can say after the first few tastings, all the wines were the same to me. I just enjoyed the never ending buzz from the yummy wines and letting Wine Edventures take care of the driving. -
Review from Nean C.
Long Beach, CA
7/27/2011
We decided to go with Wine Edventures because of their air conditioning van instead of the other tours with jeeps. We stayed in Santa Barbara and the wineries were in Solvang which was a 25-30 min drive but it felt more like 40 mins.
We went to four wineries, Kohler, Lincourt, Kalyra, and Shoestring. Our tour guide, Perry was a nice guy but I don't think being a tour guide is best suited for him. The last two wineries, he didn't really give background information. He would say, "I will tell you the background information on the wineries when we get there" then forget to tell us when we were there. When he did give some info. or background, it was short like less than a minute. I gave it four stars because Perry was nice to stop for my friend who needed to used the restroom. -
Review from Ashley M.
2/22/2011
The husband and I decided to take advantaged of our 3 day weekend and head up to Santa Barbara. Seeing as how we both have never done an official wine tasting tour, we figured this would be a great opportunity.
I looked at some different tours on Yelp and then decided to go with Wine Edventures. We didn't decide until the day before we wanted to go so I was hoping they would be able to fit us in. Sean, the owner was very polite and told us it was no problem.
The next morning our guide (Hans) picked us up right on time in front of our hotel. We then started off on our scenic drive up towards the vineyards. We visited 4 wineries which were all very different, and served a sandwich lunch (which was pretty good), and also received a souvenir glass.
I loved all the information we learned about wine and Hans was awesome, I would definitely do another tour with Wine Edventures again! -
Review from CJ R.
San Jose, CA
7/17/2011
My husband and I are wine tour novices, and this tour was the perfect way to get us introduced. Our tour guide, Lisa, was very friendly and knowledgeable, giving us a good background in local wine making history. She was able to give us the basics without being condescending, and made us feel comfortable with asking any questions. We visited four wineries - Kohler, Lincourt, Rusack, and then Pinnacle in Solvang. it was a very pleasant experience. We got to see the barrels at Kohler and got up close and personal with the vines at one of the vineyards.
The only thing that would have made this a 5-star experience would be if we had gotten a little more "back of the house" touring. Even without that, though, my husband and I were really pleased with the experience, the guide, and would recommend it! -
Review from Gilbert R.
Glendale, AZ
8/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
Today we had lisa as our guide and Marcie as our driver. We had a great time and visited 4 wineries!!! Great value for the price and lisa had superb knowledge of the area and wines. We would highly recommend wine edventures.
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Review from Steve O.
San Francisco, CA
7/24/2010 1 photo
I don't even drink and I enjoyed this wine tour. Wifey loves wine so we thought to check out a wine tour while on our honeymoon. We found out about this on Yelp and after reading reviews decided to go with this one over a couple of other options. And EXTREMELY happy we went with this one, especially at $95 per person. How do you beat that?
Our guide Shawn was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. He obviously knew much about wines but also schooled us on a lot of history in the area - in a good, fun way not in some "oh crap I'm on a guided tour with my college prof" kinda way.
Anyway, Shawn picked us up from the hotel on-time and then picked up five other guests. We proceeded to the following wineries for tastings:
Koehler - great wine (so I heard). Learned a lot of the wine making process.
Roblar Winery - expensive wine but not too good (again, so I heard). Great lunch provided here.
Rusack - owned by the Wrigley's Gum family. Lovely views from their outdoor patio. I think by this time almost all the wine tasted the same.
Sort This Out Cellars - in Solvang. Wifey loved the grenache and mustcat so we bought a bottle of each. Plus their bottles are pretty damn cool.
I'd imagine if you're a drinker you'd love this tour too! And hey, don't forget to tip the tour guide! -
Review from veronica d.
Downey, CA
9/2/2010
It was something fun and new to try. I had decided to try out the tour out while on my mother-daughter trip to Santa Barbara and we had a great time. We are not wine drinkers so we learned a few things on this tour.
-We went to three vineyards and a wine bar in Solvang (if that is what it is called? it was not a vineyard that's what I do know)
*I enjoyed the Koehler Vineyard the most - their wines were delicious and their prices were not bad either.
-the lunch was delicious and much more than a sandwich box.
-the souvenir was cute
-had a chance to meet other tourists
-learned some things about wine
-the end of the tour seemed a little rushed but at the same time the day had worn us out.
-the tour was helpful in getting to know different areas outside of Santa Barbara so I was able to explore on my own later in the week
It was somewhat difficult booking reservations, I had booked my two spots and provided my credit card #, so when I didn't receive a confirmation # or receipt, I freaked out a little. Luckily I was able to get a hold of them right before I left to Santa Barbara to make sure I had a tour to go on.
The suggested tip was a little steep - 18% - I understand as a customer you are driven around and are taken to wine tastings so there is no worry about DUI's or driving after a few sips, so it is convieniant but then again it is part of the tour. However, our tour guide was Shawn and I thought he was also the owner so the suggested amount was a little high.
Overall I would suggest this tour if you are new to Santa Barbara or have never been wine tasting. -
Review from cindy b.
Valencia, CA
7/5/2011
I loved our tour guide/driver LISA!!! She was the best! My fiance and I decided to take a tour in SB on Thursday 6/30 (our anniversary) to get educated about different wines, since we always drink wine but never knew the basics (how it is made, tasting palettes, what food goes with what wine, etc). We got to our hotel at around 9am and got a call from Wine Ed. saying our driver hit a little bit of traffic and might be 10-15 min. late. But our driver (Lisa) ended up calling us right at 10am (scheduled time) and said she was waiting for us at the front. :)
She was the friendliest, happiest person. Right away she asked if we were experienced in wine tasting and knew about the vineyards here, when she knew we were "rookies" she educated us about EVERYTHING!! Even the history of the towns we were passing by (suicide bridge, hidden valley ranch and even the MJ estate.)
It was only us and another nice couple and we had a blast! We were all very happy and satisfied with our tour. We stopped at four vineyards, Koehler, Kalyra, Rusnack and Lynncourt. And had about 6 tastings at each place. Lisa showed us how to smell, sip and taste wine but also made us feel comfortable in asking any questions. The bartenders were VERY nice at Koehler and Lynncourt, not so friendly at the other two.
I would definitely recommend LISA for your tour guide, she works during the week right now but might be working weekends real soon! :) -
Review from Marthie D.
Corona, CA
2/4/2010 8 photos
Wine tasting without having to worry about getting any where!!
That's right.. no need to limit your intake of tasting a variety of wines because Wine Edventures will provide you with your travel arrangements. And these travel arrangements includes picking you up from your hotel, driving to the Santa Ynez Valley, visiting 4 wineries and a stop by Solvang!!!
Thanks to Shawn, we got picked up at our hotel in Santa Barbara and got a lovely scenic ride to Santa Ynez. We visited four wineries and got discounted deals on wines with most of them just because of our tour with Wine Edventures!
1. Koehler's which was simply gorgeous, despite the grape vines not in bloom quite yet!
2. Buttonwood
3. Presidio which is at Solvang! AKA I was able to stop by a nearby bakery, Mortensen's, to get some goodies!
4. Shoestring: which so happens to also have horses by their vineyard!
I LOVED that we didn't have to worry about driving and finding wineries to visit. And the lunch provided was between a Veggie Sandwich or Turkey Sandwich, which came with chips, a homemade cookie, and pasta salad. I felt quite full. And don't fret, water was provided given that we'll be consuming quite the amount of wine!
Shawn, our tourguide, was very funny, saracastic and very informative. I loved his pop quizzes and that he pointed out Michael Jackson's home, which was far off in the distance. I must say, Wine EDventures was definitely an EDucation!
Also, the ride in the tour bus was quite comfortable and spacious. I especially loved the scenery of the Pacific and Santa Ynez hills! GORGEOUS I tell you!
If you plan to go on a wine tour.. do it with WINE EDVENTURES!!! If you don't want to do it in a big group (there was a total of 17 of us in the tour I went on), then you can definitely have a private tour too! CHEERS!Listed in: Santa Barbara.. Santa Ynez..…
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Review from Diana F.
Los Angeles, CA
10/27/2011
Do not use this extremely unprofessional company. I confirmed that I would be taking a wine tour with the company during my birthday weekend. 20 MINUTES before the van was supposed to pick us up, after we had driven almost TWO HOURS to Santa Barbara to the pick-up location, I was told that the driver was sick and there was no one else who could take us so "sorry, there's nothing we can do." No offer to help us get on another tour, no offer to give us vouchers to come another weekend, nothing. I have tried calling to discuss this with the company but it's impossible to reach anyone there without leaving a message, and then good luck hearing back from them. In the future I'm going with The Grapeline, which has never done me wrong.
Comment from Shawn F. of Wine Edventures 10/28/2011
We deeply regretted having to cancel Diana's tour.… More » -
Review from AJ H.
Valencia, CA
2/13/2011
My fiance and I took our second trip with Wine Edventures Saturday Feb 12th.
Shawn picked us up at our hotel in Santa Barbara for a fun filled day of wine tasting in a clean, comfortable shuttle van. He's a nice guy and a good sport and was cracking jokes all day. He was more than accommodating, even when I managed to lose my complimentary wine tasting glass along the way.
He gave us a brief history of the area and the wine making process as well as a quick lesson on wine tasting and were set free to taste to our heart's content at 4 wineries and saw beautiful scenery along the way.
Being a popular holiday weekend the van was full and it was a big group. All the wineries we visited had a lot of traffic and other wine tours coming in and out. Shawn handled it well as did all of the wineries.
The picnic lunch is excellent and for sandwiches it really is gourmet.
I've taken a few different wine tours with various companies and this one has been the best by far. Definitely recommended for a group outing, a day trip, romantic date or special occasion.
Note for couples -
Based on our experience if you book a tour on a not so busy day you'll be with a smaller group and your experience may be more intimate. It was a very different experience our first time being with a group of 6 on a random Sunday vs full bus of 22 people on a busy holiday weekend. We still found it to be a very romantic day despite the big group and all the action. Overall no complaints and we would do it again either way.
Take a tour with these guys, it's a bargain for the price and you'll have a good time. -
Review from Adriana Y.
Los Angeles, CA
2/23/2010
When I was booking this tour I was an amateur wine drinker ... but NOW ... well, I am a full blown wine-o!
I was referred to Wine Edventures by a local in Santa Barbara, so I decided to give it a shot, I had no expectations.
The package was WONDERFUL, they pick you up at your hotel and drop you off, no DUIs with this opperation! A picnic style lunch is provided so you are not left starving, and it was good, not like a lunchable, a real lunch.
Shawn, our tour guide gave us the 411 as SOON as he had all the parties in the "purple bus", the reason he did this was because we were all sober at this time (10am). He drove us and stayed with us the entire time and taught the group a lot about the history of wine in SB. it was like the best field trip ever ... education and alcohol!
My boyfriend and I ended up joining a wine club when visiting a winery, we will see how THAT pans out.
I highly recommend this tour! -
Review from Diana E.
San Diego, CA
11/4/2009
I've been to Santa Barbara twice: once with Jon and his sister/bro-in-law. And the next year with my parents.
BOTH times, we went on a Wine Edventure tour!
That just goes to show - the tour is fun for us in our late-twenties/early thirties...and for the parental units!
Shawn is a great - very knowledgeable and makes the tour educational, interactive and fun. The boxed lunch included is very standard: cold cut sandwich, chips, side salad, small cookie or brownie and a drink.
The price per person has definitely gone up over the years. But every penny is worth it. If you're staying in Santa Barbara, they pick you up and drop you off at your hotel and the wineries have a special relationship with this company, so it's VIP treatment.
CHEERS! -
Review from Seth O.
San Antonio, TX
8/30/2010
Awesome time!! Our guide was fun and knowledgeable and the wineries were very nice. Great to not have to drive around and lunch was really good too. Sandwich pasta salad fruit brownie etc. Loved it would do it again!!
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Review from kate t.
Chicago, IL
8/14/2010
This is a great tour, especially if it is your first time wine tasting. It was my first wine tasting experience and I was quite pleased. The bus picked us up in Santa Barbara and the driver/guide gives you a great tour on the drive into Los Olivos, complete with history of the area and how wine making got started in Santa Barbara. We went to four wineries and were treated to sandwiches for lunch, which was needed after a few flights! The wineries we went to were all nice and good for a large group. I thought the guide was great and very knowledgable about wine, even offering different varietals we should try. It was great to have the tastings covered and learn about different wines I probably would never have tasted on a regular basis. And, best of all, you have a driver! A great tour, I would definitely recommend.
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Review from Shawn G.
Hidden Meadows, CA
6/25/2010
I wanted to write and tell you all that this wine tour was the highlight of our trip to Santa Barbara. We enjoyed Shawn's (the owner/guide) humor, local knowledge and professionalism throughout the tour. I would highly recommend this tour. well worth the price!!
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Review from Debbie H.
Santa Clarita, CA
6/7/2010
This was my first time doing a wine tour with a company. Our guide Shawn was funny, informative and we had a great time. They picked us up at the hotel and took us all around. We went to Kohler and Shoestring which had great wine and a great location! Also did Roblar and Presidio didn't care for either of their wines, we poured out (gasp!) almost everything we tried. Roblar had a beautiful location however. The 2 great ones and our great guide made up for the 2 of the 4 weak wineries and rounded out the trip! It included lunch from a local deli that was very tasty. Great souvenir glasses to keep, big ones, not tiny little ones you get at some places! Definitely a great company to go with! They take groups to a variety of places, so contact them if you have preferences (or no-gos).
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Review from Cardwell L.
Long Beach, CA
10/24/2010 8 photos
Wine Edventures was a very good time and Jeff the Guide was very knowledgeable and nice! We enjoyed the wineries and the boxed lunch was WAY better than expected. The Price for the tour was very reasonable too!
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Review from Melany A.
Santa Ana, CA
6/8/2011
I went on a tour the first weekend in June, 2011. First and foremost, our tour guide was awesome. But the promises of this tour were not lived up to due to poor organization by the company's management. I bought this tour because they advertised an educational experience. Due to the weather, we were unable to participate in any of the vineyard tours, and for some reason we did not do any other tour of the rest of any part of the wine making process. At the second winery they only had outdoor seating. Keep in mind due to the weather we weren't able to tour any outdoor vineyards...and yet we were sitting outside in the wind, rain, and cold weather. This is also where we were supposed to stay longer and eat our lunch. I was surprised that such a well known company had no back up plan and forced customers to sit outside in the rain. When I brought my concerns to the company's receptionist, I received back a generic email saying sorry, but no refunds, and nobody even bothered to call me back and discuss my concerns. Very disappointed.
Comment from Shawn F. of Wine Edventures 6/9/2011
Hello! This is Shawn and Mary Beth, the owners of Wine… More » -
Review from Natalie L.
Huntington Beach, CA
8/19/2010
This was FANTASTIC!!! My boyfriend and I went up to Santa Barbara for a weekend get-away, and after much research, decided on Wine Edventures, and let me say, I am sure happy we did!
Shawn was our tour guide. We went on a Wednesday, and somehow got lucky enough to be the only two on the tour that day. It was incredible. Shawn was so knowledgeable about all the wineries in the area, as well as the local history, and could even answer all my ridiculous questions relating to wine history and production within the US.
We went to 4 different tastings: Koehler, Roeblar, Lucas and Lewellen, and Kalyra. It was a wide variety, and we got to experience a plethora of different wines. While at our first stop, Shawn took us around and showed us how the production of wine happens, and explained the entire process to us. I didn't know much about wine prior to this tour (besides the fact that I liked drinking it), but now I feel so knowledgable!
Shawn has a fantastic relationship with all of the different wineries, and it really shows. We were treated so well everywhere we went, with all the people very welcoming and friendly.
As for the package, it was FANTASTIC. Shawn picked us up at our hotel, drove us to all the different wineries, while telling us tons of tidbits of history about the area. We had a fantastic picnic lunch with gourmet sandwiches. The van we were in was extremely comfortable, with high ceilings (my boyfriend is 6'4" and had no problems with standing up and not hitting his head!), and the tasting glass that is included is great!
If you're looking for a wine tour in Santa Barbara, you really can't beat Wine Edventures! We learned so much, and had such a good time doing it! It's not like it was a boring lecture about wine--we learned about the wines as we tasted them. Would definitely go again!! -
Review from tracy t.
Stanton, CA
5/11/2011
My friend and I took a Santa Barbara wine tours on 04/16/2011. We visited kalyra, lafond winery, and 2 others I cannot recall and Hans was our tour guide. He was absolutely fantastic. We had a wonderful time on the tour and we will surely book another tour from this company in the future. When we do we will specifically ask for Hans as he made our trip truly enjoyable.
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Review from Robert D.
Santa Barbara, CA
3/26/2011
A great way to tour Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez wineries.
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Review from Natalij F.
Culver City, CA
3/25/2010
This was our first wine tour and what an amazing experience. Our guide was funny, personable and a great companion to have along the way. We learned a ton about wine-making, wine-tasting, the region, you name it and I couldn't have asked for a better time.
I would recommend the service, it's convenient, a great way to learn about wine/wine-making, lunch was great, the wineries were very cool, overall, it was a unique and memorable experience that we all loved. -
Review from Meredith F.
Fullerton, CA
8/18/2010
My best friend & I recently returned from a Mom's Getaway... wine tasting in the Santa Barbara Wine Country. We had done the same trip last summer w/o a tour & decided to change it up a bit-plus neither one of us wanted to drive & we had left our "drivers" (husbands) at home. Based on Yelp reviews we chose Wine Edventures and were so very glad we did! Shawn was our awesome tour guide and made the day even better than we anticipated! We were supposed to be picked up at our hotel in Solvang (sidenote here--Solvang is the smartest place to stay if you're strictly in the area for wine tasting & particularly for this tour. Last one on the bus & first one off, no riding 30+ miles to Santa Barbara or Ventura, etc), but after we got an early morning start shopping in the town he kindly agreed to pick us up there so we didn't have to go all the way back to our hotel. Being in Solvang already, we had just a very short drive to the 1st of our 4 winery tours of the day. I was a little concerned at first with the commentary, I was afraid I was going to get a 4th grade California History lesson all day..yawn. Fortunately I was wrong! Shawn's info was fun, informative, educational & just the right amount. From the start we were so impressed that all of out tasting fees at each winery were included with our per person price! Similiar types of tours in Napa we have been on charge more for the tour and do not include the tasting fees...so this was a pleasant surprise. In all, we visited Sunstone ( a private tasting room straight out of a movie scene, for our group only, made me feel sorry for the other guys in the regular old tasting room), Roblar (where we learned a bit about the wines amongst the vines & had an outstanding & HUGE picnic lunch), Koehler (where we had a production tour and met Dan the tasting room guy who is hilarious) and Lincourt (an adorable front porch tasting for our group that was the perfect end to a GREAT day!). We were dropped off back at our hotel at the end of the day, and Shawn even carried ALL of our purchases to our car (no small feat there). We highly recommend Wine Edventures for a FUN yet informative & educational tasting day...you won't be disappointed! We'll be back next year... Just warning you now Shawn :)
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Review from Claire W.
Long Beach, CA
8/3/2010
Fantastic service. Sean was a very knowledgeable tour guide. He really went the extra mile to make sure we were enjoying ourselves. I will definitely book another tour with them again.
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Review from lisa s.
La Habra, CA
11/8/2010
Great time! My husband & I were celebrating our 5th anniversary up in SB & decided to go on our first wine tour...we loved it! The shuttle picked us up in Santa Barbara, we were so lucky to have Shawn as our guide. He was great & very knowledgable about wine, wineries, history of the area & tons of info on the drive into each of our stops. He even had some good jokes which helped set the tone for a good day & kinda break the ice w/everybody. We went to 4 wineries and were treated to a surprisingly tasty lunch. The wineries we went to were all nice, the staff were informative & extremely helpful. We loved that we didn't have to worry about driving or look for the wineries to visit! We would definitely recommend this tour & would love to go back & see some of the other wineries around...thx Shawn & Wine Edventures =)
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Review from LaDonna O.
Costa Mesa, CA
9/10/2010
This wine tasting tour was AMAZING!! Shawn is a great guide who is incredibly knowledgeable about wines and the Santa Ynez valley. After hearing stories from friends who did other wine tours, I can say that Wine Edventures definitely tops the charts on quality, value and a ridiculously good time!!
