My friends and I went on a wine tour for our friend's birthday party the first weekend in August and it was great!
From the beginning stages of planning, Francesca, (the owner, planner, driver, etc.) worked her hardest to make sure the event was personalized for our group. Fran was also very quick with correspondence and letting me know important information and what she needed from me.
We decided that the Wimberly/Dripping Springs tour was the best route for us since a lot of people had already been to Fredericksburg wineries. Fran picked us up at 9am in Round Rock (she'll work with you on your pick up/drop off site) and she drove us around in an air conditioned mini tour bus! Did I mention that the bus is BYOB?! We brought on our own ice chests and bags for snacks which was great for the 45 minute trip we had! Fran also has a DVD/CD player on the bus but we brought our own speakers for our iPod. She also had tips on wine tasting and a map of the wine country for us to take a look at on the road.
We went to three wineries and an olive oil orchard. It was so hot outside for the olive oil orchard that our group decided to leave early but the rest of the wineries were all inside and all of the staff at the wineries were so nice and informative. One of our friends even bought a case of wine from one of them! Remember to bring money with you in case you fall in love with one or more of the delicious Texas wines that you have to buy a bottle or two!
Fran also arranged for our group to have Saltlick bbq plates for us at one of the wineries! Our group pre-ordered either turkey, chopped beef, sliced beef, etc. We had our sandwich with potato salad, coleslaw, beans (the best beans I've had in awhile), extra delicious seasame seed bread, extra bbq sauce, Tiff's Treats cookies, Sweet Leaf Tea, water, etc. etc.! It was a lovely lunch outside at the winery. We were all so full! But all of that came in the price of the tour! Fran even got us a deal with a cake-maker and we had a birthday cake waiting for our friend along with candles to surprise her!
Fran and her business associate, Melinda, were with us during every tour and let us know when we needed to move on to the next winery. They really made sure we that were ok and having a great time. They even had patience to take pictures of us with our multiple cameras.
We all headed back around 4pm and returned safe and sound (and still pumped up from the awesome day) around 5pm. All in all, it was a great day! Fran really has a great business and will personalize tours for all types of groups. She's very professional and you can tell she takes pride in what she does and will go the extra mile to make you feel your group is top priority! We'll definitely be going back to try more tours with L'Avventura Dolce, especially when the weather cools down! Great job! read more