We took the 9 hour tour that visited the village of Saint-Emilion and a wine tasting in the town,…read moreChateau Bernateau on the right bank where we had lunch at picnic tables, then across the river to Magaux on the left bank to Chateau Prieure-Lichine, and Chateau Siran. We traveled in a tour van and our guide was very friendly and knowledgable. We tasted many wines and got a first hand view on wine making. We were very lucky because the wineries were picking and harvesting the grapes (it was later in September).

My friend and I did the Saint-Emilion Small Group Day Tour with Wine Tastings & Lunch. Our fabulous…read moretour guide, Ed, escorted us to two chateaus before doing a tasting in Saint-Emilion. The experience was absolutely lovely and a great learning experience. We were lucky to have stunning spring weather and enjoyed a picnic lunch with meats and cheese. We also got to visit the stunning sites of Saint-Emilion. I wouldn't hesitate to book another tour with Rustic Vines.

Wine tasting among castles in the French countryside? Sign me up! This tour was the highlight of…read moreour Bordeaux trip, specially the Saint-Émilion Afternoon Tour with Quentin. I was able to book easily via their webpage the evening before. Our tour group had 8 people and started at 1:45 PM, lasting 5 hours. The pickup point was in the heart of Bordeaux at the tourist office. Our tour guide Quentin spoke great English and was super personable. He also drove the mini van and used the hour of commute time each way to get to know us and share his knowledge. The first stop was a larger scale winery, Château Soutard, which is a Saint-Émilion Grands cru classés winery (in the top 10% of wineries in Right Bank). They had deep pickets and you could tell by the infrastructure. We rode a gigantic silent glass elevator for transporting barrels underground which they affectionately called "James Bond." Our guide here led us on a thorough tour of the indoor facilities and guided us through a tasting of two reds. Quentin also did a fun smell test with us. We spent 1.5 hours here. The next stop was the charming old town of Saint-Émilion, and the reason I booked the Right Bank tour over the Left Bank one. Over the course of an hour, Quentin led us through the highlights of the city including a wine cave (the oldest wine bottles I've seen!) and an old church. It rained on and off, but Quentin was prepared with umbrellas. Our third and final stop was a relatively smaller winery called Château Côte de Baleau. They had a picturesque castle on property, and the guide here welcomed us with glasses of Bordeaux blanc from another winery. Quentin showed us the grapevines and the traditional concrete aging vats. Then the female guide led us through a vertical tasting of two Saint-Émilion Grand Crus - 2007 and 2014. Compared to the first winery, I enjoyed the more laid-back vibe here, and the wine was almost as good and at a lower price point. We also had some small bites to pair - comté cheese, sausage, dark chocolate, almonds, and bread. I liked how both wineries didn't push buying the wine at all - no mention of sales and no price lists shown during the tasting. The cost of this tour was slightly more than other half day options I found (€94), but I thought it was well worth it for the longer time and included bites. It was also nice to not worry about a rental and driving ourselves an hour out to the wineries from Bordeaux where we stayed. Highly recommend this experience!

We had the best day ever with Kaio as our guide! E-bikes and winery tours, including an elegant…read morelunch. Kaio was pleasant, knowledgeable, and fun to spend the day with for our group.

Stop your search and just book the tour with Jean Pierre now! Do not miss out on an amazing and…read morememorable experience in Bordeaux by booking with someone else. Jean Pierre is meticulous in planning out his tours, he takes into account what you want to see, which Châteaux you want to visit , etc. He really loves what he does and it shows in his tours. Experience start to finish; - emailed request and received a response very quickly - Jean Pierre asked a few questions about the group, size, our wine knowledge (we are novice wine drinkers), requests on Châteaux we wanted to visit ... then he got working on the itinerary and making appointments for the Châteaux visits. - Jean Pierre confirms pickup location and itinerary (picked us up from our Airbnb!) - follow up communications confirming pickup points etc (he is very clear in all communication) .. we were a group of 4 and it ended up being just us that day! I believe his car fits up to six people. - then a day touring and enjoying wine: our day started at Château du Tailhas Pomerol, then scenic drive around Pomerol and St. Emilion, lunch/ explore St. Emilion, Château Dominique and then Château Canon La Gaffeliere. (Jean Pierre made sure to give us different types of chateaux to visit, from small family owned to larger more industrialized ones) We learned so much from Jean Pierre, from now knowing that different regions in Bordeaux produce different blends of wine to how the terroir affects the taste of the wines. I'm already looking at my calendar for 2017 to see when I can get back to Bordeaux and do another tour.. perhaps multiple day tours with Jean Pierre!

Best wine trip you can take in all of Bordeaux! John was our personal guide and was a treat. Lunch…read moreand all tastings were included in our package. He personally recommended all of the restaurants, and they were fantastic. If you don't use him for a personal tour, contact him for a self guided tour, the restaurant recommendations alone will be worth it!

We used John and Gourmet Touring to recently take care of pretty much everything on our recent trip…read moreto Bordeaux and it all worked out wonderfully. As we were planning all of our other details on the other parts of our trip we wanted to fire and forget, though now we'll likely be back for a more customized trip in the future. We went with the 3 day 2 night to-go package, and had them help book our train tickets as well, also we went with a driver (less due to drinking and more to having no sense of the area and wanting to not have to think about much). Overall I'm not sure we'd do anything different. Upon arrival our driver was waiting at the train station and great conversation from our ride from the train station to Bordeaux. She started off on a good note, affirming she liked out California Cabernet, she wasn't as knowledgeable on others but said we do good Cabernet. The ride to downtown we got a good general overview of the city, tips on things to go see and do, and a great tip for a cheap but great wine bar, which was indeed that having glasses from 2 euros up. After that we had most of our afternoon and evening free to ourselves to check out the town. The next morning started promptly at 9am with John picking us up at our place. The day was to be spent on the right bank. We started with a tasting at a negotiant with a small tour, followed by a more in depth tasting and overview of Bordeaux. It turned out to be great in terms of education and conversation giving us a great foundation to build upon our knowledge of Bordeaux for the rest of the trip. The tasting included a total of 4 wines, we had 2 reds one from left bank on from right, then 2 whites, one dry one sweet. This proved to be the largest tasting of the trip, as we discovered the tasting experience in Bordeaux is very different than the US. Essentially they're all accompanied with a tour, and at a Chateau you're generally going to taste 1 wine as that's all they make, some may hit two. From there we made our way to lunch, which we'd upgraded to lunch with wine at a Chateau. The meal at the Chateau proved to be absolutely excellent, a 3 course meal that proved to be filling but not too over the top. With a bit of time on our drive over to the Chateau, and a good leisurely lunch we had plenty of time to learn quite a bit more, both about John and his background, but especially around the wine - including such things as small detours to check out the only 2 wineries that have very rocky soil that are in St. Emilion and not in Pomeral where it's more common. From lunch we had a tour in St. Emilion of the monolithic church, before continuing on to our Chateau for a tour and tasting for the day. This tasting was a bit different than the earlier one as we got to tour much more of the Chateau, talked about the growing process there, and generally spent a good bit of time on the wine making process. We ended our afternoon getting dropped back off with a couple of hours until our dinner reservations. Dinner was a great pre arranged meal... A wonderful 3 course meal which while we passed on the Michellin star upgrade we were not disappointed at all. The food quality was amazing with great presentation and taste, and then the level of service matched it. Starting on the second day we only had one chateau for the day, which we were spending on the left bank. The tasting experience again included a great detailed tour of the grounds. The biggest surprise of it was that our tasting location got bumped from the usual spot to a section of the barrel room as James Suckling had called 5 minutes before to drop into taste, which at least to us probably made the wines taste a bit better. After a great tasting an informative session we had a good bit of time to squeeze in more sights and lunch before our train departed. Again this was especially informative as John made sure to get us sights of many of the more famous Chateaus, some more unique ones, and other picturesque ones. Lunch to no surprise of ours was again great, in some ways a bit simpler than previous days but still great quality at a great spot. All in all we wouldn't have done it any other way, except for maybe going for 4-5 days instead of 3. Next time we may end up on a more customized itinerary, but being our first in Bordeaux this worked out wonderfully to get a great overview, translate our knowledge of California wine to how it maps to Bordeaux, and know where we can continue to dig in experiencing more of it (including some recommendations on wines, with now plans to follow up and order some from the negotiant we originally tasted with). I can completely see where the self driving option is absolutely feasible if you're tight on the cash, but the guided experience to capture minutes of extra knowledge for us felt completely worth it.

Fantastic tour. Laura was a fabulous guide. We had so much fun learning the St. Emilion culture,…read moretasting beautiful wines, and scrumptious ice cream. Thank you for the memorable experience!

Can I give Bordeaux Wine Trails 10 stars?!…read more If you are looking for an amazing experience wine tasting through Bordeaux, this is the place for you! It's a one of a kind, personal experience that you won't soon forget. Book your tour directly through their website, meet at the Office de Tourisme de Bordeaux roughly 10 minutes before your scheduled tour and then enjoy a magical day of sightseeing, wine tasting and meeting wonderful new people. We were greeted by our phenomenal host, Jon, and he swooped us off on a magical wine-tasting adventure. Jon was so knowledgeable about the region, the wine, and each winemaker - The perfect host! We visited three different different wineries - each one was different from the last but each spectacular in their own way - and we stopped to explore the cutest little town and enjoy a fab glass of Champagne. During the stop at our second winery, we were provided a delicious picnic lunch {a charcuterie board, veggie quiche, fresh salad and panna cotta for dessert} - The setup allowed us to sit together, get to know the group and gain some new friends. We now have some new favorite wines! Don't sit on this amazing tour - The best way to spend the day in Bordeaux! Thank you, Jon for a beyond wonderful day!

Fredric our guide is exceptional. He grew up in the region and knows all the people. Due to his…read morepersonal connections our tour was amazing. He is knowledgeable, responsible and friendly with a great sense of humor.

We had the absolute best time touring Bordeaux and St. Emilion with Frederic. He picked us up, took…read morecare of every detail, shared his wealth of knowledge and was such a fun and charming guide. The location for our lunch was simply magical and added to an already perfect day! We really couldn't have been happier and are looking forward to coming back to tour more wineries with Frederic and Rendez-vous Chateau Tours! Could not recommend Rendez-vous Chateau tours more!

Excellent wine tour. Our guide was both friendly and knowledgeable. Took us everywhere we wanted to…read morego in the Medoc region, including the famous Chateau Margaux! He knew interesting history, facts, and information of France and the Bordeaux region. Highly recommended!

Bordeaux is composed of five elements: wine, lingerie, macarons, caneles, and tea shops. For wine,…read morethe brilliantly named Gilbert Tranquille (yes, for real) and his firm Bordeaux Top Growth is the one to go for. First of all there are only 8 people on the tour, who are comfortably transported in a brand new air-conditioned minibus. Second, there is Gilbert, who looks/sounds like Barack Obama with a French accent. But looks apart, this guy knows his stuff. Third, and most important, is the tour. We booked the tour in, and set off from, the Tourist Information Office in central Bordeaux, and right away Gilbert was a friendly and engaging host, doing the local history (well) and making everyone feel engaged with a fluent bilingual presentation. We first visited a Premier Grand Cru Classe producer in St. Emilion. The tour of the Chateau was excellent and informative and the tasting superb. We then had a walk around the village, which is worth doing even if you don't like wine. We then indulged in a great 3 course lunch, which was worth the ticket price alone in a nearby village. After lunch the afternoon we first visited a lovely Chateau in Pomerol and another in Fronsac, both with lovely wines. Out at nine am, back at six pm, super-great value and a fun and informative day out. This is the must do tour.

Great small tour with a group of 6 people in total to the wineries in the St Emilion area. The…read moredriver was great and spoke very good English. He was funny and provided us with lots of information about the area and wineries. Definitely would recommend this tour company. We visited 3 wineries in total with lunch in the cute medieval village of St Emilion. The pickup point is at the tourist office in Bordeaux by the Theater/Opera and Intercontinental Hotel. Great central pickup point.

We thoroughly enjoyed our half-day trip to Saint Emillion with Ugo as our tour guide. He drove us…read morein a Mercedes van with another couple and a party of 3. The drive from Bordeaux to Saint Emilion is about 40 minutes and Ugo was very conversational and helpful. I see other reviews saying this trip was too short. It is true, you only get about 20 min to explore the little village of Saint Emilion after drive and the wine tasting at the Chateau. The tour does say half-day trip and within the half day we got a lot done! We tasted five wines from the region and we took two home back with us to LA! Ugo gives 110% to his job and we learned a lot from him and appreciated his suggestions. I would definitely book with Orphous again and would be delighted to have Ugo as our guide.

The wife and I share a love of food and wine. Together, we've discovered an appreciation for…read moreBordeaux. So, it was a no-brainer when planning our honeymoon to spend it in Bordeaux to learn about and experience some great wines as well as great food. After doing a lot of research, the Bordeaux Wine Experience rose to the top of our list of Bordeaux tour companies. All of our pre-decisional interactions with the company were via email and our many questions were answered promptly and thoroughly. We decided on the Bordeaux Wine Experience since it offered a thoughtfully curated, all-inclusive tour of the region, and the best opportunity to taste the widest selection of wines from the region's most acclaimed châteaux. One of the other big selling points for us was that each tour group was limited in size (only 13 people were in our group) making it a more personal, intimate experience. The Bordeaux Wine Experience offers several different tours of different type and duration throughout the course of a year, but we opted for the Grand Tour of Bordeaux, a 6-day, 5-night tour in late summer right before harvest. Our tour included... - Accommodations in a beautiful 18th Century château - Most meals (all but one) were included, some of which were gourmet meals at three Bordeaux châteaux and one at a Michelin-starred restaurant - Ground transportation to/from all châteaux in a luxury tour bus - Tours and tastings at 10 Classified Growth châteaux - Friendly, experienced, and knowledgeable host/guide fluent in English, French, Dutch, and probably a few other languages. I cannot say enough good things about our time on our Bordeaux Wine Experience. Our fellow group members (surprisingly our group was made up entirely by Americans) were fun, friendly, and passionate about wine. Our host/guide, Ronald Rens and his lovely wife, Margaret, displayed exceptional hospitality, welcoming us into their beautiful château. Ronald was thoroughly knowledgeable on Bordeaux and an expert guide for the tour. Full of "insider" information, he kept it interesting while imparting his knowledge and anecdotes in a fun, good-natured manner. We received unparalleled access to Classified Growth châteaux like Lafite Rothschild, Haut-Brion, d'Yquem, Angelus and others with opportunities to taste a variety of their wines from the best vintages. In a couple of instances, the actual château owner gave us our tours. Very cool! Apart from the tours and tastings at the various châteaux, the food we had throughout our stay was outstanding. Grand Cru wines were served with every meal except breakfast (I know...crazy!). Our group's "Farewell Dinner" was a delicious gourmet meal prepared by a professional chef at the château that paled in comparison to the amazing wines that were served at the dinner such as an '94 Latour, '01 Margaux, '01 Mouton Rothschild, and a '95 d'Yquem. I think it's safe to say that on that particular night, no one in the world sat down for dinner and was served that lineup of wines. In truth, the Bordeaux Wine Experience and the particular tour we chose are not for everyone. It was a pricey experience. If you don't love wine and aren't interested in learning more about the wines of the Bordeaux region, how it's made, and what makes it special, then the price will likely be a non-starter. However, I found it money well spent. I learned so much about Bordeaux wines and gained a much deeper, profound appreciation for them. I will never look at a restaurant wine list or wine shop quite the same way! If you love wines and want an EXPERIENCE, then I highly recommend the Bordeaux Wine Experience as your only choice!

This has been a wonderful experience. The chateau and the hosts Ron and Margaret are the best! I…read morehave enjoyed the week with the history of Bordeaux and visiting many of the classified growths. I'm not really sure I could say it any better than my husband has said it. Suffice it to say that Ronald and Margaret are the best! I could not have asked for a better place to spend our honeymoon, or my birthday. They have multiple tours, something for everyone (wine, cooking, both). I promise you will not be disappointed.