We took the 9 hour tour that visited the village of Saint-Emilion and a wine tasting in the town, Chateau 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). read more

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My friend and I did the Saint-Emilion Small Group Day Tour with Wine Tastings & Lunch. Our fabulous tour 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. read more

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Great day out in the countryside! Started off at the Bordeaux office at 830. Coffee to start and met with Scott, our guide for the day. Rugby player turned would be winemaker. 30 minute drive to Saint Emilion to join the rest of the group. Lovely ride and the electric boost does help negotiating hills and speeding along the roads!. The medieval St Emilion was gorgeous. It's a long day so make sure to wear sensible shoes, bring your own sunblock and water bottle to fill up along the way. Recommended read more

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I knew that my wife and I wanted to do some type of wine tour during our time in Bordeaux, and Rustic Vines got some really good reviews on TripAdvisor, so I booked their E-bike Tour in Saint Emillion, and we couldn't have been happier with the experience. We started out the day at their small office in Bordeaux where we met up with the three other couples that would be joining us. Everyone got acquainted and then shortly took off in our tour van with our guide Thomas. It took us a little under an hour to get to Saint Emillion, but Thomas did a good job of having everyone introduce themselves and talking about the finer points of winemaking in Bordeaux, to make the time fly by. We then arrived to the Rustic Vines office in Saint Emillion where we were given our E-bikes. The E-bikes were very powerful and easy to ride, making the journey a lot easier on the legs and lungs. Riding through the backroads of Saint Emillion was a beautiful and picturesque way to experience the area. As we arrived at our first winery, we ran into a little hiccup, as the place was closed. Thomas explained that they are always open at this time, but that he would get right on it and book us with another winery. After some time on the phone, we headed off again and ended up at the beautiful Chateau St. George. We had a tour with the winery, a tasting, and then enjoyed a lunch right in front of the chateau. I think we actually lucked out by getting Chateau St. George as our "second choice". After departing from Chateau St. George, we then headed to Chateau Cadet Bon for a quick tour. After that tour, we headed back to Saint Emillion's town center, dropped off our bikes, and walked to a wine shop called 'Wine Not...', for a tasting of the Cadet Bon wines, along with others. Once we were full of wine again, we did a tour of the historic town of Saint Emillion, including the famous Monolithic Church. Once we concluded this final leg of our tour, we all jumped in the van and headed back to Bordeaux. We don't do many tours when we travel, but my wife and I agreed that this was the best one we had done by far. I would recommend this tour to anyone that has a day to spend for a Bordeaux wine experience like no other. Big thanks to Thomas and Rustic Vines for the great experience! read more

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We had an amazing tour with Rustic Vines and Thomas as our guide. We were a large group of 14 and booked a van for our tour. Thomas took us to two amazing Chateaus and St. Emilion. All were amazing. The lunch provided was local and delicious!! The van was new, comfortable and had AC (it was warm out!). Thomas was very knowledgeable and his love of wine and the area was evident. I would very highly recommend Rustic Vines and the tour we did to anyone in the area. We shopped around a bit and looked at both price and reviews. Rustic Vines was not the least expensive, but with only a few days in the area we wanted to make the most of it and we believe we did! read more

Rustic Vines - Wine Tours Near Me - Bordeaux, 86

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I had my heart set on the half-day tour. 1. It was raining and no one contacted me about the weather. 2. I missed the train and there were strikes, delays all across the line. No direct train to where I'm going either. I thought I could get an Uber since Saint Emilion is 45 min away but no Uber would take me. I called with about an hour to go, telling them I could not get transportation anywhere and no one offered me a ride or helped call a taxi which sucks. I was offered a tour the following day but I had already made plans. In all honesty, this tour should not expect people who speak English to arrange their own transportation when it's so difficult to communicate. This is why I arranged a tour in the first place. It's unacceptable and I can't recommend this tour for anyone now. The instructions for how to get to the tour were severely lacking. I would not book the half-day tour or I would definitely arrange a stay in Saint Emilion. read more

Another fun e-bike ride, this time to St Emilion. Julie was a great tour guide and provided a delicious lunch too. We visited 2 Chateaus and sampled more wine at a wine merchant in the village. Although it rained for a short while, it did not interfere with the fun we had! read more

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We booked the half day electric bike vineyard tour in St.Emillion upon a recommendation from a coworker. Our tour guide was very sweet and knowledgeable. We had a little hiccup in the beginning when someone had a flat tire and their chain came off. That set us back a bit but were were on vacation so it didn't matter! The countryside is absolutely breathtaking and the electric bikes are basically a must for getting up some of those hills. We had a tasting and outdoor picnic at one Chateau and then got a tour of the town. We ended with a wine tasting of one of the wine shops. I learned a lot of the tour and now do all the tests every time I'm trying new wines! I'd definitely recommend this tour to anyone in the Bordeux region. The only thing I'd note is it's surprisingly difficult to get to saint Emilion, as the trains leave at very particular times. But if you can split a cab with a few people it helps! read more

Rustic Vines - Wine Tours Near Me - Bordeaux, 86

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We had a great time with Rustic Vines. It was easy to book the tours online from the US they were quick and responsive in their communication. The office/meeting point was easy to find once we arrived in the city of Bordeaux. We went on two separate tours as we wanted to experience wineries from both the left and right banks. We visited chateaus and wine shops in both Medoc and St. Emilion and learned a lot about French wine. Our guides, Lauren and Aline, were fun and knowledgeable. The bicycle tour was especially gorgeous and fun. What a great way to see the phenomenally beautiful French wine region of Bordeaux. It was a hot day but the electric bikes made the ride easy. We've been to many wine regions and wineries around the world and this area did not disappoint. read more

My mother and I went on this tour not expecting much. We were with an older couple so it was quite intimate. As we entered the location we were met with free coffee and baked goods! (awesome if you're in a pinch for breakfast) As someone who didn't know much about wine and everything surrounding wine, I truly learned a lot, mainly from Alan, one of Rustic Vine's tour guides, rather than from the guides at the chateaux. Not only that, I really felt as if he was a friend of mine that I had known for a while. We exchanged lots of laughs and knowledge, and on top of that, the lunch he made for us was fantastic. I now feel like I have a better understanding of wine and have also developed my palate and nose a bit more. Additionally, I learned that each [Napoleon] tour visits different chateauxs. On our tour we visited two. The first one we went to was one owned by a large corporation, and the guide spoke better english which led to more understanding. The other was a smaller, perhaps family owned chateaux and wasn't as appealing as the first one. Maybe that's just my taste but perhaps I'd recommend Rustic Vines to visit a chateaux that's larger with a great supplementary guide, followed by a smaller chateaux since their guide and infrastructure may not be as awe inspiring. IF I visited two smaller, lesser quality(?) chateaux's, I may not have enjoyed it as much. Tasting a lot of wine can be tiring somehow, but it was good educational fun I'd recommend to anyone with a day to spare in Bordeaux. Overall, the chateauxs themselves were still awesome and having Alan, a passionate and friendly American lifelong student of enology as our guide made it THAT much better. read more

Myself and 3 friends recently took Rustic Vines' "Famous Monk" tour after discovering it on TripAdvisor. The lengthy itinerary and 95€ price seemed too good to be true, but being on a budget we decided to risk it anyway. We were not disappointed! We arrived to their shop in Bordeaux at about 10 am to a warm welcome, tea and coffee. Our group of 8 fit comfortably into the van and the trip to St. Emilion couldn't have been made any easier. During the course of the day we visited two chateaus, a wine merchant, and had a walking tour of St. Emilion, as promised. The two chateaus were very different, but both stunning and taught us different things about the wine making processes in Bordeaux. The wine merchant was a pleasant stop, the owner was so enthusiastic and was able to provide a more unbiased opinion on the types of wine we were trying. The tour of St. Emilion was also quite fascinating, the mix of Roman and gothic architecture is simply stunning. During our tour we enjoyed delicious sandwiches and salads from a local merchant, all included with our tour. We were back in Bordeaux by 5 pm, quite satisfied with all we had seen that day. Our tour guide Tomas was a wealth of knowledge who took the time to make sure each member of our group got what they wanted out of the tour. He also gave us a number of excellent recommendations for dinner and drinks following the tour. Local spots we certainly wouldn't have found on our own. Very impressed with Rustic Vines and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Bordeaux! read more

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Great, great, great experience! For the price this is an awesome value and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Bordeaux. For 90 euro you get transportation with an in-car history lesson, tour a very nice winery and tasting, tasting at a local store, tour of Saint Emilion, a final tour at a smaller winery and tasting and then a wine/cheese finale at the last stop with a ride back. The guide was a former picker and knows the industry, the people and the product which really adds to the credibility. This made our trip to Bordeaux and I can't think of a better way to soak it all up. Great job Rustic Vines!! read more

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We did the ebike tour and it exceeded all my expectations. The scenery is breath taking the ride on the ebikes is comfortable, the guide, Thomas, was extremely friendly, accommodating and knowledgeable. The wine tasting was interesting and fun~ not boring at all, no pressure to buy wine but most people wanted to anyways. Also, i think it's easier and worth it to book the tour instead of trying to organize everything yourself. I was very pleasantly surprised by how great everything was! read more

My husband and I booked the E-bike tour in Saint Emilion for October 29, 2018. On the day of our tour, the weather changed dramatically to severely cold, so we were thankful to take the tour in a minivan instead. Actually, we were disappointed to not have the warm, sunny weather that had blessed us for days before, as the vineyards and area around St. Emilion was gorgeous and the bikes would have been very special. Even with the change, we thoroughly enjoyed the all day tour and would highly recommend it. The wine maker at Moncet was very interesting and offered a wealth of information. The other stops were equally interesting. We were looking to learn and so we not disappointed there. Our guide was very friendly and also informative. He seemed to know a lot about Saint Emilion and all things wine. He welcomed us and took my many questions happily. The only thing I can say is that if you only have half a day, I think it would still be worth it. We were tired by the end of the tour! In a good way! read more

I took the Napoleon Tour and it lives up to all of the positive reviews! The car, the organization, the tours, the wine, were all excellent. I went as a solo traveler and had a great time. The guide Joan made an effort to get to know us all and foster a good community for the 6+ hours we spent together! Would definitely recommend if you're in Bordeaux for the first time and want to get your moneys worth. read more

We did two tours with Rustic Vines--the Bordeaux bike tour, and the "Famous Monk" which was a 6 hour tour to Saint Emilion. The bike tour was a lot of fun--our guide, Rob, was very passionate about teaching us about the history of Bordeaux and the differences between Bordeaux even a few years ago, and the Bordeaux of today. We went on the 5pm tour during "heritage weekend," which happens in France only once per year and brings droves of people into the cities to visit historical sites (museums, bell towers, etc) that are free and rarely open to the public. Needless to say, biking through this was a bit difficult but Rob managed to guide us through it all successfully. We stopped partway through for some wine, cheese, and meats in a park. The tour did run over by about 30 minutes, which typically is a good thing except we had dinner reservations that evening for my birthday! The next day we went on the wine tour to Saint Emilion, which was hands-down one of the best days of our trip. We have been wine tasting many times (living in California, we have done this in Napa/Sonoma, Paso Robles, and Santa Barbara with regularity), this was probably the best wine tasting experience we have had. We visited two chateaus--one with an older gentleman who was the owner who was so passionate about what he did, you could feel it! He educated us on how to drink wine properly and you could hear how much he wanted to impart the wisdom he had about wine. His wine was also quite tasty. The second chateau was run by a very lively man who did magic tricks for us and was very funny and entertaining. Although he does not directly sell his wine--you have to buy it from a distributor--his wine was delicious. The tour then took us to the town of Saint Emilion, which is adorable! Because it was still heritage weekend, we had access to experiences that are not typical, like visiting an underground church and watching a procession of all the most famous winemakers of the region in celebration. We finished up at a wine shop that was amazing. We got to sample 5-6 different wines and ended up having a case shipped back to the US for 85 Euro. But, because we were not taking it with us in France, we were not subject to the 20% tax which essentially meant the bottles were 20% cheaper--which basically evened out with the shipping! We are so excited to enjoy some very hard-to-find St Emilion wines at home. We had such a blast with Scott, our tour guide. He was friendly, personable, and informative. He kept calm the entire time, even with all the crowds. I highly recommend this group for your tour needs in Bordeaux!! read more

The bike tour was excellent. Matt was a fantastic guide, extremely knowlegable and provided a delicious lunch. He took us to first rate wineries with great tastings. The electric bikes were easy to use and very comfortable. Two us of were not bikers but it was a very easy learning curve. We had great weather and could not ask for a better trip. We highly recommend Rustic Vines! read more

We love this tour ! Tour guide we drive us into st. Emillion was super friendly and pleasant to talk to. Specifically we took the famous monk tour , right off the bat went to a winery and had great reds. Then to the market which had more great wines then walked around the town and had lunch. Highly recommend you get the lunch with them it's inexpensive and helps keep things moving there really isn't anything quick to grab in the market. Went to the last wine tour and the staff there were friendly , literally felt like we were just having these tours with friends ... of course it helps when you have other friendly customers on the tour . Would love to visit again and do another tour ! read more

Had a great day with Rustic Vines. I'll often rent a car when travelling and do my own exploration but this time around I wanted to keep things simple and Rustic Vines made everything easy. Their office is conveniently located in the downtown area and was a breeze to locate via Google Maps. The company vans are spacious, clean and in good shape. The guide was friendly, funny, well informed and spoke great English. It's a short trip into the wine region (30 -45 min) which is a really beautiful area. Our tour group did tours and tastings at 2 Chateaus and a 3rd tasting at a wine merchant in St. Emilion. There was an optional lunch break in St. Emilion after the 2nd tasting. Those who wanted to eat could get a sandwich for 5 euros, it was well worth it and I recommend doing so. After lunch our group went on a quick walking tour of St. Emilion which was a good introduction to the beautiful town. At the end of the day our guide provided a cheese plate and everyone split a bottle of wine. The tours last 5 or 6 hours but the time passes very quickly. All in all it was a fun experience where I met some really great people from other countries. If you want to visit the wine region in Bordeaux, Rustic Vines is a great, stress free way to do so. read more

My friends and I had a great day with Rustic Vines. We started our trip with Thomas to St. Emillion by learning a lot about wines, lots more than we knew. This knowledge helped us when we got there, and helped us enjoy our whole tasting experience. We loved the passion our tour guide had, and that the people had too. Amazing experiences with the best wines too. Thank you for such a great day! read more

one of the best tours we have ever taken. well planned, as advertised and the guide was awesome and even sent us pictures via email the next day. we loved it.... read more