Ron was amazing the entire day! He was so thoughtful ... escorting us in to each winery, staying…read morewith us to ensure we were being taken care of, carrying our wine out for us, keeping our wine organized, he had stickers for each bottle to ensure that at the end of the day we took home our own wine. He had excellent suggestions for the wineries we attended and for our lunch choices. I cannot say enough about Ron and the lovely experience we had working with him.

Ron! What can we say... What a pleasure to meet you and share stories of traveling (NZ). Your…read morehospitality and knowledge made our day. And lunch at Hillside was a highlight. Top notch tour!!

I have done these types of touring in Kelowna and Osoyoos a few times - you should know, I am not a…read morewine snob. This was my first time in the Penticton / Summerland area. I absolutely recommend Grape Escapes and would give Dino a 6th star if I could. They packed a picnic for us (it was my gf and i), got to taste wines with chocolates, etc. Very knowledgeable, you can immediately tell he is well liked and respected by the wineries. Lots of knowledge about wine but also the history behind each winery. So if you are a newbie like me, or a sophisticated wine conoceour, I am confident you will still learning thing or two, and have a great time It was a great weekend. Thank you Dino!

Had a fantastic day wine tasting with Rod as our guide. We had a wonderful and diverse selection of…read morewineries and Rod was a great guide, seamlessly ensuring that we each were well looked after and also safe. With a very nice lunch included, this was an amazing deal. Can't recommend highly enough and with the huge number of wineries in the area, we will definitely book another tour with Grape Escapes.

Unfortunately, I must leave a low rating because wheelchair accessibility was very poor…read more The guide was exceptional and so apologetic. But, this was a teaching moment for her as this was her first time locking in and securing a wheelchair properly on the shuttle. For some of the trips between wineries, I had to hang-on to my seatbelt that was attached to the floor in order to avoid tipping over in my chair. The first trip, I had to have my partner ( who has a very bad back) bend over and hang on-to the rigid frame chair to prevent me from falling forward or backwards. The bus ride was very, very, hot due to the air conditioning vent being at the back of the bus avoiding the designated wheelchair spot altogether. Overheating with a spinal cord injury can require emergency medical assistance because people cannot regulate their temperature. All of these issues should must be rectified as soon as possible especially as you are advertising as a wheelchair accessible shuttle service. Drivers should, at the very least, have practical experience, and extensive training for assisting people with disabilities in a wheelchair...and for this reason only, my review is a 2 out of 5 stars. This is unfortunate because everything else about the tour was exceptional, and all of the wineries had accessible ramps and washrooms. The Okanagan Wine region definitely does not disappoint! I just wish I could have relaxed on the excursion and felt comfortable and safe. Regretfully, Derek Moxam

First time in Kelowna, this was a gift to my partner for his birthday! Worth every penny!…read more Judy was our driver/tour guide, and she was excellent. Knowledgable, funny and the woman knows her wine! Went to 4 different winery's plus lunch. A total of almost 6 hours start to finish. I would absolutely recommend this tour for anyone who, like us, loves wine tasting and doesn't want the hassle of driving.

There is a reason why this wine tour is so much cheaper than the others online…read more I went with a friend on August 27th, 2017. 2 pm start with the pickup from the holiday inn express kelowna. The driver was great but we feel as though paying $60 each was not worth the tour and heres why: The wineries they choose: 1) The view winery (which also made us wait a substantial amount of time) only let us sample a portion of their wines. Others around us, and there was 5 stations to observe, were given 3 more wines to taste and their in house ciders which we were not offered. 2) Meadow vista, although unique was limited in scope of their wines. 3) Kitsch vineyard only had 3 whites for sampling. Our host had known this fact and told us this. In the case of kitsch winery, we feel as though either we should have been taken to another winery as compensation, or altogether been taken to another winery as offered on your website. The van didn't have any air conditioning and it was 33 degrees out.

Great experience with the Coconut Express Wine tour. We booked a private van for 8 of us... Fits…read more14. The value of the wine tour was incredible. Visited 8 wineries in 4 hours and went to amazing places that had tasting fees waved. The service was awesome. All the staff members were extremely nice and informative. I HIGHLY recommend Coconut Express while touring the okanagan vinyards!

Absolutely an amazing service. If you're looking for an amazing day around wine country, don't…read morethink twice, book them. Extremely professional, helpful, super responsive and they never hesitate to go out of their way to make sure you're looked after and have a special day. As a customer (and a small business owner myself), I can't recommend them enough.

WHAT AN AWESOME TIME!…read more Our friend booked this (party for six) and the bus picked us up from our resort (Playa Del Sol) at 10:45am. We proceeded to pick up another group of nine girls for a stagette party from another resort. Caleb was our driver and not only was he SUPER friendly, he was EXTREMELY informative and made great recommendations (Hello? We brought home six bottles of ice wine!) on wine (especially what was available in local liquor stores or not). We stopped at three wineries: Rollingdale, Indigenious, and Quail's Gate. We then dropped the stag party off at the boat while we went to Kalala Winery to try their 2016 Award Winning Icewine (luckily they had some in stock for us to take home!). We then drove down to the docks and switched places with the stag party and hopped on the boat with 'Nice-To-Look-At-Nick' for a stroll down the lake for a nice dip. It was really refreshing after a long day of wine tasting. Life vests were provided for us non-strong (read here: drunk) swimmers that wanted to jump in but didn't trust our alcoholic instincts. The water was fantastic! Nick was a great host as well. We arrived back at our hotel around 5:45pm so a full day! This was a great trip. I enjoyed, not only the wine tasting, but everything I learned from Caleb, a superb guide and our boat ride and swim with easy-going Nick. Very hospitable and such a great time! Highly recommended!

What a nice tasting experience. Winery has a long history of wines brought from Europe. Shelly was…read morefantastic. Great conversation and interesting wines. There are mostly white wines but some reds. The Malbec lost buoy was my favorite.

Storytime! My…read morefriends at I were on a wine journey through the Okanagan, second day. Third for me, first for them, and we were on our return trip back to Penticton after just catching Blasted Church before they closed when we discovered one solitary winery in the region was open after 5:30 pm. In fact, even though it might have since changed, Crescent Hill Winery was on this day open until 7. That's amazing, and wise given that it corners the market as people return to their hotels after a long day of drinking. So, with literally no other options, we drove for Crescent Hill. I didn't claim it would be long, interesting, or even necessary story. Still better than Armageddon. This exuberant recommendation of an unembroidered hidden gem does come with a few caveats. The first is that as wineries go, Crescent Hill appears on par with those GMC Vandura Cargo Vans with the words "Free Candy" lazily sprayed on. Seems legit. There is actual garbage fringing the narrow lane down the hill to the limited parking. Even the sign indicating we had not missed the location was a makeshift board with the words "winery" scrawled across it. As I turned in, my friends thought we were about the drive into a Tobe Hooper film. There's no flamboyance to the location; it's all about function. I'll also supplement that by saying renovations were underway and the finished product will probably be more personable. Darn. I kinda liked the ramshackle, like visiting your uncle's moonshine operation...or so I'm told. The walls inside the cozy tasting room were unfinished. The bathroom sported a forsaken toilet surrounded by boxes, dust, and total lack of other facilities. This is not a place you go to celebrate a graduation or a recent breakup. You go in because of the reputation of the wine maker and for a truly personal exchange with said individual. These are the locations I look forward to, where all the elegance is stripped away, leaving only the truly important elements of a wine tour--drinking good wine and talking about that wine to who made it. The owner was delightful and knowledgeable, captivating us far past the moment where he made the sale. The bottles are simple yet surprisingly attractive. It's what's inside that...wait, I just said that? Okay, firstly, a lesson in life, that's not true, though it is here, especially with my two favorite bottles, Consensual Chaos, and Hissy Fit. Amazing names, right? You were just thinking, wow, what do those taste like? They taste like wine, seriously, what else would they taste like? Someone asked me what hints I picked up, the faintest soupçon of a possible vegetable perhaps, or the odd flutter of a good cheese. I responded flippantly by saying it had a winey flavor to it. It's good wine. One was a blush, the other a rose, though I thought those were the same thing. Even if you had better wineries at the time to go to, eventually, Crescent Hill will eventually be the only one left, so you might as well visit. You may end up buying something. In fact, odds are you probably will. And despite appearances, you won't require a tetanus shot.

We came here after seeing the winery on the Kettle Valley Train ride…read more It was very busy. You had to pre buy your wine tasting before entering the tasting room, however tasting was only $6 so not bad. We got to taste 5 wines and there were a lot of choices for white wine. We tasted a few that we liked and we all left with 2 bottles a piece. The young man who did our tasting was great and told us a lot about the wine. The lady who cashed us out was wonderful, friendly and told us about their wine points and we got $5 off our purchase for signing up. Great wine, just a bit busy and touristy for me.

We reserved for 10. Everyone ordered separately. One couple got theirs, then close to 45 mins the…read morerest got theirs.. Thats far too long to wait. Our chicken bourbon pizza had no sauce on the crust. The arugula salad is delicious! It will be a while till we are back & we are locals. Our clean up girl suggested we put the order on one bill then we would have to try to split which is a pain.

We had a great time on the West Kelowna half day tour. Right from the start there was great…read morecommunication from owner Nick. He answered all my questions and definitely appreciated our business. No Vax pass required now that the mandate has dropped. AJ our tour guide called me the day of to touch base and remind me of where and when we would be picked up at our hotel. An was right on time. We were a group of 4 with my 80yr old father joining us. Not only did AJ open and close the van doors, he made sure that my father got in and out of the van safely and securely. I really appreciated the extra care. We visited 4 wineries - The Hatch was by far our favourite. AJ carried our bought wine, carried them back to the van and even was our photographer! At the end of the tour AJ dropped us at a restaurant that was on our way back to the hotel and then offered to deliver our wine back to our hotel. Definitely above and beyond! Thank you AJ and wicked wine tours. You will definitely be our next choice the next time we are in town. Highly recommend!

We went with Danny, what a good time! I highly recommend this tour, Danny was super hospitable and…read morecool to hang out with. He was very informative and knew a lot about the local wine game. Danny was also well liked amongst the winemakers and people presenting the wines. It was super fun and a very very good time. Thank you sooo much! Ps: we purchased many good wines.

My girlfriends stagette in penticton was made amazing because of Nicholas Kruger he took all my…read moregirls to the river in his bus that was clean and comfortable with ac and heat for when we got out of the water and gave us amazing recommendations for meals and dancing , his rates are really fare and his music on the bus was awesome

The company we originally planned on booking through was unavailable and recommended conneseiur…read morewine tours. Horrible decision. First off, when we confirmed our booking about a week before our trip nick (owner) let us know that he hadn't entered us in the system by mistake but would make sure we had a bus available on the date we were requesting. Second, we booked the bus for 9:45 to leave by 10. The bus didn't show up until 10:45 because the driver went to the wrong resort based on an email that was sent back in February. The confirmation email that was sent a week prior to the trip with the correct address was ignored. Because of this, our entire day was shifted. We were rushed around and the driver seemed to be in a hurry to get us home by the original time of 6pm rather than extending it to make up for being late. The driver was speeding in extremely treacherous road conditions, and suggested that we skip a winery in order to accommodate for us being late....and wouldn't put music on for the ride. On top of all this, nick was absolutely awful to deal with. He told us the mistake was our fault for telling him we were staying in kelowna when la casa resort was actually not "technically" in kelowna (as non locals we had no idea - the address is in kelowna) and said "we would not be getting a dime back" We will be lodging a complaint with the better business bureau and disputing this charge. Absolutely horrible customer service.

Neither my fiance nor myself knew anything about wine, the only things we did know were the few…read morefacts from watching crash course videos on Youtube a couple days before our mini honeymoon trip so we didn't really know what to expect, but even with the immense lack of information on what we might like, Grape Friends gave us the best wine tour we could've asked for. We got driven around four different wineries in the Naramata region because a coworker had suggested we try chef Bongo's cooking (chef Bongo was a partner at the Naramata Heritage Inn, but started his own restaurant just down the road: Village Grounds - Cafe & Bistro). Karen started us with Lang Vineyards, got us to try wines from the most established vines in the region, the experience was delicious, the view was amazing, and the service was awesome. We got the maple dessert wine but truly regretted later for not getting the sparkling rose. Next was Mocojo Wines, again, amazing view and great wines, but what stuck out was the story about this winery, the design of their label and the name, definitely a must go winery! Throughout the tour, Karen made sure to check up on us, give us some tips on how we can enjoy the tastings and find out what we like, without the pressure of "you must buy something". In the end, I went from knowing nothing about wine to discovering that I'm a Riesling person and just because I think I'll like the fruit wines, doesn't mean I'll be able to find that perfect wine at an orchard winery. We'll definitely be back for more Grape Friends tours and you won't regret joining them!

My husband and I had a great day with Karen on our wine tour in Naramata this spring…read more I'm been on a few wine tours in several regions/countries and Grape Friends was probably the most informative and fun tour thus far. I've only ever learned more from a sommelier lead tasting class focused more on pairings and the idea behind those are very different anyway. Karen's primary rule is to have fun and that's what she does so it would appeal to all experiences and interest levels. She wants to keep wine accessible and snobby free but still had me learning new things even though I've been around the snobbery and don't mind that either. We had a picnic lunch which was well worth it and highly recommended. Lots of fresh food, cheeses, meats, veggies and fruit and we were told to play with flavors and combinations. I would choose this over a winery lunch and do a winery lunch on my own a different day when I have some time to spend hanging out as the wineries don't seem to be in a hurry in this region at all. We ended up liking the wine a lot more than planned and bought a lot more than we ever expected to which is probably good and bad. Ha. We did the dinner drop off and pickup after which was also great. Karen handled the reservation for us and everything and we just called when we were done. It was nice to not have to worry about getting dinner after being out drinking and then getting home after. Also, we didn't have to get dropped off at our room with our haul of wine and then do a cab both ways either. We learned that summerland and naramata have different soil and it would be interesting to contrast the two areas in two separate days one after another (like a couple ladies on our tour were doing). Karen also says she can arrange behind the scenes tours which I did in Italy and really enjoyed and would love to do again at some point. So, basically we have a lot of wine to drink but when that goes away we'll have to visit again. Over all highly recommended and worth the price as it's more than just a driving service.