subject: Wine Tours: What Goes On And What To Expect [print this page] Ever wondered what goes on at private wine tours? Youve heard about them: Sonoma private wine tours, Napa Valley wine tours, Napa Valley wine country tours, wine country tours from San Francisco, but do you really have an idea how a day goes by during these tours? Is there really that much to talk about and see when it comes to wines? Let us take a closer look at these wine tours.
When you participate in any wine tour, you can expect for the scenery to be really amazing! Fresh air, a laid back kind of lifestyle, and yes, different wines that you can taste and buy. Your wine tour experience can vary depending on the region and winery you visit, but scenes described above are the staples of the tour.
If you go for wine tours in Napa Valley, for example, this region has a lot of wineries with very sophisticated facilities and programs for visitors. In contrast, other regions where smaller wineries are found have a simple, meet-and-greet visitors program with a more down-home approach. These are two very different tours, but for sure both experiences can be pleasant and a beautiful experience.
When planning your participation in a wine tour, be sure to check with the organizers since hours and procedures may vary. There are even some wineries who do not take in walk-in visitors. So make sure that you schedule an appointment for a visit before you start planning anything. For bigger wineries, there can be a regular schedule of tours, so its best to call them up and arrive when a new tour is just about to start. This way you dont miss out on programs that are included in the tour.
So, what can you see during a wine tour? Well, wine tours are basically a behind-the-scenes experience of what goes on at wineries. You can expect to see how wine is made and what different processes and equipment the particular winery uses in making their wines. Participants or visitors usually gather first at the vineyards of the winery, where they see the magnificent rows of grapes being nurtured for that perfect batch of wines. You can see grape growers and how they harvest the ripe grapes.
As you are walked through the winerys facilities, there is a wine expert who has the know-how about their wine processing methods. He or she will tell you about the internal part of the winery and the step-by-step process how they make their wines. These steps include grape crushing or pressing, fermentation vessels used in fermentation, bottling, corks, and labels just to name a few.
There is, of course, the question-and answer portion of the tour, where visitors can find out more about specific details about wine making and different wine products.
Overall, a tour can last for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the number of questions the tour guide is willing to take and this is what you pretty much see in all wine tours. And remember, wine making is a very complicated thing, so you will surely need more than one wine tour to have a deeper understanding about it.
