Winerist Reviews 

A stunning experience. Cannot recommend Winerist highly enough.

We booked a cooking class in Puglia through Winerist with Mama Anna. To be clear, Anna and her family were warm and hospitable. The food we cooked was tasty and the day was nice. We enjoyed our time with Anna and her family and learning how to make different shapes of pasta. However, for the price, I don't feel the value was there. We have taken cooking classes with professional chefs for quite a bit less money and much more of an educational value. The class was less instructional than helping Anna and her family out in the kitchen. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding on our part on what to expect. We were hoping for something quite a bit more instructional - a more formal cooking class. We also would have liked to have gone home with pre-prepared recipes. As it was Sunday, the markets were not open, so we did not get to partake in that part of the class, which is normally included. We did go to another of Anna's properties and pick figs, but didn't end up making anything with them, which was a bit disappointing. Overall, it was a nice day, but just not exactly what we had been expecting and thus, not the value we had anticipated.

The half day private bike tour we took in October was very nice. Our guide, Michele, runs a small operation and works hard to cater to the groups needs and abilities. He met us near our B&B in San Gimignano instead of us driving somewhere else and he had a nice route and E-bikes available which was a must on the hilly countryside. We took time to stop along the way to ask questions and finished at a family owned winery near San Gimignano. I would highly recommend Michele’s company thru Winerist. They obviously do a careful job vetting their suppliers.

Hi. We booked the 'South of Tuscany' wine tour. It included 2 visits to Tuscan wineries, a quick stop off in Pienza and a 'pairing lunch' in a third winery in Montepulciano. The pick up, driver and vehicle were all splendid and were very well looked after by our driver. He was excellent. We were collected at 8am. The first winery we visited - Castello Tricherchi was everything we wished to see. A castle built in 1441 with wonderful views, an interesting history and an informative and charming tour guide in Giovanni. At the end we were given a price list and, if interested, we could order wine. Our second winery was a different matter. Modern & a less charming, our guide basically recited a script, gave us wines to taste & pushed the sales side of things. OK but not that interesting. After a brief stop at the beautiful hill town of Pienza we were looking forward to our 'pairing lunch' in Montepulciano. Finally, six and a half hours after setting out the pairing lunch consisted of bread and oil, bread with tomato paste, some slices of chorizo and a small square of cake. We were given wine to taste with these - but it was hardly a 'pairing'! We were then handed a price list of the wines we had tasted. Whilst I accept that the wineries need to sell their wine to tourists, at the second and third visits we felt it was all that was important. And the 'lunch' was appalling! Especially as we had all been on the road for so long and were looking forward to eating! It would have made much more sense if, in the itinerary, we had been given 'free time in Pienza' instead of the 'pairing lunch'. We could then have sorted our own lunch and gone on the have a third tasting. Basically, what I'm saying is - it wasn't good value for money - and the final visit was a waste of time.

My 2 friends and I had a wonderful time on a full day tour of the Douro Valley. We visited 2 wineries a medieval village had a lovely lunch at one of the wineries and an enjoyable boat ride on the river. Our tour guide was Miguel, who was personable and knowledgeable. The only improvement I would have appreciated was if I would have had email response in advance of the trip as to our meeting location. I emailed twice and only when I was in country and called did I get the information needed. Other than that it was great!

The tour was fabulous and very much enjoyed the whole leaning experience. Our presenter Mara spoke excellent English and her explanations were clear and concise.
My only regret is nothing to do with the tour.
I sent several emails to Winerist about other tours and never received a reply.

My flight was cancelled to Rome and I was so afraid that my tour at Avignonesi would be ruined. Thankfully, the tour guide rescheduled me and everything worked out wonderfully! The translator was gracious and attentive, the falcon trainers were experts in the history of their craft, the vineyard was stunning, the wine was potent and the lunch was out of this world. I traveled solo but I met some really great people on this tour. Tuns of fun and a totally unforgettable experience.

Valentina was an excellent guide, very good knowledge, interested and a passion for her country and the surroundings. She is our hero!

Booking with Winerist was great, tour was just okay. Beautiful boat ride that should have ended in Regua rather than going on to Pinhao, which added quite a bit of time to tour - mostly sitting at Regua waiting for people to get on and off boat. Once in Pinhao, transferred to bus to visit a vineyard where we got a very brief (maybe 10 mins) info speech and then quick stop in store area of vineyard where we were served a glass of port with maybe 3 sips in it, no explanation of what we were sampling, and back on bus for 2 hour ride back to Porto. Would recommend doing cruise to Regua and taking train back to Porto which I heard is beautiful. Only did longer cruise for vineyard visit which was totally underwhelming!!

Catherine helped us create a custom tour with an amazing guide in Rioja, Spain. This tour ended up being much better than we could have imagined! We learned so much and everyone we met along the way was so helpful and interesting to talk to. We will always have special memories from this day.

Patricia was a fantastic tour guide and driver for our visit to the Duoro Valley in Portugal. It was a small tour with about 8 people so you got to know everyone just a little bit, which added to the fun. She was extremely knowledgeable about the food and wine and Portuguese culture and was a very skilled driver (which is necessary when navigating the tight, twisty, terraced roads in the Douro). She plotted a very fun itinerary involving tours and tasting at a major Port producer, lunch at a pretty traditional Portuguese restaurant which was simple but excellent, and then tasting and an opportunity to stomp grapes at a smaller winery. But I think Patricia’s knowledge, fun personality, and ability to create a cohesive group experience was a critical part of what made this so much fun. Worth every penny, a total A+.

Tour guide George was very knowledgeable, patient and helpful. They even arranged a special pick up location for me. Beautiful tour, nice lunch and good tastings.

It sounds like Antonio is as hard a worker for others as he was for us!
I’ll add to Rebecca’s review of her day...

António our guide was wonderful, very knowledgeable and had a great personality.
RebeccaBarba dot com

But I’ll add that our goal was an authentic Portuguese experience whether at one winery or many. Antonio took us to Enoteca - Quinta da Avessada where we picked, stomped, ate, then drank the muscatel grapes under the direction of Oeneologist Jose (who was also great... great humor, knowledge, patience with my technique, passion, and relatability).

I wouldn’t want anyone to visit Douro without an experience like this, and would contrast it to the large groups we saw coming and going around us. We had time to sing, dance, pet the dogs, play guitar, and feel the magic of the experience.

Our goals were 100% met and I loved working with Celine, Antonio, and Jose in the planning and ranked #1 experience of our 9 days in Portugal!

Thanks Winerist!

The guide was very good. However the tour was disappointing. The two Château we visited were ordinary, and wine pours were hardly a few sips. Felt like a rip off.
We were also rushed for the tour of the village of St.Emillon, we just looked at it from top of the hill.
I would not recommend this trip for serious wine lovers.

Great harvest trip to the Douro Valley. Our guide Miguel explained everything to us so we understood. We were picked up at our hotel driven to a winery where we picked grapes, stomped grapes and had a wonderful lunch with all the wine you could drink. The awesome scenery was photographed many times the Valley is amazing. Would recommend to anyone.

While this tour is promoted as a small group tour, in reality the bus group is up to 24, and at each winery there is one group tasting for multiple buses (so the tasting is presented to 50+ people!) The destination and inclusions were fine but if you’re looking for a more personalised experience, then this isn’t the one you need.

I booked the Madrid tapas tour and it was excellent. It was a Monday night & I was worried I would be the only person attending. But there were 20 of us at least which made for a lovely evening. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and was determined to give us info on the local food and wines. The tapas were incredible - belly pork, calamares, gambas in garlic butter, tastas with aubergine. Delicious. 100% recommend this Madrid Tapas and wine tour.

Perfect way to spend a few hours cycling through the vineyards of St. Emilion. The electric bikes made it a breeze and the scenery and views were stunning. Fabricio made the tour both fun and interesting for everyone and to finish it all off the picnic lunch in the gardens of the vineyard was plentiful and delicious.

Helio led an amazing half-day tour of the Duoro River Valley. The tour was exactly as described, but the experience was so much more. We visited two family-owned wineries, one of which also produced olive oil; stopped to admire views of the valley; relaxed on a river cruise; and enjoyed a family-style lunch. Helio made sure that everyone in the group was introduced and encouraged conversation among the group. Helio went above and beyond mere "tour guide" when he went back to the top of the mountain to pick up the purse that I put down and completely forgot during our photo shoot without complaint! (Yes, I was that person!)