Home > Bordeaux > Bordeaux Vineyards Wine Tasting Half-Day Trip
USD $46.00
Bordeaux Vineyards Wine Tasting Half-Day Trip
Bordeaux, France
Explore the cellars and vineyards of Bordeaux’s wineries on this 5-hour tour, and enjoy tastings along the way. Travel into the countryside outside Bordeaux by air-conditioned coach and hear your guide talk of the area’s winemaking history. With the precise itinerary changing daily, perhaps discover wineries in the Médoc or Saint-Emilion territories. Tour the cellars with a guide and marvel at the row after row of vines disappearing into the distance. Enjoy two tasting sessions on your tour and gain an understanding of the delicate flavors at work.
Leave the hustle and bustle of Bordeaux behind you and travel out into the countryside to discover the vineyards and wineries for which the area is famous. From well-known estates in Saint-Emilion and Sauternes to family-run vineyards across the region, Bordeaux has a fascinating winemaking heritage and a strong reputation for quality. This half-day tour is ideally suited to those keen to discover the Bordeaux wine country but with limited time to spare.
As the views from your coach change from urban city to rural countryside, listen as your guide goes into detail about the area’s winemaking history and traditions. Wine is believed to have been produced in the region from as far back as the 8th century and it’s an industry of which many of the locals are very proud.
The tour visits two different wineries and vineyards every day (except in Saint-Emilion where only one is visited) and each one has something different to offer. Perhaps head to the beautiful Médoc territories to explore the cellars and discover the delicious wines produced there. Meet the winery owner or manager and enjoy a guided tour of the estate. Stroll the rolling hills along row after row of grape-laden vines, and admire the beautiful scenery this part of France has to offer. Enjoy two tastings along the way and gain an appreciation of the delicate fruitiness of the wines produced.
After five hours exploring the Bordeaux wine country and enjoying tastings, your tour will come to an end.
My friend and I booked this tour as it had great reviews, but we were somewhat disappointed by the tour overall.
Review by: Paul W, April 2018
It was good overall but wine tasting in a warehouse could have been better the chap who owned the vineyard was hilarious though!
Review by: Sarah A, March 2018
The guide was very knowledgeable, St Emilion was a beautiful medieval town to visit and learning about the wine making process at the chateaux was interesting. Tasting two wines at the end was a nice wine to finish the tour before heading back to Bordeaux.
Review by: Beth B, March 2018
You need to know that this tour happens on a full-sized coach with a very large group of people. But, that said, the two vineyards we visited in Medoc were both very good quite different from one another, which was a bonus. And we got to see a fair amount of the countryside on the way to and from Medoc. Our guide, Brigitte, was outstanding.
Review by: Lisa C, February 2018
The tour group was too large for it to be enjoyable. It was great to see the chateaus in the Medoc and to stop off at a couple. However because of the size of the group it was difficult to hear what the guides were saying and not enjoyable for someone travelling by themself.
Review by: Suzan T, February 2018
We didn't actually spend a lot of time tasting wine. The proprietor at the vineyard spent more time joking and showing magic tricks to kill time. The tour of the town was nice, but overall we were disappointed with the trip.
Review by: Valeria B, February 2018
Nice wine experience in Bordeaux, wine tasting delightful, I loved that you could choose either French or English guidance, staff was really kind, I wish you could go to more than 2 vineyards and to be allowed to actually go through the vineyards.
Review by: Gemma C, February 2018
Excellent tour. Though it did seem that the guide spent more time talking in French, when there were more wanting to hear the English version only 2 people wanting French compared to around 20 others.
Review by: Ann D, February 2018
Great tour to see some of the Medoc scenery and to get detailed explanations and tastings at two vineyards. Bruno was very informative and talked practically the whole time about what we were seeing and about the history of the Medoc and the wines. Half a day was just the right amount of time.
Review by: Sandor S, January 2018
We were satisfied. This trip provided not more and not less during this half-day trip for such a reasonable price.
Review by: Bellacupake, January 2018
Lovely tour.
Review by: Tatsiana K, December 2017
Very good tour. We visited two wineries. One family-owned and another one owned by a concern. The wine was tasty and the guides at the chateaux were informative. The tour guide was a bit boring to my taste.
Review by: Ian F, November 2017
A great introduction to both the White and Red wines of Bourdeaux. A great look at the traditional Château and beautiful countryside.
Review by: José Ricardo R, November 2017
It was a very nice trip, would be nice to have more time on the vineyards but is totally understandable due to the limited time we had. Anyway, it was a great experience and a nice opportunity to know the 'art of wine' in Bordeaux Nonetheless, maybe more balance between the french and english would be nice, sometimes it seemed the french version was the most profound
Review by: Airn L, November 2017
This was good overall and I liked the guide, but it was with a rather large group. I've been on several small-group tours 4 people and very much prefer those to these big bus tours with a big crowd.
Review by: Andrew B, November 2017
Beautiful scenery, friendly guide, and wonderful wine.
Review by: Wendy J, October 2017
I thought the trip was only fair. The accent of the guide was strong and I had difficulty understanding them. The guide was very cheerful and fun but their presentation could have been more professional rather than entertaining. The winery tour was interesting because they were harvesting and we saw the process of wine making. However, coming from an area of boutique wineries on the Mornington Peninsular in Australia, it was disappointing. I'm used to views and a dining room with views and I guess I expected something like this. St Emilion was an authentic town with great atmosphere.
Review by: Sarah W, October 2017
We arrived with plenty of time to join our tour however 5 minutes before we were due to depart the tour guide arrived and told us that our Viator booking confirmations were not acceptable as tickets for the tour, and that we would have to go to the tourist information office to change them for a different type of ticket. There was nothing on the Viator confirmation to state we needed to do this, and others were in the same position. There was quite a queue in the tourist office and it seemed very unlikely we would get our tickets in time. A helpful lady in the tourist office soon realised there was a problem and sorted it out quickly. The tour guide seemed to me to be quite off-hand about the whole situation, as if we should have known we needed to change the tickets, and it was our fault. The tour itself was quite enjoyable.
Review by: robert.b.w.good, September 2017
We went on the Sunday tour to Saint-Emilion 17th Sept. The town was beautiful, but we would have much rather been allowed to explore the town on our own. Instead we were shepherded around a church for the whole hour before being bundled back into the bus. Many of the other English speakers on the trip also thought it was disappointing that we didn't see more of the town. The tour guide spoke mainly in French and it was unclear what the plan was at any time. It was all a bit chaotic._br/_ The trip to vineyard was much more enjoyable and tour guide for this part was much better. _br/_ All in all it was a long time on the bus 3.5 hours driving for a 6 hour round trip.
Review by: Danny H, September 2017
Very enjoyable, slightly disorganised but a great value afternoon out with plenty of wine.
Review by: Laimas Virginij J, September 2017
It was good trip, but it was some drawbacks: 1. The guide Marie talked more in french than in English, though the composition of the group was more English speaking. 2. The explanations of the specific terms in English were not clear enough. 3. The guide was a bit in love with herself - and seemed to be very accused if somebody wanted to ask her during her speech. 4. So it was a bit boring. 5. It could be more enjoyable, more amusing. 6. The degustation was very formal, no any bread or cheese. Anyway - it is more positive than negative. I would recommend this excursion.
Review by: William L, September 2017
This was a great trip to get a feel for the Bordeaux wine area. You visit a traditional style vineyard that utilises old methods for the production of the Sauternes style wine. The second winery is a more modern operation producing white and red varieties. Staff at both wineries gave a comprehensive and interesting talk about their vineyard and their wine making operations
Review by: Martin J, August 2017
Very enjoyable tour, knowledgeable tour guide who gave lots of local information on the coach journey to St Emillion and provided a map and a guided tour around the church when we arrived. The visit to the church was optional but provided some well needed shade from the afternoon sun. We still had plenty of time to stroll around the village, browsing the shops, before getting back on the coach for a very short drive to the vineyard.
Review by: Alison G, August 2017
We took the Sunday half day trip to Saint Emilion. The village was stunning and the chateau/wine tasting exactly as imagined. Couldn't have been better.
Review by: Paul M, August 2017
The half day tour was just good to visit Saint Emilion and then a small wineyard. The guide brought us to a church in a cave and explained the interesting and unexpected history very well. The owner of the wineyard explained the whole wine process very good and thus realising that wine making is a highly sensitive process. All in all it was a worthwile tour and I can recommend this to everyone!
Review by: elaine m, August 2017
Large bus tour to St Emiliion. Tour guide did everything in both French and English. Sometimes it was hard to understand her English. Boarding the bus was confusing - even though I had a printed receipt with a bar code on it, when I tried to board the bus I was told I had to go back inside the tourist office and turn in my printed receipt to get a ticket. I was there 30 minutes before they began boarding the bus, but no one every informed us that this exchange was required. Had to run back in to the tourist office to get tickets, along with another couple, so we were the last on the bus and my husband and I were not able to sit together for the ride to St Emillion. Lesson learned was that it is better to pay more for the small group tours rather than take the lower rate large bus tours.
Review by: Nicholas P, August 2017
If you are not a wine novice then this is NOT the trip for you! If you are expecting a wine tour then you will be dissapointed. The half day tour is 5 hours with over half the time spent on a bus to and from Saint Emillion and the Chateaus. The remaining time is spent in Saint Emillion about 1 hour and the remaining time at a Chateau or Chateaus depending on the day you go. NOTE - check what day you have booked as Sunday and Wednesday the tour only goes to 1 winery and NOT 2. We struck out and only got to visit Chateau Bernateau. After a very long and basic talk about wine and the process of making it plus a tour of the facilites we got to try 2 red wines 15 minute tasting which to be honest were not very good and very expensive to buy._br/_ SAVE YOUR MONEY on this tour and go to the Wine Museum in Bordeaux, it is great and for 10pp you get a tour that you can take as long as you want to do which is also informative and covers 2000 years of wine history in Bordeaux. The museum is set in an old underground wine cellar, and you get to tase 2 red wines red and white at the end of the tour, which were actually nice._br/_ Alternatively, be prepared to spend a lot of money for a decent half or full day wine tour hundreds of Euros per person. There are plenty of operators that will tailor a trip for you and include transport, lunch and multiple regions and decent wineries. Do your research or ask about the wineries as some tour operators will promote only the wineries they can a benefit from visiting. To visit all the various regions and taste wines properly you could easly spend a week or longer - there are over 7,000 chateaus in the Bordeaux wine regions!_br/_ OR just go to many of the great wine bars in Bordeaux and try the wines for yourself. A glass of wine in some places start from as little as 2 and the staff generally can explain the wines and reccommend to you, so you effectively get an inexpensive tailored wine tasting.
Review by: Greg S, August 2017
Beware the instructions to join this tour are inadequate. Advised to be at the Tourism office at 1315 I was there at 1300 , when asked to board the coach at 1320 told the voucher I held needed to be exchanged for a ticket at the information desk in the Tourism office, joined the queue .When at the front to be told ,not at this desk , go to another , its now passed the departure time !!!!_br/_ The 5 hour tour only spent 1 hour in a vineyard. The guide did not on any occasion wait for all the group to assemble around her before launching into her commentary .
Review by: scott w, July 2017
The small group was 52 people. Two hours round trip by bus (for a five hour tour)._br/_ Two hours of talk by the guide on the history of St.Emilion. 50 minute lecture on the process of wine making. 10 minute tasting of average wine _br/_ Not recommended
Review by: Kristen I, July 2017
It was great, I enjoy touring vineyards and find that the owners are more than happy to tell you all about what they do.
Review by: Vanessa G, July 2017
First time doing this type of excursion with such a big group of people 52. Half of the trip is wasted on waiting on other people. _br/_ There was a dedicated guide for the visit of the chateau La Croizille. Her English was absolutely horrendous. We could barely understand her. Not for us.
Review by: Donald W, June 2017
It was pretty awful from the beginning. Bus was boarded without AC on and driver failed to comprehend and manage situation effectively,. Guide gave two unbelievable explanations for late departure 30 mins plus late. No offer of free water for those sweating and sweltering on the hot bus. The tour did not last 5 hours as advertised, which ironically was a blessing because of the quality of the situation. The driver and guide seemed more concerned about getting back to Bordeaux on time, so free time in St. Emilion was reduced. St. Emilion, and the vintner from Chateau Champion were the highlights, but not enough for us to ever consider taking such a tour again, and we would certainly not recommend this to anyone. A terrible value for the price paid.
Review by: Theresa, June 2017
Highly recommend St Emilion on this tour, it is absolutely beautiful with ample time to have lunch and walk around. We were also taken to a family owned winery and was shown how the wine of Bordeaux is made and then tasted some lovely Red wine with the option to buy. This day tour was so worth the drive out of Bordeaux and into wine country.
Review by: Leah G, May 2017
This was a great intro tour to the Médoc region, and we visited Margaux and Listrac-Medoc. We much preferred the winery in Listrac as it was smaller and family-run and you could really feel the heart of the place. The larger winery in Margaux just felt like it had no soul as it had changed owners so many times. I thought we would sample more wines. Our tour guide was very kind, but I thought our group would be smaller. We filled up an entire bus, so it really wasn't very personal. I guess it's worth it to spend more money and go on a smaller tour.
Review by: jcc082092, May 2017
The tourguide switched confusingly between french and English the entire tour. We only tasted two wines and went to one chateau.
Review by: Kathleen S, May 2017
Very technical and long winded explanation of the region in 3 languages made it difficult to relax on the bus and enjoy the scenery. The winery tours were very comprehensive and tastings good. One more winery for tasting would have been ideal.
Review by: John_at_Sto, May 2017
We had a great time a this tour. Three wine yards growing ecological wine. Interesting tasting and lots of information about Bordeaux and their wine history. Beautiful views of Bordeaux landscapes. The guide was very informative and easy to talk with.
Review by: Neil M, May 2017
Excellent, good value trip. If you are interested in wines and, frankly, even if you are not this is a fascinating trip with a visit to 2 beautiful chateaux. The owners of the chateax and wine producers were interesting and very amusing and made the visit so good with the tour and presentation._br/_ Very good guide and, for the money, this was the best thing that I did when I visited Bordeaux.
Review by: Veronica, April 2017
I really enjoued this tour! Saint Emilion was beautiful. Our group loved the views of the town and seeing the underground church. Chateau Bernateau was beautiful too and the owners were really nice. The tour taught us a little about wine making. I wish there was a little more time to try wine/eat food during this tour. Definitely eat lunch before you start the tour as there is very little time to eat during the tour. Lovely time!!!!
Review by: Veronica, April 2017
Our group really enjoyed this tour from Bordeaux. Saint Emilion is a beautiful town and we loved seeing it! At the end of the tour we tried wines in one of the wine shops and then got back on the bus. We then also visited Chateau Bertaneau and tried their wines. It was a great day, we just wish we had had more time to try wines and eat. Definitely eat food before you meet the bus!
Review by: Vivian Inya I, April 2017
Absolutely loved this tour! Being able to spend time in a region of France where wine making is truly part of the community was an awesome experience. The knowledge shared by the owners of the vineyards throughout the day was very interesting and covered a vast array of areas from our time spent looking at the grapes on the vines, to the cellar where the wine is stored and even wrapping up with the bottling process. Tour group size was relatively small, would highly recommend!
Review by: Jasmine J, March 2017
The tour was great- the entire bus was packed with tourists which made the guide's announcements and explanations inaudible however, that wasn't the important part for me. I loved walking around and having the freedom to explore the vineyards with my friends. The guided tour was also interesting and not too long. The wine tasting was fun and delicious.
Review by: Barry S, March 2017
The coach trip was OK but the tour co-ordinator was boring and humourless. Although she asked for questions, the dismissive way she answered them discouraged people from asking. All together, between the two chateaux visited, we didn't get a full glass of wine and there were no cheese or other food nibbles. Even water had to be bought from the driver at 1 Euro per bottle. It could have been an interesting trip but it wasn't - it felt more like an afternoon wasted.
Review by: Martinus v, March 2017
Good tour with good explanations about wine making and nice tastings!
Review by: Zoe R, February 2017
You spend most of the tour on the bus, not at vineyards. I went on a Saturday. The tour guide on the bus was not very good, I did not learn very much specific to Bordeaux at the vineyards, and the wine was actually pretty horrible. I am not the only person on the tour who thought so. The second vineyard had better wine than the first, but it was still not great. I was severely disappointed with almost every aspect of this tour.
Review by: Kevin W, February 2017
Saturday Wine Tasting and took us to 2 vineyards. the First, Chateau Haut-Breton, was just awful. The wine did not taste good at all. The Second, Chateau du Taillan, was significantly better and had a much better presentation. The tour itself was interesting. While it gave interesting facts about Bordeaux and its wine history, it also seemed to veer off course at times and talk about the Public Library and Golf courses..
Review by: Susan M, January 2017
The tour was great, we visited two wineries, one very traditional and the other very modern with large capital investment. Both had beautiful old chateau. Tastings were also enjoyable._br/_ The driver was very experienced, very comfortable coach and a great tour leader._br/_ The only issue was when buying the tour we didn't know the area we were touring. This made it difficult to plan the other days whilst in the Bordeaux region.
Review by: Ken the Enchanter, January 2017
Only tour available at that date. Guide was rather dull highly unusual for Viator, but the experience of a small Sauternes winery and a big, honkin' one in Graves was worth the time.
Review by: Christina B, December 2016
The tour was fabulous. We were provided with a detailed history of San Emillion, and a most welcomed amazing tour of the historical church. Absolutely amazing!!! Following the tour of the gorgeous town, and some spare time to wonder around the cobbled stoned streets and visit some amazing art/craft, wine stores, we stopped off at one of the many wineries for a little bit of history and a welcomed wine tasting. This was an exceptional tour, definitely a must do. Thanks Viator.
Review by: Erika K, December 2016
This is a nice trip that shouldn't be titled wine tasting. It's more a trip out to St. Emilion, walking around town, going into a really neat church not open to the public, and then tasting two wines at a vineyard at the end. The tour guide was interesting but you're on a massive coach with 20 other people. For the price, it's fine but I would recommend doing this with a smaller group and paying more to taste more wines on another tour.
RSS Feed