Thank you Darlene - Darlene is an absolutely amazing tour guide and wine expert. She made everyone feel so welcome and showed great interest in what we wanted out of the day. She is a credit to Hop n Grape tours. Thanks again Darlene for such a great day and for taking so many pictures for us! Highly recommend to all.

Outstanding wine tour! - We scheduled a half-day wine tour for my wife, adult daughter and myself. Our original plan was to do an "official" wine tour on our first day in Blenheim, then on the second day go visit specific wineries on our own. In the on-line sign-up form, I mentioned three wineries that had been recommended to us ahead of time. The day before our tour I received a message from our tour guide, Darlene, who gave us the meet up particulars and said that she worked two of the requested wineries into our tour. Good first impression! It was offseason so the next day when Darlene picked us up at our hotel there was only one other couple who would be touring with us. Darlene gave her background which included studying wine in New Zealand for nearly 10 years. She knows the region and the wines and - most importantly - Darlene has developed personal relationships with many of the Marlborough wineries. By the second visit of the day, which was also our lunch stop, I realized that we could never have such a rich experience on our own. I asked if we could book another half-day tour for the following day and Darlene confirmed that we could. The first day was wonderful, with excellent wines, a delicious lunch (paid separately) and great conversation with Darlene and the other couple. My daughter was studying in Auckland and had just completed a professional wine tasting course. For our second day, Darlene called each of the wineries that we would visit - including a winery recommended by my daughter's professor - and told them about my daughter's course. Each winery host discussed the course with my daughter and in almost every case provided extra and/or special wines for us to taste. An added benefit of going off season was that there was nobody else with us the second day - it turned into a private tour! All in all, Hop n Grape Tours exceeded our expectations in every way. Our excellent host Darlene provided transportation, history, commentary and exclusive access to several world-class wineries. Highly Recommended for anyone looking to visit wineries in the Marlborough region.

Full day wine in Blenheim a must - We were guided to 5 different venues including lunch at Allan Scott winery which was a great food and wine experience. Our tour guide Darlene was knowledgeable, personable as well as an excellent driver as she took us to sample local wineries. The wine guides at each winery were informative and entertaining. A great tour to do while in Blenheim.

Excellent tour - highly recommend - We went on the half day wine tour with Darlene. She was friendly and gave us a great tour, with good information about winemaking and the wineries in the area. I can definitely recommend this tour if your are visiting the Marlborough region. We visited 4 wineries and the Makana chocolate factory. Each winery had lovely staff and great wine. They adjusted which wines we tasted based on our preferences.

Most enjoyable afternoon at the vineyards - We were guided to 4 different venues including lunch at Saint Clair family estate winery. Our tour guide Darlene was knowledgeable as well as an excellent driver as she took us to sample local white and red varietals of Marlborough products. The lunch was excellent matched by the wine pairings. Altogether a very pleasant experience to spend an afternoon.

Highly recommend - Brilliant experience, we had a great group and Cam as a local winemaking expert shared local knowledge and took us to all the hot spots which you might not find yourself. Because of this tour I think we were well looked after too rather than if we were just exploring ourselves. Highly recommend.

Wine, lunch and fun in Marlborough NZ - Of course wine tours are always fun, but this one was really nice. Our fellow travelers were a pleasure. Our tour guide, Darlene, was great. She was knowledgeable, personable and very accommodating. We went to 4 cellar doors, one of which was remarkable - Gibson Bridge. I’ll be ordering a case when I get home to the US. Lunch at Allan Scott winery bistro was excellent.

Great fun and great wine. - We had a fantastic afternoon with Cam, our very informative guide. We had a mixed group of people on the tour, none of whom we had met beforehand, but Cam made everyone feel comfortable and included. We enjoyed the trip enormously and I’d certainly recommend it.

Great WIne Tasting Experience - A wonderful selection of wine tastings and beautiful lunch at St Clair winery. We would highly recommend this company for exploring the Marlborough winery region. Winemaker Cam, our driver and local guide, was great.

Handled late notice well, great vegan wines - Booked our tour around 11pm the night before the tour, our guide picked us up promptly and then informed us we were to join another tour who had more people (as we were his only customers). This worked out well as we got to go to an extra vineyard! There were plenty of vegan friendly wines at every vineyard, all lovely. At this time of the year, there are fewer vineyards open but would go again to all of them!