Aug 29, 2024
Personalized Wine Tour for Friends - My friends and I had the best experience on this tour! Colin took us to 4 exceptional wineries on our quest to find the best Sauvignon Blanc. We experienced everything from small family wineries to one larger corporate winery with Sancerre. He even brought us to an adorable town for lunch.
Can’t recommend Colin and Loire Valley Wine Tours enough! He works to customize your private tour to meet your requests and what you want to try! He also facilites getting wine home to the States! And he is super knowledgeable about wines and the region and is a delight to be with for the day!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 8, 2024
Lovely Day in the Loire Valley - Colin was a knowledgeable guide and did a fantastic job of building an ideal day in the Loire Valley. He was quick to answer our email questions in advance and we really enjoyed spending the day with him and feeling like we got a truly unique experience. We hope to be back in the region again and would happily book another tour with him!
Review provided by Viator
May 21, 2024
A great day that hit the mark - This was a 10/10 tour. We were looking to do a lot in our one full day in the Loire Valley, and this tour certainly delivered. We got history and culture at the chateau in the morning ... local flavor with a great lunch ... wineries in the afternoon ... and great commentary from Colin along the way.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 26, 2022
An Experience You'll Cherish Forever! - My wife and I (mostly her) spent a lot of time looking at different tours in the region for an excursion during our trip to Paris, and fortunately for us she stumbled upon this hidden gem. We selected the two-day Loire Experience tour: Chinon and Vouvray.
Getting there was pretty straightforward from Paris. Colin had picked us up from our hotel in Tours where we instantly fell in love with our charismatic and knowledgeable guide, Colin. He made us feel so welcome during the entire experience. There was never a dull moment from that point forward.
We sampled wines from Azay le Rideau, Chinon, Bourgueil, Quarts-de-Chaume, Coteaux-du-Layon, Anjou, Touraine, Touraine-Chenonceau, Touraine-Amboise, Crémant de Loire, Pouilly-fumé, and Sancerre. I honestly have never been so impressed by a tour like this in my life and I will always hold it near and dear to my heart.
Thank you Colin for showing us a lovely and unforgettable time! We would definitely go again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 24, 2022
A great day in the Loire Valley - We had a wonderful tour with Colin. He is a very professional guide who is immensely knowledgeable of the wines and history of the region. The tour of Chenonceau was littered with tons of details as he enabled us to be transported centuries back in time to imagine what life was like at the Chateau. We visited three wineries, each with unique stories and delicious wines. We we were throughly impressed by the depth, quality, and value of the wines at each winery. He provided great company and laughs throughout the day, and we'd happily recommend him to anyone wanting a great tour of the area.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 22, 2022
Great Private Wine Tours - We took two private tours with Colin: one to Sancerre and one to Chinon. Both were outstanding. Colin’s knowledge of the area, it’s wines and it’s history was excellent. He was able to get us access to outstanding wineries and was a great person to spend two days with. Our group of four seasoned wine region travelers all agreed the tours were fabulous.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Oct 21, 2021
Memorable - We agree with all the five-star reviews above. Colin was knowledgeable, informative and interesting. He provided insights we never would have known. A thoroughly enjoyable day, well-spent, that we will remember for a long time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 10, 2021
Wonderful day in Loire Valley - Colin treated us to an amazing day in the Loire Valley! He's unbelievably knowledgeable about the varietals local to the region, is well known to the staff at the vineyards we visited, and even jumped behind the tasting bar at the last one to pour for us since there was a larger group there at the same time. We swapped Chateau D'Amboise (beautiful) for Chenonceau on our tour because it's a bit more relaxed right now in terms of numbers they can admit and Covid related ticketing restrictions and it's just that kind of insight that makes booking a private tour worth it. Colin has excellent taste in wine, a great sense of humor and is just a pleasure to spend the day with. Couldn't recommend booking with him more. One of our favorite days of vacation and we can't wait for the wine we bought to arrive (Colin even organized and handled shipping for us) so we can open a bottle and talk about the wonderful time we had the day we bought it.
Review provided by Viator
Aug 26, 2021
Relaxing and informative - A truly enjoyable day. Colin is a knowledgable and informative guide not just in terms of the wine but the local history as well. He included fascinating insight into the techniques of wine making both traditional and modern and is obviously well trusted by the winery owners.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 9, 2019
Fantastic day in the Loire Valley - We, an American couple visiting the region for the first time, had the most amazing visit to the Loire Valley with Colin as our wonderful guide! The short version of this review is that we cannot recommend it highly enough, do not hesitate to book!
Colin spent the full day with us, taking us to four wineries throughout the Touraine with a lovely lunch in the middle. I believe we did a slightly modified version of this tour, opting to skip the Chateau visit in favor of more focus on wine!
To begin, booking our experience was basically effortless. When I first reached out to inquire about availability, Colin offered suggestions for itineraries based on our preferences, and made clear that we could be flexible throughout our day depending on what we most enjoyed. He also gave helpful guidance on how to get to the Loire Valley from Paris (a very easy and comfortable TGV trip from Gare Montparnasse to St. Pierre de Corps). Colin picked us up exactly on time at the train station, and then ferried us among the wineries in his spacious and comfortable SUV. During our journeys he offered details about the history and geography of the valley, which really helped put our visit in context and added interest to our time spent traveling.
At each winery, Colin's relationships with the proprietors ensured that we were treated as welcomed guests. In addition to tasting fabulous wines at each location, both Colin and those providing the tastings shared a wealth of information about growing, wine making, understanding french labeling, aging wine, and more. We could not have asked for a better day of learning, laughing and enjoying truly spectacular wines.
Most importantly for American visitors, Colin also provides all of the information you'll need and assists with making arrangements for purchasing and shipping wine to the U.S., so you are free to purchase to your heart's content (and we certainly did!)
Overall, this experience was everything we hoped for and beyond. We are already looking forward to planning our next visit to the Loire Valley to take another tour with Colin!
Review provided by Tripadvisor