Hop-On Wine Tour – Nelson 151

(14 customer reviews)

Tour 4 wineries along scenic RT 151 that have all won gold medals in the prestigious Virginia Governor’s Cup. Take in the views at Pippin Hill, beautiful Veritas, classic King Family and the ever-charming Grace Estate. This route offers a great mix of 4 distinctive wineries, high-quality wines and great views of the Blue Ridge. Bonus: meet other wine lovers!

 

Day: Saturday
Route: Pippin Hill, Veritas, King Family, Grace Estate
Pick-up: Omni Hotel, Homewood Suites, Sonesta ES Suites

Only $89 per person for 5 hours for groups of up to 4

$89.00$100.00

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Description

  • 5 hour Charlottesville wine tour in a comfortable mini bus, van or mini van (depending on the number of participants)
  • Route: Pippin Hill – Veritas – King Family – Grace Estate. Each of these wineries have won one or more gold medals in Virginia’s Governor’s Cup
  • The most affordable wine tour for couples
  • Not intended for groups larger than 4, who need to book a private tour: lower costs, more flexibility and privacy
  • Tasting fees and gratuity are not included. Traditional tastings are not available, as wineries are only offering bottle service, wine by the glass and a few offer flights during COVID.
  • Pick up and drop off locations: OMNI Hotel, 212 Ridge McIntire Rd @ 10:30 am, Homewood Suites Charlottesville, 2036 India Rd @ 10:40 am, Sonesta ES Suites Charlottesville, 1111 Millmont St @ 10:50 am. We’ll pick you up at the lobby, no need to be a hotel guest
  • Want us to drop you off at another address? Add the Take Me Home Service ($12.50 per address) at check-out
  • Free parking, except at Omni (daily rate applies)
  • You decide how to spend your time at the wineries: do a tasting, kick back with a glass of wine or have some food
  • Spend approximately 45 minutes per winery. 1 hour stop at Veritas for lunch. Picnic lunches available for purchase
  • Hop-On guests are accommodated as walk-ins at all venues. If you want to ensure you have indoor seating, please visit our Tour Planner for details on how to contact each venue and/or use the ETAs below for reservations.
    • ETAs for each stop: Pippin Hill @ 11:15am | Veritas @ 12:30pm | King Family @ 1:50pm | Grace Estate @ 3:00pm
  • Customer friendly cancellation policy, see terms and conditions. Optional cancellation extension for even more peace of mind
  • Venues can change due to occasional limited availability. You will be notified ahead of the tour if that is the case
  • Tour may be cancelled if there are less than 4 participants. If so, you will be notified by the Wednesday before your tour. You will receive a full refund, or you can upgrade to a private wine tour (depending on availability)

14 reviews for Hop-On Wine Tour – Nelson 151

  1. Ellen

    We had a great time on our wine tour. I called ahead of time because we had to make special arrangements for the size of the group and wish wish customer service spent a half hour on the phone with me personalizing our tour. The day of the actual tour was great, our driver was very accommodating and we were able to make additional stops (including picking up BBQ for dinner). Well worth the price and piece of mind everything was a great experience.

  2. De Newsom

    If you’re thinking about hitting up Charlottesville area wineries book one of these tours first! It was such a relaxing time not having to worry about where to go, getting lost or getting a DWI! There was plenty of time dedicated to each winery where you can sit and enjoy a glass after the tastings and take in the beautiful vistas. Our friendly driver always made sure to check on us and to give us a friendly five minute reminder text that it’s time to get on the bus to head for the next winery. We had a very nice time on the Wish Wish tour and will definitely do this again!

  3. Jesse

    Had a great day with Mark touring our small group around the Nelson 151 trail. A great way too visit several wineries or breweries without having to be behind the wheel. Our driver Mark was very prompt, professional and fun, providing commentary and comfort during the afternoon. The van we had was very clean and comfortable. A great way to spend and afternoon with some family and/or friends exploring some of the great wineries in the area.

  4. Heather F

    Had a great tour with Nick on August 26. He had water available, gave us plenty of time at each stop and was knowledgeable about the process and wineries.

  5. Jonathan Nobles

    We had a FANTASTIC time. Rob (our driver) was friendly, professional, and courteous throughout, and the four vineyards were uniquely enjoyable. I even discovered a new favorite wine variety. Well worth the money.

  6. Mary Lou

    Very disappointed in this tour that we took on 6/22/19. The driver never introduced himself, never told us what we would be doing, how long we would be at each vineyard, where to meet the bus afterwards…..NOTHING! . He just dropped us off. It wasn’t until I asked him at the second vineyard what time did we need to be back to the bus and where do we meet him at. I was expecting him to provide some information about the area/wineries as we drove along…..but NOTHING! He just drove us and dropped us off with no information or directions. Definitely not worth the money…especially with our driver who I later found out was Ike. Very disappointed.

  7. Danielle

    We had a wonderful wine tour with our driver Philip. He was very knowledgeable and prompt. He always asked us our preferences and adjusted things accordingly. He was so accommodating when the winery we stopped at did not have a food truck as expected so we made an impromptu stop at a local brewery. Would definitely recommend and book again.

  8. Liz

    This was our 4th WishWish tour and we always have a fantastic experience every time! The only reason why I’m not giving 4 stars instead of 5 is because our driver Ike was not the best communicator and gave us no direction. Since we have done this before we knew the ropes, but overall as a group we felt lost. Out of all of the drivers we’ve had, Ike was unfortunately the worst we’ve had. We still had a good time with our group and will be back again next year, but hoping we have a different driver!

    • Roger Jackman

      Thank you very much for booking with Wish Wish a FOURTH time! I am glad that you have had such great experiences. Thank you also for your feedback. Being sure our drivers are engaged with the group is very important to us, and with your feedback we can ensure that our drivers are more involved in the customer experience in the future.

      Cheers!

  9. Barb Shoemaker

    We booked a winery tour in January. WishWish was great to work with, they have an excellent tour planner and nice vans. We had a slight delay in our start but they were very accommodating and more than made up for this. Van was clean and comfortable. Would definitely recommend the organization!!

  10. James Marks

    We had a fabulous time on the Route 151 wine tour. The organization and execution from start (making reservations) to finish (being dropped back off at our hotel) was pleasantly smooth and relaxing – unlike other tours I have taken. The tour was scheduled perfectly, with just the right amount of time at each vineyard to do the tastings. And since we were running a little ahead, we were able to stop at an additional winery. Because the tour travelled on the less-than-main roads, the scenery itself was worth the trip.

    The driver, Ike, was patient and a real gentlemen, though I have two suggestions. First, he needed to talk much, much louder so that everyone could hear his instructions. Second, it would have been nice if he announced the next vineyard on the list.

  11. Michaela

    We had an excellent experience on this tour over the weekend, with Rob as our driver. He was great – very professional and prompt, with open lines of communication with our group throughout the day. The wineries we visited were all wonderful as well. Highly recommend this tour!

  12. Stephanie Antosiak

    We had the best time! Some friends and I celebrated my 40th birthday with a girls weekend and this did not disappoint. Ike was an awesome driver, texting us when he was nearby, and keeping us on time. There was room for our cooler and chairs and had great music on the shuttle. I would highly recommend this tour!

  13. Stephanie

    We had the best time! Some friends and I celebrated my 40th birthday with a girls weekend and this did not disappoint. Ike was an awesome driver, texting us when he was nearby, and keeping us on time. There was room for our cooler and chairs and had great music on the shuttle. I would highly recommend this tour!

  14. Paige

    First I will start off by saying I do wine tours ALL over the country (both in the US and Internationally) when I travel which is often, this was not my first time. This was by far the most unorganized and extremely disappointing wine tour I have ever taken by a long shot (I think I speak for the majority of our group). I will make this review by listing the Pros and Cons – mostly cons.
    CONS:
    -Driver (Ike): Our pick up time was at 10:30am. He was 15 minutes late to picking up the first stop which was at Omni and the majority of the bus (6 people in total), he texted the group at 10:31am to advise he was on his way and would be late, he had no personality and like all other tours you would take not just for wine touring he could care less about getting to know our group, who we were, where we were from and his driving was not the best. I’m assuming this was because he was trying to make up some time due to being late. He was simply just a driver who didn’t speak or say much.
    -This company DOES NOT make reservations for your party or the bus at each location (which is noted in the description). You are responsible to do this yourself, however in our case it wouldn’t have mattered being that we were behind schedule at each location anyways. Please remember this when you book with this company as 2 out of the 4 locations on this Route and particular tour required a reservation to sit at a table anywhere on the property.
    -First Stop was at Pippin Hill: They had NO idea this tour company was going to be arriving, they put us into a small room with a pop up bar with 1 person serving taking orders and said this is what we get and that no one in our group of 14 could sit at a table.
    -Second Stop was at Veritas: this is the “lunch” stop. Again, this winery was shocked to see us and had no idea this tour company was coming. We all had to beg for a table so we could purchase lunch to sit down and eat. This winery requires reservations for a table, no exceptions. The service was terrible at this place, BUT the food was amazing.
    -Third Stop was at King Family: This was BY FAR the best stop, had the friendliest people working at this place and was a beautiful property where they let everyone sit at a table no questions asked. Everyone in our group was venting to them about how terrible this tour and experience has been and how we had been treated at the other wineries. They didn’t seem too shocked and said they hadn’t heard many good things about Wish Wish lately. We all just kinda rolled our eyes :/
    -Final Stop was at Grace Estates: The lady/sommelier that was in the tasting room when we arrived had this horrific look on her face when we walked in and literally asked if we were with Wish Wish Wine Tours and sighed. She said she doesn’t care for this company because they do not let her know when they are arriving and it is always unorganized chaos. I thought this was odd because this place was basically empty until our group arrived.
    -You would think 45 minutes at each location is enough, but you will feel extremely rushed mostly due to unorganization.
    PROS:
    -This is a good option, if ALL you are concerned about is a driver. Even then, it is definitely not worth the $90 per person.
    -Driver Ike was good at making sure everyone was back on the bus. He would text the group with time to be back on the bus so no one was left behind.
    -Everyone in our group/on our bus was fun and friendly. We all made the best of a terrible experience and just tried to take the day as it came along.
    -Bus was clean and comfortable.
    Overall, I would not recommend this tour company to anyone. It is simply a taxi service and that is it. They do have other options for other tours, however there are a ton of other companies that I wish we would have chosen over this one and honestly it only cost a slight amount more to get more for your money. Just having reservations at each place and the wineries wanting us there would have been worth more money!

    • Roger Jackman

      I want to start by thanking you, Paige, for leaving a review like this. It helps us improve our business and helps fellow travelers make more informed decisions when creating their perfect itinerary.

      It is unfortunate that Ike was late, but according to all our records he was only a few minutes late. The 10:31 text you called out was sent when he was around the corner from the Omni Hotel. He did, in fact, get everyone to the first venue, Pippin Hill, on schedule. While I wasn’t there, it seems other guests were very happy with Ike’s performance, as he had a near-record breaking day for tips. Regardless, I have spoken with him and we are looking for ways to make things more interesting for the whole group.

      Again, I appreciate you bringing other items to our attention, as we are now on the same page with all the wineries. We have been doing this Hop-On tour successfully for around 9 years and, according to conversations we have had with wineries, the reason this is a success is our communication with them. We have been following the same protocols we worked out with all the wineries years ago – every Friday we finalize our headcounts and send status reports to each winery so they know what to expect from us the next day. There has recently been turnover at Pippin Hill and Grace Estate, so the emails we were sending were not being shared with the tasting room staff. After doing this for 9 years, I can tell you that we do not have a reputation for showing up unannounced. Things have been sorted with the wineries on our Hop-On route, in part, because of you pointed out the recent disconnect.

      The rest of your points should not have been surprise to you, as they are all covered in the description of our tour and the pre-tour email that was sent on Wednesday before your tour. In our description of our product, it clearly states the fact that you will be accommodated as walk-in guests, and that you need to make reservations if you want special accommodations at any of the venues. To make things easy for you, we even share ETAs for each stop. I understand that you thought lunch at Veritas was 1 ½ hours, but it is clearly stated on our site that you get 1 hour for lunch. This schedule has been fine-tuned for years and has worked out very well for those who read our description and knew what to expect.

      Again, I do appreciate your review, as it helps us grow and offer better experiences for future guests. In the end, I think this tour was not designed for a traveler as experienced as yourself. In the future, you might consider booking one of our more personalized Private wine tours where you get to set the route and schedule and create the perfect day out with your friends and family. Please reach out to us if you ever come back to Charlottesville and we will do everything we can to make your visit worthwhile.

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