Grape Escape Wine Tours

We visited four wineries and they each had their own charm and flair. Rich was extremely helpful with setting up the reservation, quick to reply to email and answer our questions. Gwen was an excellent tour guide and a lot of fun!

Had a remarkable bike tour thanks to great tour guides and host. Visited and sampled at 4 charming wineries, would highly recommend. Felt like a mini vacation, can’t wait to do it again!

We spent $ 325 (plus tip) for a wine tour and «gourmet» dinner. The wine tour and our driver were good. But we really don’t understand how the tour operator could think that a choice of 1) a bowl of pasta, or 2) a piece of chicken, or 3) a tough pork chop constitutes a gourmet dinner. And the gourmet dessert … A mini brownie … seriously. The killer is that the restaurants’ real gourmet items (Halibut, Short Rib, Filet, and Steaks) were not allowed as choices. We would have had a better gourmet dinner at Tim Horton’s.

This made for a great birthday excursion! I only booked the day before so the full day was unavailable. We did the half day. It was actually perfect! We walked around the village in the morning and had lunch before meeting the group.
Ted, our tour guide, was fantastic. He’s so nice and extremely knowledgeable about both wine and local history. You couldn’t ask for a better guide. We visited 4 wineries, which included a cheese pairing at one and a full tour at another. Ted was happy to share his knowledge, expanding on things we were told at the wineries and pointing out things along the bike ride.
The ride was paced well and the bicycles were comfortable. If you make purchases at the wineries, Grape Escapes has a handy system for picking up your purchases and having them waiting for you back at the end. Buy as much as you want!
Overall, this was the best last-​minute birthday trip ever! I’ll be back next year, only with advanced planning and more friends!

Fantastic! Our guide was Ted and he’s awesome and personable. We completed 5 wineries by bike. Highlights include Jackson Triggs and Caroline’s. Ted led us biking safely from vineyard to vineyard. Really fun, highly recommend to others. Lunch was from Kurtz Orchard — simple sandwich and salads — good for an energetic day of biking and drinking!
A driver picked us up from pillar and post and dropped us back at the hotel — free of charge.

My boyfriend and I arranged a car tour from 1 – 5 pm on a Monday and had an absolutely wonderful time with Bob as our tour guide. There were only 8 guests in total, all couples, some young and old which was a great variety of people. We traveled to 5 different wineries, tasted some amazing wines and got a great tour of one estate. Bob was AMAZING! He was so knowledgable, we knew information about Niagara-​on-​the-​lake and an overview of the wine industry and tourism before we even arrived at the first estate for the tour. He was extremely friendly and organized our tasting before we even walked into the door of the estate. He provided a friendly and easy-​going manner and is definitely the reason we would go back. i would love to try the bike tour next time and stroll through the NOTL region. The only thing i wish — MORE WINE!!!
Thank you so much for your hospitality and this is a really great tour to take when you are visiting. You will not only understand each estate, you will understand the city of NOTL. I encourage you to ask questions and also get advice on local hotspots (restaurants, etc) to visit while you are with your guide. Thank you Grapes Escape!

Wonderful bicycle tour! If you are looking to tour the wineries of the NOTL area, and have an open afternoon, I definitely recommend this tour. They meet at the Kurtz Orchard, with an ample free parking lot available, and then they wait for everyone that reserved to join. Very thoughtful tour guides! The bike ride is beautiful, and the pace is good for everyone. We visited 4 wineries, and they all offered at least 3 wines to taste (usually a red, a white, and a dessert wine). In a winery we also had a cheese pairing, and an historical background note from the local experts. The guides will also allow time for pictures and to relax between a winery and the other. We left at about 1.15pm, and came back around 5.15pm. Highly recommended!

We couldn’t have a girls weekend in NOTL without wine!
I booked the Grape Escape afternoon wine tour and we had a great time!
The tour is from 1pm to 5pm and visits 4 wineries in the area for $ 64 (from NOTL).
The driver showed up at our hotel on-​time and our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.
There were 4 – 5 groups in the bus. Depending on how many other people book, the vehicle is different. We were still able to hear the guide as he explained the different grape growing regions and gave us historical information.
We stopped in at 4 wineries (3 smaller, 1 larger).
There was a cheese pairing that was a nice treat.
You definitely want to eat before the tour and I brought my own carb-​loaded snacks.
I would have to say we were treated well at each of the stops, but it is very «in and out». Because the group was large, you did have to wait for samples and also to purchase items.
When I called to reconfirm and ask questions, the customer service was prompt and excellent. I would go with Grape Escapes again, but I’d consider the individual group booking rather than the wine bus!

Fun afternoon tour (1 – 5 p.m.) with a friendly and knowledgeable driver in a reasonably comfortable 6-​seater van. We stopped at four wineries ranging from very large, family owned empires with amazing storefronts and 50+ acres of land, to relatively new wineries which had been recently bought or sold with tiny stores and a mere 8 acres, for example. Each has its pros and cons, so it was nice to visit a variety. The office location is centrally located in beautiful Niagara on the Lake, encouraging exploration before or after the tour. Wine-​wise, we probably had 4 glasses each in total, with one small plate of cheese, which was satisfactory by my measure. Others might get more or less depending on the size of the group. We had just 4 which meant personalized attention and perhaps more generous portions. Of course, bartenders have a pour limit, but in some places one can move to another area of the bar for more samples. Pillitteri and Reif were highlights among the large establishments, but the smaller alternatives lent more charm.

I wanted to give 2 stars, but gave one extra because our guide Dwayne was fantastic, arrived on time and was a great wealth of knowledge. That said, we would not book a tour again. We were a group of 3 couples, and were surprised that the van was so small. It was a regular 6 seater mini van, and so getting in and out was tough and the van very loud inside. We really enjoyed the Jackson & Triggs tour which was 1 hour, and very thorough — we got to see the vineyard, inside the winery and where they age the barrels. We were explained a lot of the history and the process of making the various wines. The next 3 wineries, however, were get in, drink, get out — little to no explanation beyond a few words on their wineries’ history, and very rushed. We were also told the afternoon tour would be «wine and cheese» — only 1 winery provided cheese, and it was 3 v. small chunks with crackers. By the third winery I stopped drinking, I had a rockin headache from too much wine on a light stomach and really didn’t get my money’s worth (as I wasn’t learning anything either). What was worse, the wineries were also hosting a ‘sip and sizzle’ event where you could get an unlimited pass for wine paired with hot food, however as we weren’t considered part of that, we couldn’t get the food pairings (we literally had a ‘please take my money’ moment, to no avail. And it smelled really, really good).
Our tour guide mentioned that the company he drove for, Dannels, rents cars and drivers out to take people to and from wineries of their choice. If we decided to do a wine tour again, I would research the wineries that give more of a tour and less of a in-​and-​out experience, and hire our own driver for the day.

If you are looking to tour Niagara on the lake, you must do it with Grape Escape. Graham was an exceptional driver and tour guide. Not only was he extremely knowledgeable in the area but knew the history of all 18 wineries we visited. His sense of humour was appreciated and he did not permit anyone to carry their own purchases. A true concierge, Graham was everything and more.
You want to see The wineries in Niagara on the lake? Call Grape Escape and ask for Graham.

Myself and two of my friends I’ve known since Elementary School had a wonderful afternoon tour with Diane of Grape Escape last Sunday. We were joined by a Columbian couple from Barrie who were great fun and it really was an excellent day all round. Perfect company, perfect weather and a great selection of wines and scenery. Diane is a warm and wonderful host/​guide with a joyful, larger than life personality that really added something to the tour.
We were supposed to go to four wineries but actually went to five, all different in size, style and the wine produced. All of the wineries were excellent choices and I think offered us a very good sampling of what the Niagara region has to offer. I managed to somehow buy 13 bottles of wine (much to my surprise when I counted them at home) as well as some truly spectacular cheeses.
One of my friends left her sweater in the van so we called to see if we could pick it up and were told that the office was closed and Diane had gone to dinner with the van. We told the person on the phone that we were having dinner too and that we’d call back after dinner to see if we could pick up the sweater. Diane the dear, went that extra mile and popped around to our restaurant to deliver the sweater to us.
I heartily recommend Grape Escape Wine Tours to anyone who wants a thourough and fun introduction to the Niagara wine country.

I booked a half day wine tasting tour for 2 as a part of my Niagara Falls trip earlier this summer and it was a great tour!
The booking process was a smooth phone transaction and they followed up a few days before my trip to confirm timing and meeting place. The day of the trip, google maps decided to fail me and we were about to miss our tour! Luckily, the driver agreed to pick us up at our location. He told me he would be driving in a red van and to keep my eyes peeled. which caused me to run halfway down a block after a totally different red van. whoops!
After we got picked up, he drove us to wine country to pick up 2 more couples. Along the way, the driver gave us tons of anecdotes about Niagara and made the time fly by. The wineries we went to were a good mix of the large super techy ones to the little family owned ones. Great vino was to be had all around and the ease of mind knowing that you had a personal DD allowed me to fully, fully, fully enjoy the tastings if you know what I mean. ;)
Fair and reasonable prices for a nice day in the Nigara wineries. highly recco’d.

We had a lovely tour of five different wineries with Diane. The area itself is beautiful, so you really just have to sit back and observe the gorgeous surroundings. I’d give it five stars but we found it a bit overpriced (they’re just driving you around, after all). We also found the cheese platter a bit lacking. The amount/​variety was okay, but there were literally five crackers to split among five adults. For the price ($ 60 pp), you think they’d throw in a baguette or something. All that said, it’s a good beginner tour, but next time we’ll find our way between wineries on our own (e.g., on bikes, with a designated driver, etc.).

I booked this tour after doing some research on Trip Advisor. The first person I talked to (and fortunately got as our guide) was Rich. He was very informative, confirmed our reservation and was very punctual when picking us up. I hate it when people are late. So, it set the positive tone for the day.
Maybe we were lucky, maybe this company attracts cool people. In any case, we were paired with two amazing couples! We all had a blast, chatting, tasting fantastic wines — including ice wines (OMG where have these been all my adult life??? I can drink this all day, every day) and having a generally great time together.
We ended up going to 6 different wineries, tasting wines from about 11AM until 4PM. It was one of the highlights of our trip to Niagara Falls and Rich really made it a positive experience. If you’re looking for a wine tour, Grape Escape is the one you should book with!
Tip:
DO NOT miss the Colaneri winery and if available, ask for Mama Colaneri. She is THE funniest and sassiest woman and we were lucky to have her guide us through the extensive backstory on the Colaneri wines.