Barrel Wine Tours

My husband and I were part of a private tour. Carol was our guide. She was pleasant and very informative. Out fist stop was the Covington Cellars. Our first course was haumus with garlic bread. It was tasty and the garlic was not overpowering. For the main course they served chicken with couscous, carrots and brussel sprouts. The chicken was very tender. Dessert was only a small chocolate piece. Over all the meal was good. The only incident that we had was when our tour guide thought that my glass of wine was an extra glass on the table. She took it to give it to another guest. When I told her that it was my wine she looked at me as if I wanted to drink extra wine.
Next stop was the Ponders Winery. This is a family owned winery. I found their wine a little too dry bit this is only my personal taste. Overall presentation was very informative.
By the way they have an amazing selection of artwork.
Our third stop was Patterson Cellars. Very organized. They gave us a list with all the wines that they are serving with the wine description. My favorite wine was the 2012 Late Harvest Roussanne. It is sweet wine, rich and decadent withflavors of ripe pear, dried apricot and
pineapple.
Our fourth and final stop is Flying Dreams winery. Leroy was our hoste. He has very lively
personality. He spesializes in Spanish type of wines. He even gave out an olive recipe.
Overall the tour was very good, relaxing (of course after tasting all that wine you are either happy, quite or relaxed).

My husband and I attended the Boutique Winery Tour with Cheryl. Cheryl’s comments, demeanor, and general attitude to all tour attendees can be best described as obnoxious. You’ll need to drink a lot more wine than this tour offers to make her tolerable. I can’t imagine anyone WANTING to spend a day with this woman let alone PAY to spend the day with her.
Just a few examples: (1) She smacks her gum so loud that my parents had to move seats so the bus could drown out some of the noise. (2) She made a «nickname» for my mom and continued to call her that even following a request to stop. (3) She considers «locals» only those that can walk to the Fairmont Hotel in Seattle and will inform you that you are WRONG and not local if you live anywhere else. (4) She shrieks and even managed to offend an employee of the winery by telling them that their blend was «everything but the kitchen sink.» (5) Screamed at two women to be quiet. Ironic because this was far more disruptive than the ladies who were talking quietly. Apparently it’s ok for Cheryl to interupt, just no one else.
In summation, Cheryl is one of the most obnoxious people I have ever encountered. David the bus driver on the other hand is really cool. Next time I would prefer to leave Cheryl at the Fairmont and enjoy the tour with David and my family. Best bet is to either call ahead and see who your tour guide will be or to simply go on your own and not take the risk.

Barrel Wine Tours was awesome. Thanks to livingsocial, I was able to get 2 tickets for our Seattle trip for the Boutiques Wineries. Harlan was a blast to have as our tour guide; he definitely engaged the audience and was entertaining and friendly. On our bus ride there, we were able to clearly see the mountain which was a treat given the great weather. Thanks to Harlan for pointing this out!
At first I was taken aback from the locations since they were all in warehouses, but it was a great idea for the boutique wineries. Once we arrived at Covington Cellars, we were greeted with a taste of wine and sat down for lunch. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great, nice setting inside of a warehouse. Of all the wineries on the tour (covington, guardian, etc), Covington was the best. This 6 hour wine tasting and lunch tour is a must.

I also went yesterday with a group of friends to the wine, cheese and chocolate tour using our Living Social coupons. Overall, the tour was interesting and fun, but I didnt think it was worth the $ 100 we paid for the coupon. For starters, the wine «tastings» were extremely small, smaller than Ive had anytime ive stopped in a winery for a tasting. Never once did we actually get a full glass of wine, not even with the lunch. Second, the chocolate «tastings» we had were about the size of a chocolate chip, and we only had maybe 3 or 4 of them. Same thing with the cheese, they cut up a a triangle of brie that you could buy at QFC for 7 bucks and split it up between the whole group. Although not «amazing», the lunch was tasty, and the shuttle service from Seattle to the wineries was nice as well.
It wa s a fun day and interesting tour, just didnt think it was worth the $ 100 we paid.

A group of friends and I used our living social deal yesterday for a 6 hour Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate tour. All of the wineries were located in the warehouse area. The tour felt a bit rushed, but it was fun. I love wine, so it was enjoyable to try so many new wines, and the wines were great! Our first stop was a wine paired lunch at Covington, then we moved on to Daveport Cellars, Patterson Cellars, and then ended at Distefano Winery.
We had some good wines paired perfectly with chocolates. I discovered a white wine that I really liked, and we learned a bit about the wine making process. Overall a good day!

One other thing that was a big topic of conversation:
The tour guide Janis is a bit intense. It felt like she was yelling at us when she spoke on the bus about the tour. «this is a wine tasting tour not a wine drinking tour». I respect that she takes her job seriously, and its clear she has a passion for the Woodinville wine community, but she came across pretty abrasive at times, saying things like «I don’t know if you realize these people have what you would call ‘real jobs’ too».
I don’t know it just seemed unnecessary to lecture the group. Everyone there was just excited to try some wines and have a good time. I just wish we had a tour guide who was more positive. She was kind of a buzz kill.