Hunter Valley All Inclusive, Wine, Chocolate Tasting And Lunch

We had a great day - Rafael was a great guide and set the cheerful tone straight off at 7.30am!. We had a really nice group of people and we all got on really well. We visited small wineries which were all quite different and tasted some really good wines. It might have been nice to go to one of the bigger wineries to compare but that's a bit of a niggle. Also the cheese tasting didn't really work for me as I'm vegan but at lunch they did find something for me.

We had a great day on the wine tour and Peter was an excellent driver and host throughout. He was friendly, professional, kept everything running smoothly and got us safely from winery to winery without any issues. The highlight of the tour was a smaller family-owned winery, which felt much more personal and authentic. A couple of the other stops were larger commercial operations, which weren't quite as memorable, but still offered good tastings and experiences. My only feedback would be around the vehicle size. The tour was run in a 13-seater that was completely full. That's perfectly fine at the start of the day when everyone is fresh and energetic, but after several wine tastings the passengers somehow seemed to get larger while the seats stayed exactly the same size! 😄 By the final winery, a little extra elbow room would have made the journey even more comfortable. Overall, a very enjoyable day and special thanks to Peter for making it such a smooth and enjoyable experience.

What an exceptional experience! Thank you for the great service. We really enjoyed this wine tour and definitely recommend it.

This was advertised as visiting 3 wineries. We only visited 2 and then tasted poor wine at a brewery. Not what we signed up for! Alan was 30 minutes late from pickup so everything was rushed, even at the good winery. Disappointing.

We had an excellent tour and would recommend it. Irene was an excellent tour guide. at Sobels vinyard and the guy was very interesting, explaining the process of fermenting and bottling wine. Plenty of sampling. Then off for an excellent lunch at 4 Pines and more wine tasting. Then chocolate tasting and Drayton's vineyard.

Well organised tour with a good lunch provided with an Attentive and knowledgeable tour guide .

Started the day with friendly greeting by Gab our host for the day on our Darling Harbour pickup. After the other people were onboard we made of to the Hunter Valley stopping at a services en route. Our first vineyard was Sobels where Dave gave us a great talk on Wine making before our tasting commenced. On the whole, very nice wines and great variety. We moved onto Four Pines for lunch and more tasting. Loved the sparkling Rose. Our last Vineyard was at Draytons. The final stop was at Hunter Valley Chocolate. Mmmm. On our way back, Gab stopped and pointed out some wild roos. Wow. Overall an excellent day no matter what the weather and a big shout out to our host and driver Gab. Thank you.

The pick up address for the Four Seasons Hotel is wrong. The actual pickup location is on an entirely different street than the listed address. The wineries visited are at best mediocre. With all the wineries in the Hunter Valley it would not be difficult to select wineries with a much better quality of wines. The lunch was good, much better than the wine tasting at that winery. I would not go on this trip again.

It was our very first wine tour experience, and we’re truly happy and grateful that we got to enjoy it with Sightseeing Tours Australia. 🍷✨

If you have an experienced wine pallet the wineries on this tour offer mostly sweet wines. We did not find any wines that we wanted to purchase. Most disappointing was the winery that presented a blue wine (artificial coloring added) Sobels winery had some lovely fortified (ports) wines. The driver / tour guide was excellent, bus was clean. If you prefer (jungle juice) sweet tart wines the wineries on this tour are for you.

We were very excited for this experience. We were given a pick up time of 7:20 and by 7:35 when the bus had not arrived yet, I called the tour provider, who advised they were held up and stuck in traffic and would be there for pick up in 10 minutes. I had to make another phone call at 7:50 as the driver had still not shown up. Finally, at 7:53 the driver arrived, almost 35 minutes late, so this started the day out on quite a sour note. After speaking to fellow patrons, the pick ups were late at every stop by at least 30 minutes. First winery, Sobel's was amazing with a wonderful wine tasting and very interesting history of the winery. We were obviously late to the second winery 4 Pines at the Farm, as we sat straight down to lunch and although we had a wine tasting, it was at our table and felt rushed. The next stop advertised on the itinerary is Hunter Valley Gardens. We did not go here even though part of the cost covered entry to here. The item says "take a break and explore Hunter Valley Gardens Village" and there was supposed to be 45 minutes allocated to this. We were taken to Pepper Creek Village instead, which has very little there, and were given just 20 minutes there (but this wasn't needed - it has 1 shop and a restaurant). When t he driver was asked about going to HVG he gave 3 different excuses other than it was cut because he was 35 minutes late and had to make up the time. The final winery was again good and we had a range of products to sample. Our final shop was the Peterson's Chocolate shop which had some great things on offer but was a little on the expensive side. I later contacted the tour company regarding these above issues, particularly not visiting the Hunter Valley Gardens as I had chosen this tour due to the visit there, and I was told I would be given a call back. I instead received a message via Viator suggesting I had misunderstood the itinerary. I knew it was to the HVG Village but we did not go there and they did not seem to acknowledge this. Also noted was that there were internet issues that delayed the pick up time, which was different from what I was told when I had called. They acknowledged that patrons had lost time on the tour due to their mistake. Again, a simple message sent out to patron advising at the time would have been appropriate rather than several patrons having to call to find out what was happening. I have asked for a partial refund for the entry to HVG, which the experience notes is part of the full cost, as we did not attend there. I am yet to hear back from them a week later. have given 2 stars for the wine tasting and the lunch which was really good. The other 3 stars have been lost due to the late pick up and patrons losing time based on that, the non visit to HVG Village and finally due to the poor response from the operator.

The wineries were good with knowledgeable people. The wines were a good selection. However, the hosts were silent during most of the journey and they could’ve been better at talking about the countryside we were traveling through and even told us about the history of Hunter Valley.

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Hunter Valley in Australia and we had an incredibly good guide named Gabriel. I would like to thank him. He was so kind and attentive to our needs, and he made the whole day truly fun and enjoyable. He is such a sweet person, and you can tell he does his job with real passion. He definitely gave his very best, explaining even more than necessary, and thanks to him everything was wonderful. He really made the day unforgettable.

Three wineries in the hunter valley w a nice small group. It was nice the wineries were tasty and the drive around the valley was nice.

Emma was very good Three wineries, well two plus a brewery Sobels winery was mediocre at best, the serving person was just a wine pourer, no factual information about the wines and advised every one poured that they sell boxes of that wine, the wine was ok but to be honest was just ok, wine tour at this winery was quite basic but ok 4 Pines was ok, lunch here was ok, can choose a beer or wine with lunch, the wine was explained well even though none are made on premises which again was ok Draytons winery was the best out of all three, Emily was a great host and knew the wines very well and was very engaging, would recommend this winery, we became a member and spent nearly $1000 which was again a reflection on the service and the wines. Overall a good experience but if you don’t like whites which I don’t, then this may not be the tour for you, perhaps a suggestion, each one should be flexible for the audience. Chocolate tasting was ok, very over priced chocolate though. Great job Emma with driving and looking after the group

Overall is was good. No one was able to state why they don’t ship to the US, so I ended up giving away wine I purchased. Also, if you are looking forward to be being tipsy then I recommend this trip.

Great day had. Melanie, you made today exceptional. We all had a great time. Thank you for being our tour guide for today...cheers to you!

Emma was wonderful, her energy incredible. Very kind, helpful, knowledgeable and professional. However, suggestions I would make would include a coffee/bakery stop on the way up. 7am pick up means people are up 6am or before and may not feel like breakfast so early, we passed a couple of potential places so no need to go out of your way. A coffee/snack stop in the long drive would have been appreciated by many. The first winery was really interesting and they were prepared for us. The lunch winery then gave us a weird room with a view of a carpark when tables with amazing views were available and the place practically empty?! Why? The food was also pretty poor quality and very overcooked. Time for a different lunch stop?. The place was nearly empty so why we weren't treated more respectfully was a question. We got the uninspiring person telling us about wine and the enthusiastic one was helping 2 people who arrived after us?! The wine was poor, the 'rose' particularly rough. Apparently you should drink it with ice and lemon, neither provided with the tasting or glass they gave me with lunch! When you have a wine tour of people who presumably like wine, why on earth do wineries bring out dregs of basically empty bottles to serve them first? The first winery opened a new bottle each time for us, it was noted. 3rd winery was supposed to be the most historic of the area and then you walk into what looks like a dated 1960's staff canteen??? Apparently they had a fire, put up a new building and added a few photos!!! The server tapped our glasses twice each mini pour which was odd, could they not teach staff how to serve wine?!?? It was run down frankly. Again, why not choose a better winery? Wine dyed blue with food dyed and non functioning toilets with blue bleach!!! It was unsavoury in my opinion! Lastly a 'chocolate shop' tourist trap. We all bought the overpriced chocolate and weren't even taken to the main shop where you could get coffee??? They made a fortune from us but made it feel as if they were doing us a favour???!!! The scenery is stunning and Emma was great but the itinerary could be improved

This has been an enjoyable day, in the Hunter Valley...The Sobel Vineyard was our Best...the Host was passionate & Funny...during the hole time of his talk...His Wines were enjoyed by most of group. Lunch was in a very nice place too & tasty choices... Last was the Chicoclate stop where most bought a small treat to take home. Our Driver was nice & considerate at all tge stops...not pushy or rushing the slower visitors... Mostly a very enjoyable time.

A two hour bus ride to get there but fairly scenic. Each winery was great and offered unique angles on the region’s wines. Lunch was really good and filling. Our tour guide, Emma, was fantastic and made sure we were all having a good time, was knowledgeable of the area, and easy to get along with.

I enjoyed the Hunter Valley Wine Tour. We went to 3 different Wineries and then did a chocolate tasting. Our driver, Cam, was very flexible (for example …2 of the 8 people in this tour had never seen a wild kangaroo up close. Cam saw some, pointed them out and then drove as close as he could get and let us get out to take pictures. I had a great group of people in this tour…all way younger than me, but very kind and included me in their conversations. Wines we sampled were good. It was a fun day!

Hunter valley is worth visiting. 4 pines resort and its surrounding is lovely for taking pictures. I would not say it is value for money but i think the price is reasonable.

Pleasant day trip. We only visited very small wineries (I would have liked to have visited some of the larger , more well known ones). Lunch was good. We had a fun day.

It was an unforgettable experience! Mr. Alan was a our guide. Picked us without an issue, his stops were long enough to rest and keep going. Wineries chosen were spectacular, you'll be right where the wine is made or a nice seating area trying endless tastings. They are abundant and they are very proud about their product so feel free to ask questions. The kangaroo stop is so fun! I highly recommend it while in Sydney. Food was excellent quality served with wine and other drinks. I had the steak and it was good. Good size servings. Chocolate stop was interesting. Alan is such a sweet and knowledgeable guy!

Alan was a fantastic guide that went to details and extra mile to ensure we visit his ‘friend’ Billy and kangaroos right infront of us ! Had a great time ! Kudos Alan !

A fantastic trip through the Hunter Valley, our Guide Alan was exceptionally knowledgeable and entertaining. I highly recommend this adventure for anyone looking for a fun intro to the Hunter Valley wine region.

We booked our trip to the Hunter Valley well in advance and paid upfront. On the day, we waited at the designated pick-up spot, but the bus never showed up. We called the company and were advised there were some issues with the bus and that they would call us back with an update. An hour later, still no contact. We called again, only to be told the trip was canceled. No one had informed us, no compensation was offered, and the person on the phone simply suggested we either rebook for the following week or request a refund. Honestly, we were shocked. I even said to my group, “Who would rebook a tour with them again, there is no trust.” It was clear that this was a purely transactional relationship, with no regard for customer experience. There were several of us waiting: four from my group and three other ladies. The treatment we received from Sightseeing Tours Australia was completely substandard. I would strongly recommend that no one book with them—they clearly do not care about their customers. I explained to the staff that this was a special occasion and that we had planned our entire day around the trip. There was no sympathy, no accountability. Terrible, terrible experience. Avoid at all costs!

We really enjoyed the trip and Am was a great guide and bus driver. The trip could be improved by changing the 1st toilet stop to even a service station. The toilets were grim and somewhere to buy a coffee or breakfast would have been very welcome given the v early start. Or you could replace one of the wine tastings (preferably the 2nd one which was pretty uninspiring) with a coffee and croissant stop. The first wine tasting was excellent and the 3rd one was good. Also there was mention on the promotional literature of a cheese tasting but that didn't happen or even get a mention

Excellent way to spend an overcast day. Very comfortable bus and it was great value for money. We tasted about 20 wines at three venues: Sobels, 4 pines (a brewery but wine taking from several wineries) and Draytons. Overall it leaned a little too much into sweeter wines rather than dry, which most of the bus would have preferred. The highlight was the behind the scenes tour at Sobels, hosted by Hayden.

This was just what we needed. We had a free day in Sydney and wanted to see some of the wine country near the blue mountains. Our driver and guide Karen did a wonderful job keeping us on schedule and helped to get the most out of the trip. She also provided lots of interesting information about the region and Australia. The wines were excellent and each winery had its own personality. We bought a few to bring home in our luggage. .It was a long day but fairly comfortable. Much easier leaving the driving and logistics to the professionals. As a bonus, We even saw a few wild kangaroos!

The tour was very nice and the bus was clean and comfortable. Emma, our driver was informative, accommodating and very friendly

We took Dave's Travel Group to a full day Hunter Valley Wine Tour from Sydney - it was great! Matt was a very personable, delightful guide who pulled out all the stops. highly recommend!