Texas Winos

Super fun time and the italian lunch paired with diff wines for each dish was the best wine tour meal Ive had! Dallas, our tour guide, was super cool and friendly as well. The only thing I would say is the last place we went to — Hye Market — wasn’t really a winery and I would have prefered a more classic sort of place. Plus the bathroom sitch there was unpleasant at best

Like other Unilocalers have pointed out, don’t expect much on wine education or tours of wineries, but do expect a very rowdy drive home.
Tips: Pack plenty of water and snacks. It’s a long day. Or pack some booze if that’s what you prefer. You can take a cooler with you on the bus, but no alcohol is allowed off the bus.
The wine tasting fee is separate, so if you get the groupon there will be more money to pay for the tasting. It is optional, but who goes on a wine tasting tour and not taste anything?
It is probably a better time with a group of people instead of a couple. If your are wanting a little romantic outing, this is not for you. If you want a party bus type of fun, then this is for you.
If you are looking for an actual tour of the winery, it’s not happening. It was basically here’s the wines, taste, next, taste, next… no real explanations of palate or pairings (with exception to the first winery; the owner did delve into that a little bit).
The winos will give you a nice glass to get your tasting on. We also received a cute glass from Fat Ass Winery.
Be prepared for a dance club on the way home. Literally. The music gets turned up and the ladies are in the narrow isles trying to bust some sweet moves while the bus is barreling down the highway hitting bumps and the brakes. Makes for some very hilarious moments! And makes for some unfortunate people getting drinks spilled on them, and having other people’s nasty body parts in their faces. I was hoping the guide would tell the woman drunkenly spilling her drink everywhere, «Hey you’re spilling your drink on these people who are trying to just get home in one piece.» But he didn’t do. A. Thing. Not cool.
Here’s how our day with the winos went: Our day started out with a light brunch at a wine bar, which was actually very good and plenty of food and one mimosa (extra charge for more, or for coffee). From there, boarded the bus and headed to the first winery in Johnson City. It’s a long drive, and the guide chats up folks and gives everyone a wrist band, and music is playing. BTW, your guide will also be indulging in the drinks, too. I thought that was unprofessional, because he ended up being responsible for a whole bus load of drunk people. I can see him participating in the tastings, but openly drinking the whole time was a bit much. Hell of a nice job perk, though! And don’t forget to tip the driver, bless his heart, putting up with all that!
First winery was nice. The owner was a really nice man and gave us some history and little wine education, chemistry style. The tasting went pretty quick and then we had a lot of time to kill, with nothing much really to do. Well, besides drink.
Second winery was a mess. Just a hurry up here’s your taste… and crowding around trying to get to the wine. Although I must say that the ladies that work at this winery were very friendly and handled the huge crowd very well. It must be a way better experience if you go there privately. Again, lots of down time waiting for the next stop.
The last stop was more organized. They obviously knew how to deal with the winos crowd, and has some light snacks for the group.
The drive home was the best part for me. Watching the ladies trying to dance on the bus… So funny! We managed to not get spilled on or nasty body parts shoved in our faces, courtesy of the drunk kid behind us because he had his Styrofoam cooler in the isle. Until the brakes got hit and a drunk girl literally fell on top of it and smashed it to hell. Then my husband and two other people literally caught this girl as she was falling when the brakes got hit, again. And then there was the creepy old guy feeling up on these young girls… with his equally creepy old wife…*shudder* Some folks will enjoy this kind of shenanigans, some won’t. So keep that in mind when deciding on going with the winos. And we were there on a Sunday. And also keep in mind that all those people left and DROVE home. *shudder*
I think that the winos could greatly improve on the experience in several ways. Instead of having so much down time, maybe take the group into Fredericksburg and allow us to walk around the town. It got pretty boring waiting and waiting for the next stop. Or, have a small tour of the wineries… actually I’m not sure how much there is to see, but there has got to be more than what we saw. Also, have your guide give some history about where we are going, some basic wine do’s and don’ts, basic wine pairings… maybe even a little written info… engage the crowd in some fun stuff like trivia on the way, instead of just encouraging the endless drinking… perhaps have your guide not be drunk/​drinking along with the crowd… I just saw plenty of missed opportunities. And lots of opportunities for law suits if something terrible were to happen.
Bottom line, it was a decent time, but I don’t think I will go again. If you do go, get the groupon.

If you want to spend your day tasting wine with the kind of people who drink Bud Light between wineries then sign yourself up for this spring break meets wine country crazy train. The majority of people on the bus think ‘the sweeter the wine the better’ while the rest of us were held hostage by their drunken antics. Save your self the bus ride and drink a bottle of cheap wine in a 6^th street bar on a Saturday night and you’ll have the same experience we did. Sad to see Texas wine country be dumbed-​down by this lot. Not recommended for anyone actually interested in wine or anyone with a decent IQ.

I’m giving this one star, because Zero stars is not an option.
Have you ever been in a bus accident and watched a train wreck at the same time? Well me and my friends can now say we have thanks to the Texas Winos!
Found the Groupon (I know… I know…) and booked a Sunday tour, one that was listed as the low key tour… not one of the themed sing-​along, rowdy busses and was looking forward to a day of wine tasting with 3 of my girlfriends. The day started out nice enough with a private brunch at Cru on 2^nd St. The food was a good start to the day, and probably the last nice thing I have to say.
I could go on about the 3 «wineries» we went to but I’ll keep this short and just say this… There are some outstanding wine makers in Texas, we just didn’t go to any of them. If you are a wine drinker and your tastes are above Barefoot or Strawberry Hill, avoid this tour at all costs. The wines we tasted at all 3 wineries were nearly all undrinkable syrup. I get that most of the «respected» wineries in the Hill country can’t accept 50 bus people… but really the wines were awful, and if I was from out of town, I would be laughing at Texas wines. This was a terrible representation. I’m not sure how Mike, our guide… who was drinking wine and beer all day… could call these wines good with a straight face. I guess that explained the beer…
Meanwhile back on the bus, the couple in front of us packed Crown Royal and bottles of Vodka and had been pouring drinks for all the groups of single young girls. We didn’t pay much attention to them until the ride home, when the club dance music cranked up on our low key tour and the impossibly drunk girls on the bus started dancing, and bumping into everyone and spilling their drinks everywhere. I hate saying this but I’m fairly certain this was the plan of the Crown Royal couple all along… they seemed predatory and majorly creepy… It became apparent that this ride back and opportunity to take advantage of these women was what they were planning all day. Major Ew.
After enduring the bad wine, the loud music, the drunk spilling and personal space invading dancers and the overheard nasty advances of sexual predators on the bus we were almost back to Austin… and that’s when our driver who actually kind of struggled to stay between lines most of the way back, failed to notice that the traffic had backed up at a green light. With 20 people standing drunkenly unstable in the aisle he had to slam on brakes sending them tumbling… and he still didn’t stop in time and we actually crashed into the pickup truck in front of us! To my utter shock the pickup just drove away… thankfully.
At this point, I just wanted to get back to Cru alive and without anymore physical abuse. We made it back and literally bolted off the bus as fast as we could.
So yeah… Advice to you Texas Wino’s…just call yourself a party bus, bring a bunch of jello shots and Jaeger-​bombs, drive around for 6 hours with a DJ and call it a day. Don’t bother calling yourself a wine tour.
If you truly want to taste good wines, and have any self-​respect, avoid these tours at all cost.

Bought as a gift but Texas Winos changed the time of lunch from noon to 2:30 just hours before the deadline. No chance for reschedule or reimbursement. Didn’t answer email and no phone number available. Thanks for nothing.

I came here for the wine tasting class with Mike. I have been to plenty of wine tasting classes in the past and this is definitely one of my favorites. Mike gave us lots of information about the different types of wine-​making processes used by each vineyard represented at our tasting. Being a bit of a nerd myself, I appreciated the very technical information he offered concerning the chemistry of each wine. I think he attributed that knowledge to the fact that his wife’s a chemist or something. A few times during the tasting 2 similar wines were placed in front of us and we had to discern which was which based on descriptions given to us by Mike. That really forced me to pay attention to the flavors as I drank. The environment (Cru restaurant) was very chill, and they offered us a 20% discount on all of the food, which is exceptionally delicious, particularly the lamb lollipops and the pear pizza. I am definitely doing this wine class again.

Texas Winos should re-​label this as a «Party Bus» and let people know that during the drive home the tour guide will #1) be drunk (our tour guide started drinking about 5 minutes into the tour). I didn’t think a drunk tour guide was allowed. #2) The tour guide will be dancing and grinding his body all over the available females on the bus (single or married). On our drive home our bus had a group of 9 ladies that were standing on the seats dancing, and female on females grinding their bodies on each other. The tour guide was too busy making out with the married lady at the back of the bus to care about what was actually going on.
I appreciate that these ladies did the responsible thing and booked a bus so they could drink; however, this isn’t a party bus. When I think «Wine Tour» this isn’t what I had in mind. Who was I going to complain to? The tour guide who was worried about who he was going to hook up with at the end of the night? Nope.
The wineries that we toured were ok. The Fat Ass Winery was my favorite one– very laid back and fun environment.

Two of my girlfriends and I decided to have a little reunion in Austin recently. As we were making our plans for the weekend, we realized that Texas Winos was offering roundtrip transportation to Wurstfest on Saturday. As beer lovers and travelers to beer festivals across the country, we were excited by this opportunity and immediately bought vouchers for the bus ride. My eager friend also went so far as to buy drink tickets ahead of time.
When we arrived in Austin, I received an email from Richard on Friday evening notifying me that there had been a mistake in the advertisement, and they were unable to bring us on Saturday. However, he offered to bring us on Sunday (free of charge). I was disappointed since we had made all of our weekend arrangements around this event on Saturday, but I understand that mistakes can happen. I responded that we appreciated his refund and would go on Sunday. Richard sent me a note at 3:45 AM Saturday morning asking where he should pick us up. Since I was on vacation and not checking my email constantly, I did not reply until around 10:45 AM, telling him where we would plan on meeting him.
I never heard anything back from Richard at that point. No confirmation or notice that he was no longer coming… nothing. We assumed the best and readied ourselves on Sunday morning to be picked up at 12:00. By the time 12:45 rolled around, we decided it was time to give up. I didn’t have a phone number for Richard, so I couldn’t call him to find out where he was and whether he was still planning on bringing us. By no means did we let this ruin our weekend, but it had been a big part of our planned trip to Austin and we were all disappointed that it didn’t work out!
I emailed Richard on Monday asking if he had ever received my email notifying him of our location and to also let him know that I was disappointed in his service. I also asked for a refund of the drink tickets we had not been able to use. Richard said he had missed my note and decided to make other plans that weekend instead of bringing us. The response I received was rude and unprofessional. If Richard had not wanted to bring us that Sunday, all he had to do was let me know and we never would have gotten into this situation.
Unfortunately, after the treatment I received from Richard, I can’t recommend Texas Winos to anyone else. I certainly won’t be using their services the next time I visit Austin.

I am very disappointed with Texas Winos. I bought 3 vouchers from groupon last year for myself, mom and sister. I also purchased the additional and much more expensive add on for both. We were unable to make it before the deadline as I had an emergency surgery. I have called and left messages and emails as had my mother to try to get an extension and reschedule and never get any reply. Even though they azure us in their website and recorder that they will. Many attempts have been made.
I have spent a lot of money and had no tour and no call back.

I had 5 friends coming to visit me in town and they wanted to check out some local breweries. There wasn’t a brewery tour listed on the weekend I wanted so I emailed and Richard wrote back saying they were going to create a tour that day, which was awesome. It ended up being 6 – 7 hours with free transportation and lunch and all the beers included for only $ 72/​person. I mean that is a sweet deal! We also got a tote bag, and a texas winos glass and a thirsty planet glass!
Then, the night before the tour– two of my friends weren’t able to fly in due to flooding at the airport. Richard refunded their tickets without hesitation. The customer service with this company is great!
On the tour day, we met downtown and was introduced to our super nice tour guide, Mike. We had the option of getting a drink at Micheladas but we held out for a long day of drinking ahead of us.
The tour bus was very comfortable, and there was a restroom on board (which none of us used because the stops had restrooms as well). There is overhead space for your bags and purchases. We brought water (highly recommended) and some snacks. I think we got really lucky (after reading the other reviews) that we had a very small group… probably only about 10 – 15 people total on the bus… a nice relaxed energy.
We went to Thirsty Planet first, and got 3 drink vouchers. 3 full pint glass drinks! And this was only the first stop of 3, ha! We got a tour of the brewery from an awesome girl with long blonde hair and glasses (sorry I don’t remember her name!)…one of my friends loves bottle caps and she even us practice putting caps on bottles. We stood at the bar and interacted with the staff, who were a lot of fun. Would highly recommend that vs going over and sitting at a table by yourself! You learn a lot and get some free pours/​tasters!
Next stop BBQ at Smoke N Hops. Pretty ok barbecue and the beer was ok as well. The cool thing about this place was that the bartender just served everyone whatever they wanted. You could tell they were really in for repeat business so we felt VIP! The brewer was there and he was super friendly and excited about beer– he gave the 4 of us a private tour of the brewery and decals, etc. — probably because the other guests on our bus were just sitting quietly in the back.
Last stop was Independence, which I wasn’t really a fan of. We kind of lost our beer buzz and the drive in between smoke n hops and Independence was kind of lulling. Plus, I had high hopes for the beer there but was’t a fan at all. I think we got two tokens there. I didn’t like my first pour so the staff was super friendly about switching it out. There was also a food truck in their parking lot but no one was hungry. The great thing was that our tour guide was reading the situation and got us back on the bus a little early. He also had a camera and took pictures– but I don’t think they’ve been uploaded to the site yet (7 days later) although they say it will be the wednesday after the event. Oh well, we got our own shots too! And we had a lot of fun!

This was an absolutely amazing deal! A group of friends and I had been wanting to go to Fredericksburg for quite some time as just a girls day out, but were unable to find anything that covered everything. Then we came across Texas Winos. The great thing about this tour is that they almost always have deals running to where you’re never going to have to pay full price for the trip, and that in itself is amazing. On top of that, not only do you get to go to F’burg, but they drive you there AFTER a delicious family-​style brunch at Cru on 2^nd.
If you’re looking to try a few wineries out for a day, I’d definitely suggest that you choose them! We’re already planning our second trip in January! Oh, and if you have a chance to talk with Richard, the owner, he’ll definitely hook you up!

I would love to give this a better review, but sadly I cannot. We got tickets to go to this through a friend for her birthday. We were stoked to go and do something new, but the trip was a bit of a disaster.
Transportation: To and from the wineries, the tour provided us a safe ride to and from each winery. This was no problem at all. in the beginning. By the end of the afternoon, the bus was a hot mess. Trust me I don’t mind a fucking crazy afternoon, but the last thing I wanna deal with is a bunch of absolutely shitfaced chicks dancing horribly in the aisles and shoving the not-​hot asses in a bunch of people’s faces. The music was so abysmal that it felt like the ride home after a 7^th grade ski trip.
Wine: Meh, the wine was okay. The tastings were interesting. We got to try some new stuff. Overall the wineries were best suited to people who were 70. I realise this might have been my expectations at play here — but I wanted to drink wine all day, not sip wine.
Moving on.
Food: The food they served us was horseshit. It was undersalted, bland food. Definitely not of the quality that I would assume a winery would be selling. Once again, catering to 70 year olds.
So. go on this trip if you want an overpriced wine tour, complete with shit show bus ride full of drunk assholes and bad food.

This was my second Texas Wino tour and this time it was my bachelorette. We had such a great and memorable time. Our guide, Steve, is fantastic! He was very kind and knowledgable. We may have been the rowdy bunch on the bus, but what do you expect with drinking all day?! Thank you Texas Wino’s for a great time yet again!

I just wanted to let you know we had a fabulous time on our wine tour yesterday for Jenny’s bachelorette party. Steve and Damon were an absolute delight to have as tour guides and they did a fabulous job keeping everyone under control and in good spirits. Just wanted to let you know how happy we were with our whole experience. Please ignore any negative feedback I promise you won’t be dissatisfied especially if its a group party. Reminder to all you are getting on a charter bus full of people who will be drinking all day. It will be loud, music will be played and everyone should be enjoying themselves.
PS: We love our shopping bags, koozies, wine souvenirs and t-​shirts we purchased of course. =)

As much as I would like to give this a higher ranking I can’t because there were so many missed opportunities to elevate the experience for the guest… by keeping us informed and engaged.
My daughter and I went on this 7 hour tour DFW tour yesterday. Let me ‘pause’ here, at this point we have ZERO idea where we’re going to what vineyards we’ll visit.
The group meet at Coal Vines in Dallas (nice restaurant) in a private room at 11am. The Texas Wino host did not greet us, nor did we checkin. Anyone could have eaten with us and they could’ve gotten on the bus. The room became overcrowded, if you were late… there wan’t a seat for you. The Brunch was AMAZING, plenty to go around. appetizers, pasta, pizza, salad… but NO mimosas as stated on the Texas Winos website.
On the bus we finally meet Jason, our tour guide… he handed out wine glasses and tote bags.
There was no detailed information except our first stop was about 10min drive. When we arrived at our first stop (Inwood Estates Vineyard) the guy working was shocked and overwhelmed but the number of people on our tour. I really didn’t feel welcome.
Back on the bus, we’re told our next stop was north of Fort Worth. We drove 1.5 hrs to a small town between Decatur and Bowie to Brushy Creek Vineyard. There was some confusing about us being split into two groups AND you could only taste sweet or dry, not both. Staff was friendly, Les knew the winery business inside and out (very educational).
After leaving Brushy Creek Vineyard we’re told the next winery was about 10mins away… after several winding roads, our bus driver stopped… we were LOST in the boonies. Jason never told us what was going on. After several minutes, the bus turned around and we headed to our third and final winery (Marker Cellars Winery). Notable: They were AWESOME!
After leaving our last winery, we’re on the highway… the bus pulls over. We’re never told why, only seeing Jason does something at the door… then we’re back on the road. Our bus was very lively on the way back, loud music, lots of singing, passing a wine bag ‘tap that bag’ and a few people were doing the Wobble in the aisle (not sure if that was safe while the bus was traveling on the highway).
Jason announce when we were two minutes away for Coal Vines to be sure to gather our belongs, check the space around us… and honestly, I don’t remember him thanking us for spending our day with him and Texas Winos.
I really felt Jason could have been more engaging with the guest. One example: We had someone (s) celebrating a birthday and an anniversary. He asked, but he didn’t acknowledge or have us sing happy birthday or wish them a happy anniversary. People are spending money and time on their special day! Just go the extra mile!
BTW, the charter bus was very nice and the driver was great!
Note: Tour guides should ALWAYS carry a wine and beer opener. ALWAYS!

Took a Texas Winos tour Saturday. Met downtown at an Italian resturaunt. Food was descent. Had two menu choices. This was included in trip. Nobody there to greet/​welcome you… you just kind of follow everyone with ice chests. Board the bus
From there… nothing fancy just functional but comfortable. Richard our guide was personable and open to feedback. We were excited about our 3 winery stops: fat ass, hilmy and hye market. Fat ass was our first stop and it was great. Then we found out we were going to inwood instead of hilmy. We were disappointed. Inwood was not for us. Hye market was last… Historical and quaint place. Bus ride home was fun with dancing and good music. Overall good for a group outing.

My friends and I went on the Texas Winos tour this past Saturday. We all had a great time wine tasting in the boutique Texas wineries. We went to Fat Ass Winery, Inwood winery and Hye market. We were suppose to go to Hilmy winery but they changed the itinerary last minute. Instead we went to Inwood winery and that was a drag.
Positive:
*Great lunch at Michelino’s at downtown riverwalk before the bus tour. This was included in the tour.
*Richard our guide was friendly, charming and helpful.
*We didn’t have to drive around the wineries and had a good time dancing and singing on the bus ride. We even made new friends from Houston.
Negative:Last minute change of itinerary.
Overall we all had a wonderful time on Texas Winos tour. We like the downtown pick up and drop off. My friends and I ended up having dinner at the Palm. Great Saturday adventure!

Frankly, this was a bust. It was a 7 hour waste of time and money. The wine was sub-​par, the lunch was god-​awful, and the tour bus — which was told would be relaxed and calm — was ridiculous loud and obnoxious.
I give it two stars because I didn’t die on the trip or be kidnapped by supposed wine tasting guides. But there isn’t much positive to say otherwise.
The worst part was the loudness of the music. I’m a 25 y/​o, hard of hearing gal who wears hearing aids and it was way too loud. My husband got a major headache from the trip and it wasn’t from the crappy wine.

I was visiting Austin from New Orleans and, while searching for winery tours and finding that they were all sold out, I stumbled across the Texas Winos Lake Travis Sun and Sunset Boat Bash. I purchased the ticket and am very glad I did. This ended up being the most fun I had in Austin. Richard, the business owner, was very cool and friendly. We docked the boat on an island in the middle of Lake Travis and we all partied for like 6 hours. I even met some people that I ended up partying with later that evening.
Richard was nice enough to let me know to call next time if they are sold out of Wine and Beer tours and that he can usually squeeze people in where there might have been a cancellation. Next time I visit Austin, I’ll definitely be contacting Richard to take a tour (and hopefully another great boat ride)!

Our experience with Texas Winos was not fabulous… I know they’re trying but in the end it really rates a 2-​ish for me based on my expectations. In retrospect, I realize we could have paid about the same for a trip that resembled more of what we had in mind. So if you want a small, intimate tour, look elsewhere.
The friend who referred me to the trip also said their day hard started with brunch at Crave followed by a trip to 3 wineries. Sounded awesome; and this was when I naively bought our tickets, dreaming of a quiet brunch and a small limo van. Our particular trip involved arriving at and immediately leaving from the convention center in a massive, loud, tour bus of 80+ people, most of whom were already drunk. We went on a wine tour that was identified as «relaxed» because my mom was with us. While everyone there was really nice and fun, and our host, Mike, was hilarious, friendly and amazing at wrangling drunks, it was definitely not a relaxed atmosphere.
We thought things might improve. Nay, nay. Stop 1: cafeteria style italian food and wine pairings at Woodrose winery. The winery wine was awful. The food was almost as terrible. I wouldn’t have eaten there if I weren’t famished.
Second stop was Hillmy cellars. Hillmy is a working pesticide-​free farm complete with goats, sheep, chickens and great pyrs guard dogs. Definitely the only spot that made the trip worth it but we could have done it for MUCH less. Good wine and a most interesting host at the winery. The venue is beautiful and they are actually a working ranch, I’ll be back to visit Hillmy.
Unfortunately, our last stop was yet another letdown. Not even a winery, just a market in the middle of Hye named, uniquely,“Hye Market” where they bring in wines from another winery in Mason Texas. While it was a really cute little place with a kitchen that smelled like heaven (I’ll come back here for sandwiches!), we got exactly one wine tasting after which the owner of the venue proceeded to promote his off-​site brewery, provide beer tastings, and have his staff actively upsell us on buying drinks and food. I’m sorry… I’m on a wine tasting. Wanting more than a tablespoon of wine at a winery and having to pay $ 13 for a glass instead feels kinda like rape. Anyway, I bought a bottle of honey pickled jalapenos for $ 9 (because, whats better than getting raped than asking for it) and two days later I got double charged for the stupid things on my credit card. Bastards.
The ride back was crazy debauchery. Lots of yelling and singing and wine bottles being passed around. Eventually, you have to beat them or join them, so we all, including my mom, sang along with sounds of the seventies and eighties and drank from the bottles being passed around.
I can see this being fun with a large group of friends or for a major birthday party where you’re all wasted and don’t care, but if you’re wanting a quieter, more authentic wine-​tasting experience– which is what I was going for– stick with one of the smaller tour companies.