Swanson Wine Tours

Even though this guy is about older than baseball,
He still knows his way around to some topnotch winerys. He’s very pleasant to hang with and shows his guests a very relaxed and full day.
Riding in his tricked out suburban ain’t bad either.
If you’re looking for a cool day trip, this is your guy.
Thanks jack… we pass a good time.

Let Jack advise you. He knows his wine and he will make sure you have the best day ever!

We have been using Jack to guide us though Napa and Sonoma for over 5 years now! He always makes the trip super special and can let you guide him to places you want to visit, or he can plan your whole trip (including lunch!)…I would highly recommend the later! Jack is extremely knowledgable as to not only where everything is, but as to each winery he takes you to. He always seems to find the most intimate, friendly, and relaxing spots!

Jack made our wine country experience! He customized our day to hit all the special, intimate tastings. He knows all the hidden gems that are personal and provides an incredible experience.
All we had to do was enjoy the afternoon… Jack arranged an amazing lunch spot, all our tastings, and kept us moving! We never skipped a beat.
Excellent. Highly recommend!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND
We met Jack while we were staying at Hotel Yountville as he was there to pick up a couple for a tour. I noticed him because he looked so professional & dapper standing next to his Suburban (we had a terrible experience the day before with a driver that was reclining in her seat & we sat for half an hour not knowing she was in the driveway).
We had Jack drive us the following day & he was the BEST SERVICE WE’VE EVER HAD in Napa. We’ve used numerous car services — most of them are large companies & you never know what you’re going to get.
Jack is:
— Professional
— Polished
— Knowledgeable
— Really nice guy
We will not use another service & highly recommended him — he brings the service to a new level!!!

Jack Swanson is amazing!
Jack revealed to us our favorite vintner of our entire 5 day tour through Sonoma and Napa (B-​wise). He was incredibly friendly and polite. He knew where to go and what to get. He also knew when to hang around and chat with the wife and I and when to let us have our time.
I would highly recommend Jack for any tour. I will 100% book him again if and when I return and I would 100% recommend him to everyone who mentions touring wine country.

We used Swanson Wine Tours back in 2010 (sorry this review is so late!). Jack was awesome! We already had a list of specific wineries we wanted to go to so he took us to all those, plus a couple of his favorites, which turned out to be great. We enjoyed his stories too and by the end of the day he felt like family. I would definitely use Jack again next time I’m wine tasting in the area!

5 STARS ALL THE WAY
I booked Jack for my sisters bachelorette party this November — 7 women who wanted an authentic Sonoma experience. I was quite prescriptive with the types of vineyards we wanted to visit (off the beaten path, cute, family oriented, and not mainstream) and Jack hit it out of the park.
He was professional from my first phone call to him, from pick-​up, to drop-​off. He booked 4 visits, and threw in a bonus surprise visit for us. We are photo-​obsessed, and he took a million of them for us — his smile never left his face. His demeanor is professional, yet friendly and down to earth.
An absolute pleasure, and I would use him again and again, and will recommend him to anyone and everyone who asks!

The wine was good but overpriced. The venue was beautiful and worth the trip.

This review is way overdue… I apologize Jack! We have used Jack twice, about five years ago and just recently on our recent trip. First off, this is the BEST wine tour experience hands down!
Jack will plan EVERYTHING out for you — down to the chinette plates and utensils for a picnic at one of the beautiful properties you visit. He finds out what you like when you book him and he tailors the experience to suit you. He is a wealth of information and has great stories of when he operated art galleries in his younger years.
Everybody knows him and he gave us lots of tid bits on how to get more out of our trip.
The new Surburban he picked us up in was spotless and luxurious.
He nails it! We’ll use him again and I highly recommend his service!

We took a wine tasting tour with Jack Swanson of Swanson Wine Tours in August. It was a rough start, my compadres were a little hung over and it took a visit to the first winery for them to perk up. And what a winery to perk up at! Our first stop was a small winery called B Wise. Wow, the views, the cave and the great wines. I’m not familiar with Rose wine, they had one that is out of this world in addition to several great reds. This ended up being our favorite winery. We were there for almost 2 hours with our new best friend, Colin, before we moved on to Ledson. Ledson was beautiful, but tip jars? I thought that was a little cheapo of them at what is a stunning château — however had nothing to do with Jack, it was a nice stop and we needed food (and had nixed his lunch selection — probably would have been way better). Our next stop was Lynmar Estates, which has glorious gardens and great Pinot. We made Jack stop at J Winery since it is one of our all-​time favorites (it still is — the sparkling is my favorite and both their Pinot Gris and Pinot Noirs were very tasty). We ended our day at Williamson Winery tasting room in Healdsburg. My advice is that all wineries should provide two handsome young men (one with an Aussie accent) to help you taste. Many $$ later… It was great day and Jack was great at reading our mood, popping in the right music at the right time and providing cool water when needed. Highly recommend and would book again in a heartbeat!

Amazing experience. Highly recommend them for wine tours. Could not have asked for a better experience

A wonderful experience! Jack is a great guide! He took us to some great small, estate vineyards. He’s certainly the most qualified and affordable guide for Napa and Sonoma. I couldn’t recommend him more!

Jack is absolutely, without question, the absolute best!
I recently used Jack on a trip with some seasoned Napa veterans and he exceeded our expectations in every way. He took us to vineyards we’d never heard of or considered and everyone blew our socks off. He gave us the history and story behind each place and was beyond pleasant.
I will definitely be using him every time I come back. Thanks Jack!

First off, let me apologize to Jack that it has taken me this long to write this review.
Second, Jack is the best. This would be our second wine country tour. The first time, we rented a car with some friends and drove ourselves. That is a fine, inexpensive way to get around. We saw all the big wineries, with lots of other tourists. For this trip, I wanted to not have to drive, and enjoy the tour with my wife.
I located Jack and booked him after speaking to him on the phone. He was willing to drive all the way to San Francisco and pick us up and then cart us around wine country. I pretty much let him pick the itinerary, and I am happy he did. He picked us up at our downtown hotel right on time and we hit the road. Throughout the day we saw 6 small, family owned wineries. Most of the time, there were only a handful of people there, and on one visit, we were the only two people there. His relationships with the wineries allows access the normal public can have trouble getting. The personalized service is outstanding. Not to mention Jack’s expertise of the area makes the driving in between the wineries enjoyable, acting as a tour guide. He doesn’t talk too much and lets you enjoy the scenery, but there is never uncomfortable silence either. He had a cooler full of waters and his SUV was impeccably clean. Coming back we hit a little traffic and went over our time slightly. He didn’t charge us any extra, and had a credit card machine in his car to finish the transaction.
Overall, he may be a little pricey for just two people, but I don’t regret it for a second. I will definitely call him again next time we head out west.

We recently went on a wine tour with Swanson Wine Tours… it was a wonderful experience. Our host was Don, very knowledgable and personable without being intrusive. He first took us to Coppola which we would never have visited… but we had a marvelous time! The winery is an event… restaurant, wine tasting, full bar, museum, pool, ampitheater… a true destination! We had lunch and a wine tasting and took our time meandering about the museum (my husband is an Apocalypse Now fan… so that display alone took a while!). Don took us to a couple of his favorite wineries and we requested to go to Bella and Mauritson… fantastic. It was leasurely and Don introduced us to all of the wineries that he had arranged to visit. The grand finale was a food and wine pairing at Williamson that Jack had arranged. Wow. Jack had described it as a life-​changing experience and he was spot on. Bill, the winemaster, talked us through every tasting and food pairing. The pairings were exquisitely done and the wine and food combo took both to a new level of excellence. Of course we had to join the wine club! I can’t begin to say how much fun we had but highly recommend Swanson to anyone considering a wine tour.

JACK IS THE BEST!!!
I really can’t rave enough about Jack and his services! We had a group of lovely ladies up for my bachlorette weekend festivities. Jack took such good care of us and gave us THE most memorable weekend of wine country history. He is professional, informative, kind and most of all FUN. He was the perfect addition to our group and I would hire him again in an instant.
I highly recommended using Swanson Wine Tours and expect nothing but the best from this company and Jack.
Thank you jack for the most wonderful weekend of my life, we will never forget you and I know we will see you on our next wine tasting adventure!

With so many choices for tour guides in Sonoma, I am so happy we found Jack! My girlfriend and I had never been to the area and we wanted to visit wineries that were not too «commercial» and not too obscure. We had a few must-​sees on our list, and asked Jack to help us fill in the rest… he did a great job with suggestions and itinerary and did not blink when we wanted to rearrange a bit on the fly. He seemed to know most of the people at the wineries also which was a plus…
Jack’s car was comfortable and immaculate and fully stocked with water and supplies for a long day of tasting. He was a safe driver and chock full of neat info on the area and wine in general. At one point, when I could not get a good photo of a herd of sheep at one winery, he tracked them down while we were inside tasting and emailed me a great shot later!
We will definitely call up Jack next time we’re in the area and need a hand getting around. Thanks Jack!

My Boyfriend and I and another couple had a tour with Jack through Sonoma County 2 weeks ago. The weeks leading up to the trip he was readily available any time we needed him to discuss possible wineries that we would want to see. He had great recommendations and we were excited to see how the day went.
The day of our wine tour he picked us up in an extremely clean SUV and drove us up to Sonoma. We made it to 4 wineries that day and we were very pressed for time because the places he picked were so fantastic! We spent 2 hours Lynmar alone. Jack picked amazing places and was full of so much information about the area.
Each winery we visited asked what tour we were with and we said Jack’s name they all smiled and said Oh god Jack is just so great! He is quite well known at alot of the wineries and everyone has the nicest things to say about him. We only did Sonoma that day with him and we planned to visit Napa the following day on our own. He gave us another handful of spots that we couldn’t miss and again we were totally impressed!
Jack even had the car fully stocked with waters on ice and anything you could possibly need during a picnic. I was very impressed. I HIGHLY recommend his services.

***Just used Jack again 6÷09÷11. Same phenomenal experience. Tolerated a very, very rowdy group so well and took us to such special places. He is the best!
Jack recently took our group of 4 women up to Napa for a full day of wine tasting. He picked us up in San Francisco right on time (a little early, as he promised). Goosecross called to cancel our tasting class on the ride up, so he called a friend and got us a tasting at an appointment-​only winery for our first stop (Biale). We were the only people there and the service was so personalized and friendly.
Jack brought us to V Sattui for sandwiches to go, and brought us to another winery (Frank Family) to eat. We popped inside for a bottle of wine and came out to see that he had set up a picnic table with a tablecloth, paper plates, napkins and cups.
Jack’s services are perfect if you don’t have an itinerary in mind. He likes to take you to his favorite places and his connections will get you excellent service. One of our favorite touches was the music selection that his 19-​year old son had provided. It was a collection of hits from our college days and really set the mood. He is extremely friendly and very knowledgeable about the San Francisco and Napa Valley areas. I would not recommend him for a group with specific wineries in mind — he prefers to pick from his favorites.
At the end of the day, we had tasted at 5 wineries and were gone for 10 hours. His price for SF to Napa to SF is $ 70/​hour, so the total was $ 700 (gratuity not included). Awesome day: great tunes, personable driver, clean vehicle, excellent choice of wineries. I will definitely use Jack again.