My Winedays — Local services in Paris

I booked “From Paris: Day Trip to Champagne with 8 Tastings & Lunch” via Get My Guide app and thoroughly enjoyed my day ! There was a slight change in plan and I was promptly messaged by Anastasia via WhatsApp regarding this, which was not a problem for me as my time was flexible.

On the tour day, we were greeted by Cédric who arrived on time in a clean, comfortable van. We were joined by a lovely American family and off we went out of Paris. Cédric drove safely and the journey was smooth. We stopped by for a valley view and had our pastries and first glass of Champagne. Then we proceeded to a small grower winery and had more tastings - the oak aged champagne was excellent. Then we had lunch with champagne pairing at another small grower winery - I had such a good time.

Cédric shared his knowledge on champagne and wine, history of the area and the various selection of champagne made by different houses and how to enjoy them. The waiter treated us to popping the champagne bottles with a saber - it was fun and for some reason felt celebratory! Then, we headed to Pommery for a cave tour and our last tasting.

Cédric drove us back safely and patiently amid the slight traffic back into Paris. I find Cédric so refined, with the sophisticated mannerisms of a classic European gentleman and I feel he was indeed the right person to guide us for the day - refined (yet warm and friendly) experience to enjoy French wine/ champagne.

The tour price was on the expensive side, however it was really worth it with the stress-free service, knowledgable guide, yummy food and the sheer amount of champagne we got to taste. 5...

We booked a tour of the Loire Valley for myself, my wife, her parents and my sister-in-law and were extremely fortunate to have Bastien as our tour guide. He was incredibly engaging, knowledgeable, and friendly. We asked (in advance) that we change and take the tour of Chenonceau instead of Chambord and, while we had to leave a little earlier, it was no problem at all. We were picked up very promptly in the morning, had a seamless drive to the Chateau and a wonderful time in the morning, stopping for coffee and a croissant along the way. The first vineyard we visited was probably our favorite of the two. We sampled a variety of their wines, all were wonderful and had an absolutely amazing meal! Each dish was a little better than the last and the host was absolutely wonderful, sharing some details of the meal and each wine while we were enjoying. The second vineyard also provided some very nice wines and, while it was a bit of a challenge to communicate with the owner/vinter, Bastien was wonderful helping us and translating when necessary. It was a very nice, newer vineyard, more rustic in feel but a very interesting facility and very much a local place (there were a couple families that came in to pick up their supply of wine for the week while we were there for our tasting!). I highly recommend this trip and, particularly Bastien with family...

Unfortunately, I had quite a negative experience with this company.

I booked my Champagne tour 1.5 months in advance of my intended excursion and was informed by way of email at 5pm on the day before the trip that it had been cancelled due to the tour guide testing “positive”. I could only assume that this was a positive Covid-19 result and while I am grateful for the notification, I was left completely underwhelmed at the brevity and time of the response. There was no apology for any inconvenience nor was there any attempt to try to accommodate my reservation on an alternative date or at an alternative time. I was simply informed that I would be refunded within a few days. After 5 working days, I had still not received my refund and when queried the following week, I was informed that there had been a weekend and so my funds would be on their way shortly. I fail to understand how a weekend is relevant after waiting 5 working days before making my enquiry. A further 3 working days later (so 8 working days in total), I was finally refunded.

While I understand that difficult situations can arise and cancellations may be required, I was disappointed in the service level and communications that I received when notifying me of...