What is the format of the wine tastings?
Depending on the tour, the wine tastings can be loosely informal or they can be comparative blind tastings; some will be food/wine pairings at dinner. Some tastings will occur at the lodging site, while others will occur at a selected winery or wine venue. Tours can include a post-hike picnic in a park or an evening tasting on the veranda of a bed-and-breakfast inn, in which case, the tastings will often be informal; as such, California Wine Hikes will arrange for wine availability. Comparative blind tastings are more educational, and include 20-point rating scenarios/tasting notes wherein participants judge a number of wines—usually six of the same varietal. This more formal type of wine tasting can appeal to those who have experience comparing wines, who just want to learn more about wine, or are intrigued by the notion of pairing wine with food.
