Gears & Grapes Getaways

Expensive but fun. Only the first beer is free. Bikes are good condition. Safety is skimmed over a little… Wouldn’t probably recommend for new riders. It’s around 7 miles in total for the Beer & Bike tour of SF, and pretty flat. We really enjoyed it.

We did the beer and bike tour which also gets you tickets to Alcatraz. The bike tour was so unique and off the beaten path. I initially booked the tour because there were no tickets to Alcatraz but we ended up loving it. Our tour guide was very cool and clearly enjoyed showing us around. You do not need previous urban biking experience but I think it’s better suited for those who are somewhat active. We biked for about 2.5 hours on mostly flat road but there are hilly sections. I’d definitely recommend this tour to anyone especially over those long bus tours.

We did the beer and bike tour in sf with Oliver. He was a great tour guide and a lot of fun. The bike tour was a good way to see the city and learn more about less popular areas.

These guys are the best way to see some out of the way stuff in San Francisco. Loved the bikes and brews tour! Don’t miss it!

This has been the worst experience I have ever had with trying to book a service. I emailed this company 3 weeks in advance and made several phone calls and got the run around the whole time. A week ago I received an email that they should be able to confirm my reservation by the end of the day. After that I heard nothing even though I emailed and called (got a machine) several times over the past week. Finally today I called and got a person. She apologized and told me there was no room for us the day we were trying to book. She explained that they had been having some staffing problems, but really, three weeks of run around? There is no excuse for having kept us on the line for that long and then not accommodating us. The last good review this company received was over five months ago. Not sure if they’re under new management or what. Zero stars!

Our day looked ominous, but turned out to be a perfect day. Thanks to Ari for being our guide and taking us out on a day that looked like it would be miserably rainy. Also thanks for working hard to meet up with us amidst all the World Series parade madness! And, thanks to Gears and Grape for being flexible and working with our schedule.
Ari picked us up about 5 blocks from our hotel and drove us up to Dry Creek in a passenger van with just my wife and I. Good conversation and good views all the way up.
As we hoped, the rain cleared and we were presented with a gorgeous, fall day. Cool (not cold) temperatures, mostly sunny, and gorgeous leaves changing colors.
The bikes were good and well maintained. Helmets and water bottles were provided. A few minutes to adjust the seat was all that was required. (They asked for our heights when making the reservation to estimate the frame sizes needed.)
We visited 4 wineries through the day with three biking stretches. I believe our longest ride was about 4 miles and mostly flat. Easy ride. Only mild challenge was a steep entrance to one of the wineries.
First winery was Truett-​Hurst. Nice velvety reds and friendly pourers. Beautiful grounds with organic gardens and flowers. Picnic areas set up near the creek.
Second winery was Raymond Burr. Interesting to see the place that the actor started and the memorabilia. Wines were decent and the pourers a bit grumpy.
Third winery was Quivera. Great wines and friendly people as well! Here is where Ari laid out out lunch of meat, cheese, crackers, quinoa salad, and mixed green/​feta salad. Yummy stuff. The winery staff kept coming outside to the tables to continue our wine tasting. An added bonus… a 130 year old fig tree on the property with a ton of ripe fruit. We helped ourselves to a few for dessert.
Last was Uptick. Good wines and nice memorabilia from the owner’s former days in Wall Street.

The gears and grapes wineries tour had to be one of the highlights of my trip. The shuttle pick-​up/​drop off from San Francisco is extremely convenient as you do not want to be stuck in Californian traffic, especially with alcohol in your system. Ari was super awesome as a tour guide and Rimm (sorry if I misspelled your name!) was very helpful too.
The bike ride was not bad at all, we rode about 17 miles to 4 wineries. I do admit, we were all exhausted at the end of the bike ride and passed out on the shuttle home. I highly recommend doing this tour. Wine country is beautiful and biking allows you to really enjoy all of it. It makes you take your time and enjoy the scenery instead of it passing in a blur in a tour bus. The wine wears off quickly as you bike, unless your drink too much. In that case, I’m sure Ari or whoever is leading the tour is more the willing to drive you around to continue the tour.
Pros:
–Biking was fun
–Scenery is beautiful
–Awesome guides
–Variety of wineries visited
–Shuttle from and to San Francisco
–Shuttle caries all purchased items and drunk people
–Included lunch is delicious!
Cons:
–Tastings not included in price, must pay for each one. It’s okay to share.
If you ever want to visit Napa Valley, do it on a bike. It is the best way to really see the it, and the wine taste so much better when you work for it.

I was visiting California/​San Francisco for the first time and one of the main things I really wanted to do was visit wine country. I don’t really remember how I ran into Gears & Grapes, but I’m really glad I did. Of course all the reviews on Unilocal helped my decision that touring Napa with this company would be unique.
At first, I was apprehensive about riding around with a bike whilst drinking wine the whole day. But, the routes aren’t tough to pedal through. It definitely helps that they provide you with well-​maintained bikes that you can control the resistance while you pedal up/​down hills. Also, the tipsiness goes away when you ride. I feel that you get the best view riding in a bike right next to all the wineries. It is way better than riding in a van the whole time, which limits your senses in order to enjoy Napa or whatever tour you choose.
Arie was our tour guide. She is super nice and friendly! I definitely appreciated when she drove my friend and I to a bus stop at the end of the day when she learned that we were getting around SF through public transportation. She went above and beyond her duty to really accommodate us in that instant (among the other instances through the day) with her thoughtful consideration to save us from riding one bus instead of two at the end of a long, yet exhilarating day of drinking and exercise :) (Thank-​you so much, Arie!)
Overall, touring wine country through Gears & Grapes is an experience you won’t forget! The wineries that they choose to take you all have their unique beauty with really nice staff.
Cheers!

What a great way to see the wine country! Ari was a very outgoing and knowledgeable tour guide. She picked us up at our hotel in Oakland and whisked us up to Napa Valley. We ended up riding to 4 different wineries ranging from large to small. Great lightweight Marin hybrid bikes. Ended up riding about 18 miles with only one hill. The suggestion o have is to pace yourself with tasting: 3 – 5 tastings per winery is ALOT of wine (and you still have to bike!). Ari served a gourmet picnic lunch at the 3^rd winery. Cheese plate, salami, turkey, quinoa salad, bread and a arugula salad. And wine!
Ari drove the van as the sag wagon so if we bought anything, we could throw it in the van. Or if you got tired, you could just ride.
We were picked up at 10:15am and arrived back at our hotel at 6:15pm. Highly recommend!

Best way to see the wine country! Agreed. Ari picked us up at our hotel and it was a nice ride out meeting the 5 other people in our group. Ari is a great guide and the equipment was all in fine shape. We really enjoyed every aspect of the tour.
The difficulty level of the ride depends on your fitness level (duh) so it will test you if you have not biked or run lately. Keep in mind you will be drinking a lot of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinots if you choose the Russian River Valley.

As a local SF resident it’s practically mandatory that you go to Napa once a quarter. There’s always friends or family in town.
But, this time I wanted to see Napa in a new way and make it a fun excursion for my boyfriend. This was a great date we booked through HowAboutWe.
Pick up and drop off was at the Ferry Building – super convenient.
We were most impressed by Ari and Anastasia’s knowledge of wine and the Napa area. They were great resources and super nice too. In fact, they went out of their way to ensure we had fresh water at every turn (which when biking in the summer is very needed).
The bikes are in great condition and super easy to use. None of the hills were too tough (and I don’t bike in the city) and it was a gorgeous way to explore and taste wine.
They had a fresh lunch prepared for us halfway through too so it was a good break in between.
I can’t wait to go on one of their other tours! Sonoma anyone?

Of course this business has a perfect 5 stars! My husband and I went to celebrate our 10 year in Napa and decided to spend our day on the Napa tour. It was so much fun I can’t stand it! I have read some other reviews and agree with all of it so I will say one more thing… even if you do not ride bikes you still can go — it wasn’t hard or imposable. They made it easy to bike and not like this super hard workout event! Neither of us are what you would call «in shape» and we had no problem at all– swear! You can do it too!

This is the best way to see wine country! On my 30^th birthday, Ari (owner, driver and tour guide) and Ben picked us up from the doorstep of our hotel and thus began one of the most fun days I can remember drinking wine, meeting new people, having random and hilarious conversations and just enjoying the gorgeous wineries and roadside views of the Russian River Valley. We went to 4 wineries, 3 smaller (aka we would have never heard about these on our own most likely) and one large one (Twomey-​wow!!) all with gorgeous gardens and views. The lunch was perfect-​lots of different veggie and grain based salads, a cheese plate, fresh bread, etc… as a vegetarian the only thing I couldn’t eat was the cured meat plate (obviously).
The bike ride ended up being around 10 miles and the last leg of the trip was literally a 2 mile coast… very good idea Ari! I am SO happy my husband and I decided to try this tour and will be recommending it to anyone heading to SF!
Also, as someone who literally knows nothing about wine tasting or the fancy way of doing things, I was glad that Ari taught us the polite way to ask for a second tasting of wine-​just ask to «revisit» it… I highly recommending using this tip:)

To take a leaf out of our ol’ pal Ruggy’s book: Humans are divided by those who can still look through the eyes of youth and those who cannot.
You know, I don’t like to admit that quite lately, I’ve run in to more of the latter than the former. And actually, I preface this review with this little one-​two, because just today I had a particularly horrid experience (not with Gears & Grapes) that involved a full grown adult business owner hurling expletives an innocent person for blocking his driveway, and then turning around and telling his own dog to «quit f*cking barking.» And the best part was that he owns a dog-​sitting business… And this poor girl was not in front of his driveway at all!
I generally think that SF is a compassionate city. But it’s funny that our small business owners, the ones we pride ourselves on, can be ridiculously mean and intolerant for the sake of… well, being ridiculously mean and intolerant! What’s with that? All I can think is that the eyes of the… non-​youth (?) become DISpassionate. And you know just as much as I do, it doesn’t have to be so.
Enough of my pedestal-​ing. But really, thank God there are others out there who agree with me, like Ari & the crew at Gears and Grapes Getaways. Talk about a fun, full-​of-​life girl, and a fun, full-​of-​life tour. It was completely different than what I expected, but exactly what I wanted: being outside with people who love to relax and breathe deep and sweat a little. You throw in cheese and wine? *game*over*
If you’re not already sold on the idea of riding a bike through Napa with a personal guide, all the while imbibing at 4 different wineries, then you’re probably crazy. But let me try to get you on board. You WILL have FUN! Ari is accommodating, and will help you with whatever you need.
But truly, what set this tour apart from what I expected is the amount of laughter that happened on it. The guides were warm and happy! And they wanted to talk, and they wanted us all to be happy and feel good! Taking care of all the details (picking us up, loading our bikes in the van, getting us to Napa, tire problems, lunch, getting in to wineries) made me feel completely carefree. Who wouldn’t love to be carefree in Napa Valley, wine in hand, wind in your hair and off your face? (at one point I’m pretty sure there was wine in my face and hair in my wine (my own hair, that is– yeah, I’ve been known to do the accidental dunk from time to time… so what?)). I had a blast, and it was in huge part due to the energy that the guides exuded.
In sum, Gears and Grapes is the kind of tour for people who love to have fun outside and who can easily chat and laugh and who love to eat and drink… It is probably not good for you if you are the type of person who yells the eff word at your dog. But on the other hand, it might do that guy some good.
My only, tiny little complaint is that I didn’t get one of the hot lookin’ male tour guides on the website. But it was way better that they didn’t see me like that anyway. Besides, Ari is a gem among gems! fiiiiiiveee sttarrrrrs… Super fun. Go ride bikes!

My sister and I were in San Francisco on vacation and wanted to take a trip to Napa. We picked Gears and Grapes after reading favorable reviews on Unilocal.The experience was a great one and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to check out some great wineries, meet fun people, and stay active while doing so.
Ari was our guide and she picked us up at our hotel. She was really friendly and really helpful when it came to suggesting things to do in the San Fran area. She did a great job of facilitating conversation within our small group of just four people.
We visited four different wineries throughout the day, biking a total of 14 miles or so. We had lunch when we arrived at the third winery, which was really delish. Ari had a great spread of meats, cheeses, and a few different salads to choose from. We visited a small family owned winery, 2 small-​midsize winery, and Chandon, which was a huge winery. It was great to experience all of the different types of wineries out there.
Ari was so knowledgeable of wine. She is a sommilier– and therefore was able to really explain things and answer questions we had. She also took pictures of us throughout the day which we could later check out on facebook!
The day was very relaxed– we had plenty of time to sit at each winery and enjoy the wine, food, and surroundings.
In conclusion– Gears and Grapes was a great choice and I would definitely consider doing it again if I came back to San Francisco. The trip to Napa was great and Ari made it a very memorable experience!

Fantastic tour!
I decided to surprise that someone special with a wine tour since she’s never been. We stayed up in SF the night before the tour and enjoyed a wonderful night in SF. Went to bed early to prepare for the tour the next morning. I was glad we did this because after the tour, we were really exhausted from a really fun day!
Ari and Aurilia picked us up from our hotel and were immediately off to pick up the other 4 people touring with us. Within 20 minutes of being picked up we were already done picking up everyone else and on our way to the Russian River Valley! Both Ari and Aurilia were fun to talk to and we had a bunch of good wine conversation on the way up. We were stoked to get to our first winery.
In totally we went to 4 really great wineries and met a lot of good people along the way. My girlfriend and I are out of shape, however, and after the first stint on the bikes, we were pooped! If you’re going to go to the Russian River Valley, remember to get some good rest as the route is a little hilly. It was by no means an issue for anyone else in the group; we were simply more out of shape than we realized!
The great news is if you do end up feeling a bit tired or pooped like us, they will gladly put your bikes back up on the van and you can ride to the next winery. Ari and Aurilia were very friendly, and they made sure we felt comfortable and were having fun.
The lunch spread was absolutely DELICIOUS! I’m definitely a carnivore and I totally enjoyed what they had for us. The selection of meats, cheeses, breads, salads, and pasta was really a treat. The combination with great wine really made for a memorable meal with everyone.
After the tour was over, we had a bunch of excellent wine in our tummies and even more wine in bottles we purchased along the way. To really exemplify how much Ari and Aurilia were thinking of us, they made sure that the car was always parked somewhere cool or if it was impossible, that the air was running so the wine didn’t spoil while we were riding or while we were at the next winery!
I absolutely would recommend this to anyone looking for a really personalized tour that’s a bit different from the usual. Ari and Aurilia are both sweethearts and really do make this tour special!

My wife and I had a fun time with the girls from Gears & Grapes. I wasn’t anticipating 3 miles between wineries, but as long as you’re in average shape then you should be good.
If you want to go wine tasting in a different way with no wine buzz, do this!

I bought a Groupon for a Gears & Grapes trip for my boyfriend’s Xmas present, then bought myself a ticket. We booked a trip to Dry Creek Valley (in Sonoma county).
We BARTed into San Francisco and were picked up at a hotel a couple blocks from a BART stop around 930. The van ride to Dry Creek Valley took between 60 and 90 minutes, and our guides, Ari and Clint, did a great job trying to get conversation going so we would have fun as a group. By 11, we were wine tasting. We stopped at 4 wineries through the course of the day, and we were also provided lunch. We were back in San Francisco by about 7pm. As I understand it, the company schedules tours to different wineries, and can tailor the trip according to your interests.
Note of caution, if you’re not particularly confident in your biking skills: You may want to specifically mention that when you’re booking. One of the wineries we went to (Montemaggiore) was up on a giant hill — hence the name. I bike pretty often, and that part of the ride was challenging for me. I think the majority of our group ended up walking their bikes up the hill, and I think at least one person gave up and took the van up.
If you’re wondering what to bring or wear, don’t worry if you want to bring an extra jacket /​a bag to carry home things you buy. Clint led our bike ride, while Ari drove the van to each stop, so you’re able to leave items in the van with no problem.
Lunch was lovely — there was a cous cous salad, farro salad, fresh bread, cheese, asparagus, and the meats. Everything was vegetarian except a plate of cured meats (obviously), and I think the farro salad was vegan.
Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves and would love to do it again! The amount of wine and food provided were fairly generous, the bikes were in great shape, and our guides were knowledgeable and friendly. It would be a great trip for guests, or just even for local folks who want an opportunity to wine taste but don’t want to be just driven from winery to winery.

My husband and I had grabbed a Groupon for this, but at the last minute my inlaws decided to come to town the weekend we had scheduled our trip to the Russian River Valley! Michelle at Gears and Grapes was really great in helping me arrange for the three of them to join us — a feat, because there weren’t any more spots available.
We drove up to meet them instead of being picked up in SF, simply because it meant we could sleep in a bit. We met them at DeVero in Healdsburg, and from there biked to VLM, then Thomas George, before rounding out our day at Moshin.
The bikes were in great shape and Ari and the other woman running the tour (whose name I have shamefully forgotten) were knowledgeable and acted as great cheerleaders as we hauled up long stretches of hills.
I’m sure it’s very difficult to choose vineyards that will please everyone, but to my taste, I’m not sure I’d visit DeVero again. Moshin was certainly my favorite, and I ended up with two bottles from Thomas George as well, which the girls with Gears and Grapes let us stash in the van that they drove from vineyard to vineyard.
The lunch they brought along was great for keeping up our energy (salami/​speck, 3 cheeses, pasta salad, green salad, bread). I do wish we’d had more water — we all ended up with quite the headache afterward (couldn’t POSSIBLY have been all that wine — heh).
I’d totally recommend it if you have folks coming into town that want a more active experience. On the other hand, it IS pricey, though I know they certainly have expenses. I was glad I had found a groupon for the tour, and at that price I’d absolutely do it again.
I was definitely sore in a good way afterwards, and I felt much better about being so gluttonous at the vineyards because we were working it off between stops!

This was my first wine-​tour by means of biking and my second time tasting at the Russian River. It was an incredible experience… a sensory overload. Biking through wine country, I could smell the plants and trees, feel the fresh air and hear the birds and wind, things you’d miss riding in a car.
The wineries G&GG selected were beautiful and the wine was great. Also, the catered lunch was awesome.
The ride itself wasn’t difficult, but long enough that I felt little a work out… and everyone in the tour seemed to be «pleasantly buzzed» but there wasn’t any «drunk riding» (which was something I was a little worried about).
Finally, Ari and Sam were great guides: super knowledgeable about bikes and wine and really fun and friendly. They also suceeded in making sure everyone was happy and comfortable. Everyone in the group was great too.