Dec 072013
Napa Valley and Sonoma Limo Tours – Try T3 Tesla Tours
There are any number of car, limo and driver services across wine country with varying levels of service, professionalism and vehicles. We were fortunate enough to spend a day touring with Napa’s T3 -Tesla Tours and Transportation. Instead of the standard limo or SUV you can find anywhere, we toured in a sexy, new, all-electric $100,000 Tesla S sedan. On top of that, Tesla Tours is no more expensive than most other services. Interestingly, all their fees and packages include taxes and driver gratuity, so total costs are disclosed up front. Visiting stunning wineries in a unique vehicle with courteous professional service…can you think of anything better? But if you need more traditional modes of transportation, T3 has that too.
Tesla Tours offers a number of wine touring options from picking boutique wineries off their “Preferred Winery List” to working with guests to create a fully custom itinerary. T3’s drivers or curators, as they are called, each have in-depth knowledge of their geographical part of wine country. We chose to do a combination of wineries we were familiar with and some that Tesla Tours introduced us to. It was the best of both worlds.
Tesla Internet Dash
We were met at our vacation rental home near Healdsburg by Mike and Chris who showed us the many cool and unique features of the Tesla S, including full internet capability. The sedan has a very high battery capacity so there is no need for a recharge stop along the way. The first thing I noticed was how comfortable I was in the back seat. At 6’- 3”, I was a bit concerned but it was no problem. The car is extremely quiet and has a very smooth ride. Getting in and out is simple and you get plenty of envious looks as you pull up to the winery entrance.
Tesla Tours prides themselves in the professionalism of their driver/curators and we found this to be the case. Our curator was not only knowledgeable about northern Sonoma where we were touring but was well known to the staff at each winery we visited including a couple of our choices, not on their preferred list. The local reputation of Tesla Tours’ curators meant that we as clients received “wine club” status treatment at all our stops even though we had never visited before.
Our tour started with a drive up Dry Creek Road past pre-prohibition Zinfandel vineyards resplendent in their fall colors of orange, yellow and red. This is always one of our favorite drives during the change of seasons. Our first stop was a personal favorite Sbragia Family Vineyards perched on a hilltop at the very end of Dry Creek Road. The view back up the Dry Creek Valley is breathtaking. While others bellied up to the tasting bar, Chris made certain we were seated comfortably on leather couches as we tasted through these exquisite wines at a leisurely pace.
Stop two was White Oak Vineyards where as first time guests we received many services reserved for wine club members because of their relationship with T3. This included a winery tour, sampling of reserve Cabernets and a tour of their upstairs art gallery. However, one of the most interesting moments was comparing our ultra modern electric Tesla to the antique mail-car at White Oak… both were very special.
The beautiful 53 acre Lancaster Estate in Alexander Valley was another excellent Tesla Tours suggestion. Here we were seated outdoors under large shade trees with a vineyard view. Again our pace was leisurely which was needed to properly explore these exquisite wines.
Last on the agenda was our request to stop at Chalk Hill Estate where we again got the wine club treatment with a perfectly situated table to take in the expansive views and rich layered wines.
Tesla Tours paced our afternoon beautifully so we never felt rushed and had plenty of time to experience all the wineries had to offer. Both Chris and Mike have a solid knowledge of wine and the wineries we visited which certainly enhanced our experience.
We highly recommend Tesla Tours for style, tour quality and professionalism…plus you will enjoy a unique automotive experience. In addition to winery tours, T3 also offers other services including tours of Northern California, airport pickup/drop-off, wedding transportation or just a ride across the valley to that special wine country dinner destination.
