Gourmet Food & Wine Tours
We start each day with excitement, because we truly want to make a difference, and we love what we do. We have the pleasure of guiding experiences that light up all five of your senses. We walk, talk, sip, smell and, last but not least, taste. With passionate and well-traveled guides, we have pioneered an elevated tour in the luxury market by connecting our guests to some of the best restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some are listed in the Michelin Guide and some are just local gems you would not otherwise find.
Locally sourced food and biodynamic wine drive our content for the past several years. We believe food can be both crave-able and healthy, so that is mostly what we serve. We educate your mind and palette by explaining why we have selected the pairing at each table. We teach visitors to taste better and with more purpose. Our tours are never scripted, but more responsive to guest’s curiosity. Never snooty, we treat you just like a good friend, weaving in what makes each town special. We travel and expect the best and we know you do too. That is why we balance our sit-down experiences with walking and content-rich topics you won’t likely hear on any other food or wine tour.
Sonoma and Sausalito’s path to notable restaurants are dotted with historic landmarks, so guests will hear about colorful California History. In Yountville and Napa we celebrate the biographies of chefs and the celebrated restaurants they dreamed into fruition. Within each town, we have curated a flow that offers enough food for lunch or dinner, depending on your timing. Each pairing is carefully orchestrated, building to dessert. We strive to bring a sense of reverence and gratitude for our restaurant partners, chefs, communities and all of the workers involved in bringing us our farm-to-table experience.
Locations include Sonoma, Napa, Yountville, St Helena and Sausalito.
Meet the Team & Tour Guides
Great food, wine and conversation led by passionate, authentic people in small groups are what’s at the heart of our success and the core of Gourmet Food & Wine Tours.
Bay-area-born founder, Renee ReBell worked as an account manager for Wine.com when she broke into the wine industry over a decade ago and has frequented our destinations for over 25 years.
She launched Gourmet Food & Wine Tours first with a Sonoma food tour in the Spring of 2014. Renee quickly expanded into each of her “happy places” in the Wine Country and Sausalito. Currently, she has passed her Level I with the Court of Master Sommeliers and is working on the next level.
She is passionate about educating new friends about her regular discoveries in the food and wine world as she showcases her most favorite towns. Renee lives in Sonoma with her dog and rotating adult kiddos.
Certifications:
Certified Level 1 Court of Masters Sommeliers, Guild of Master Sommeliers, WSET Level 1 Award in Sake
Arlene grew up in Marin, but visited her grandparents, blocks away from the Sonoma Square on weekends as a child. She is a first generation American, with parents from Uruguay. They imparted in her the love of powerful recipes and flavors. As a result, Arlene brought her amazing homemade chimichurri all the way to market, selling at local farmer’s markets and sampling with her community.
Once she started giving Napa Valley wine country tours for us, she fell in love with the history and read everything she could get her hands on relating to the Sonoma Plaza and California. She is now our ambassador, not only for food and wine, but of the rich California History that marks the downtown Sonoma area. She is the hostess with the most-ess and has been guiding for Gourmet Food and Wine Tours since 2015.
Maddy is a Northern California local with a gypsy spirit. She grew up in Marin, spent some time in San Luis Obispo’s wine country, worked at a ski resort in Tahoe, and recently moved to Sonoma from Oahu, Hawaii.
She has worked at wine.com, and as a server in various restaurants such as the infamous Bohemian Grove, Tiki’s Bar & Grill on Oahu, and was a one-gal-show at a 20-table bed & breakfast by being a cook, server, and busser all-in-one! Maddy has been working hospitality and personal assistant jobs since she was fifteen.
She attends marketing conferences often to stay current, such as Arival: The In-Destination Event and the AirBNB Experience Seminar. She works for Gourmet Food & Wine Tours now wearing many hats- and recently earned level one in the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
Certifications:
Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1
Viv is an expert guide in each of our Gourmet Food & Wine Tours locations. She has worked in esteemed restaurants in SF & teaches cooking classes. She originally moved to the Bay Area to open a catering company where she served private clients and corporations including catering the Bammie Awards.
Viv has traveled extensively throughout the world and has enjoyed many adventurous trips from enjoying luxurious rail travel on the Orient Express, sailing the Dalmation Coast while tasting the historic wines of Croatia and island hopping, plying the waters of the Nile in a week of exciting historical discoveries, to cooking classes in Istanbul while traveling in Turkey. Wine tasting in France and in Italy are a highlight….but travels in Cuba provided her an excellent education not in wine but in rum!
Being a true foodie (and wine-y), don’t be afraid to pick her brain about food preparation, recipes, tricks and tips. She loves nothing more than to talk about food, wine, wine history and travel with wonderful folks who also relish living life to its fullest!
Drew is a Gourmet Food & Wine Tours veteran as he helped his mom create the Sonoma food tour by securing fantastic partners and collecting history. After traveling abroad, he decided he wanted to join the family business. He immersed himself in the culture of the wine country by serving in various restaurants and joining the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
There’s nothing Drew loves more than showing people a good time. He used to split his time between guiding the Sonoma food and wine tour and working at Platypus tours, and is currently sharing his time with us and Getaway Adventures. Drew is as personable and charismatic as the day is long, and is sure to keep you laughing for the duration of your experience.
Certifications:
Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1
She is passionate about technology as well as food, wine and travel. Lyn has worked for Delta Airlines and has traveled extensively throughout the world, exploring various cultures as well as their cuisines and has also enjoyed extended stays in Madrid, Budapest, Amsterdam and Guadalajara.
Lyn is an Ambassador for JCB wines and is always searching for her next food adventure. She loves nothing more than to talk about food, restaurants, and travel with wonderful folks who share the same interests.
Teresa was born and raised in the Willamette Valley, which is in the heart of the Wine Country Region of Oregon, best known for their Pinot Noir. Thanks to her Parisian father and mother, at a young age, Teresa developed an appreciation for great food and wine. Teresa moved to the Bay Area over 30 years ago and enjoyed a long and successful career in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Teresa, her husband and their two children have enjoyed the opportunity to travel around the globe, enjoying many diverse cultures and traditions along with local cuisine and wine. From Moscow, all over Western and Eastern Europe and throughout Southeast Asia, Teresa has enjoyed a wide variety of locally prepared and sourced meals and libations. One of her last family trips was to New Zealand where Teresa was quite impressed with the local vineyards, delicious meals, and the beauty of the Waiheke Island. However, she always appreciates coming back to the Bay Area and feels so much gratitude to what we have in our backyard, and the amazing bounty of Sonoma and Napa Valley. Whichever way you decide to enjoy the wine country, via car, bike or on foot along with your family and friends, Teresa would love to chat about wine, food, travel, and Sonoma’s rich history with all her guests!
Certifications:
Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1