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.Â
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.
Renee ReBell
Founder, Experience Curator & GuideBay-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
Aniko
Tour GuideAniko was born and raised in Hungary and made her home in America over twelve years ago. Her European love of food and wine made Napa a bright spot for her to land. She is proud to work along side fellow hospitality colleagues in both Sonoma and Napa Valley. Several years back, she was a guest on the Yountville Food & Wine Tour when Renée immediately asked if she would consider joining her small team of guides. Aniko’s magnanimous spirit and passion for pairings was evident. Her gift of gab and perfect English were also impressive. While it took many years, the stars finally lined up and now Aniko is leading the team with five star reviews and happy repeat customers.
Aniko wants everyone to know she feels grateful everyday to host groups big and small, treating them as her friends. On her days off, you can find Aniko enjoying terrific food and drinks with her posse and loved ones up and down Napa Valley.
Aniko with Compline Chef Jammir Gray
Vivian Richardson
Gourmet GuruViv 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!
Teresa
Tour GuideTeresa 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.Â
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
Julie
Tour GuideJulie is from New York, where she performed in multiple Off- Broadway theaters, until she made her way out West to Los Angeles where she spent years auditioning and booking film and television. She is still a member of SAG, Equity and Aftra, but learned a great deal from working in hospitality as a bartender to support her creative life. She is a published author, whose first book you can find on Amazon, entitled Last Call. Always fascinated with bars and the grit and humanity they expose, it seemed a natural progression to discover more about Sonoma’s wild, west, history.
Julie has experienced the romance of Paris and Loire Valley, the warmth and beauty of places like San Gimignano and Lucca, the art of Florence and Rome and some amazing towns in Mexico and its countryside. Her most recent trip was to Valencia, Spain known for its architecture and expansive beaches. With all of its charm, culinary riches and breathtaking vineyards, Julie feels like she’s struck gold, living and working in Sonoma and is thrilled to share the secret nuggets of its past with guests of the tour who she truly treasures spending time with.