OUR TOURS WITH JAMES
Primarily we introduce you to Mudgee's friendly locals. Then we introduce you to Mudgee's finest wines, as well as hearing the history of those wines and the origins of the cellar door. Along the way you will hear the history of our region incorporating the gold rush of the 1850's, as well as a few fun facts.
Complimentary photos of your day are included, and if you're planning to propose at a Mudgee winery, James will film the event, again complimentary.
We have a variety of options for your visit to our beautiful town. We offer full and half day wine tours as well as private tours (POA). We will design your day to include visits to wineries that we know you will love, or you can request wineries and we will endeavour to include them.
We cater to groups from 2 to 11 (larger groups upon request), but we will also take you out if you are one single person (a surcharge may apply). All Cellar doors charge for tastings so budget for between $5 and $10, however some cellar doors charge up to $20 per person per cellar door.
Picking you up from your accommodation and returning you at the end of your tour is all part of our service. (Out of town pickups may incur a surcharge).
Children and pets are welcome!
Full day tours
$145 per passenger - 9:45 am to 4 pm
On our full day tour you will visit 5–6 wineries with a lunch stop along the way (at your own expense).
There is no need to book cellar doors, we will look after that for you. We will collect you from your accommodation and return you at the end of your tour. Pick up times may vary according to your accommodation location.
Half day tour
$90 per passenger - 9:45 am to 1 pm or 1 pm to 4 pm
On our half day tour we will take you to 3–4 wineries.We will collect you from your accommodation and return you at the end of your tour. There is no need to book cellar doors, we will look after that for you.
As there won’t be a lunch stop for these tours, you may want to have lunch before or afterwards. Pick up times may vary according to your accommodation location.
Private Tours
Times and price are customisable upon request
On this tour you can create your own itinerary and the amount of time you spend at each location is up to you.
Children and Pets are welcome!
About Us
Clients have often said that with my knowledge of the local area that I must have been born here, but it could not be further from the truth. I was born in Sydney, in Paddington Womens Hospital, where our family lived for seven years in the five ways area, until moving to Kirribilli where I spent my formative years. After ten years, my parents found Surry Hills to be their home of choice.At the age of 18, I decided to move out and reside on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Dee Why became my home until moving to Mudgee in 2006.
We opened The Mudgee Christmas Shop and Dreamfield Video Productions in 2007. We ran both businesses for 10 years until it was time for a break. However, opportunities sometimes present themselves and we decided to embark on something we hadn’t tried before; wine tours. We soon discovered that we had a passion for it and found ourselves excited at the prospect of meeting new people every day.
With my wife, Liz, having been an executive with Kerry Packers’ Nine Network for over 20 years and my love of a sense of humor and love of people, we found this to be a natural progression in our lives. Having spent time contracting to successfully operate a wine tour business in Mudgee, it is with great pride and certainly joy that we have created:
MUDGEE VALLEY WINE TOURS
We have spent our recent wine tour operation building relationships with the great winemakers of the region and maintaining a loyal customer base. Our aim is to create a memorable experience for our customers to take home and relive, until the next time we have the pleasure of hosting them. Now it’s time to look forward to many years of fun, lots of laughter, and most of all, making new friends and renewing old friendships.
Why People Love Our Tours
A Great Experience
All in all a wonderful outing and would thoroughly recommend their service to all.
What an amazing experience
We were greeted by our names and James made us feel like we were old friends.
The knowledge he has of the region is exceptional, the wineries we visited were amazing with quite a few private tastings.
He is well known and well liked from what we could see and this showed in his passion for the Mudgee wines and his ability to take some out of this world photos.
We will be back James. You haven't seen the last of us.
Wonderful Wine Tour
We were picked up promptly at 9.30 am and from this point on James had the day planned.
James gave us information about each venue before we arrived.
Along the way he enlightened us with historical and other facts about Mudgee. It was obvious he was very knowledgeable about the local area.
Lunch at Moothi Estate was most enjoyable. James happily took numerous photos of our group and emailed a wonderful selection of these photos that evening.
We would highly recommend Mudgee Valley Wine Tours with James.
Very interesting and great value.
Huge Day With James
We visited 7 wineries and a distillery and the staff at each of the cellar doors were real characters. It was a huge day and i can't recommend Liz and James enough.
Wine Tour With James
James was on time to pick us up, friendly and very knowledgeable of the local area and its history. The 4WD was very comfortable. We were greeted warmly at the 4 cellar doors we visited. We sampled delicious wine and food. I highly recommend this wine tour company.
The Best Wine Tour in Town
We went to six different wineries and Honey Haven. James had great local knowledge and connections with the staff in the wineries so we were made to feel especially welcome. It was also reassuring in this COVID time that we were on a private tour and that James doesn't mix groups.
What A Day
From the moment we met James (6 ladies) he made us feel comfortable and told us what would be happening during the day.
He did the most amazing job at informing us of the history of Mudgee as well as taking us to a great selection of wineries.
You can tell that he is a well respected tour operator within the area through his interactions with all that he came across.
An extra bonus was that James took all the photos on his own device and then emailed them that night..
This meant that no one missed out on being in the photos.
This tour was just the best experience and i would recommend to anyone.
Friendly & Flexible
We have just finished a Sunday tour with James, a great experience.
James was friendly and knowledgeable as others have written and we were very impressed that he had just arrived home from an overseas holiday and was driving us the next day.
There were only 3 of us and it felt like a private tour. James was very flexible and catered to our needs due to changing weather, as it began to rain. We were welcomed warmly at all of the wineries we were taken to.
Thank you James.
Wonderful Great Informative Afternoon
Best Wine Tour In Mudgee
Such a knowledgeable gentleman and an all-round great guy.
He even documented the entire trip on his phone so we've got some great pics.
Would recommend to anyone wanting to experience Mudgee as a first timer like me, or a seasoned wine tourer.
Thanks for a great day James.
Fantastic Wine Tour
A Great Day at Mudgee Wineries
We chose Mudgee Valley Wine Tours to do a half day wine excursion. We had a wonderful experience and thoroughly enjoyed the day.
James was fantastic, he picked us up (2 couples) from our Airbnb in his 4 wheel drive (so much better than a bus) for our own private wine tour. We visited 4 wineries suggested by James and the tour was at our own leisurely pace. All the wineries James took us to were also wonderful, with great wines.
When we were finished the wine tour James dropped us at Moothi Estate where he had pre-booked a lunch reservation.
James dropped all our wine purchases back to our accommodation later that day. James was very professional, friendly, helpful and took and shared photos of our group.
James was also very knowledgeable about the Mudgee wine industry and also Mudgee history more generally.
Thank you James for a fantastic wine experience.
Fantastic
James is just so lovely and takes you to some amazing vineyards.
He also knows so much about the town itself, so you also get a history tour on the side.
We will be coming back and booking James again.
MUDGEE VALLEY WINE TOURS
You made my wife and myself feel very special on our private tour of the beautiful Mudgee wineries.
your knowledge and history of the region was so interesting and we both learned so many new things.
Thank you for a great day.
Best Wine Tour Ever
James, the owner, is a very friendly person and knowledgeable about the region. James and Liz hand picked the wineries and included a distillery at the end. A great day out and worth every penny. Highly recommended.
Half Day Morning Wine Tour
James welcomed us and explained what he had in mind for our tour. We ended up visiting 4 wineries. James went above and beyond to ensure that we had a great day. Thank you Liz and James, if I could give you both 6 stars I would.
An Amazing Day
James, our driver and the owner, was absolutely fantastic. He provided us with a very personalised experience. Never have we met a friendlier person.
He took the time to find out about us and was always up for a chat. He made it feel like you'd been mates for years. He wasn't in your face or hurrying you along but was available if you needed to ask anything. He took photos along the way which were great as he was a professional in the media. It was clear he is well respected among the wineries that we visited by the greetings he received upon arrival. Thank you Liz and James for making it such an awesome experience from start to finish.
JAMES IS THE BEST
He tailored the full day to our needs, provided great stories and company. Couldn't be happier with the day. Thanks James.
EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE
The cellar doors and lunch were all lovely, but what made it special was James.
He's a great conversationalist and has a wide variety of interests including photography.
It made for an interesting and entertaining day. After the tour, James sent us the fantastic photos he took commemorating the day. I couldn't recommend this tour enough.
A Great Day Out With James
The wineries were selected by James, our driver and owner.
James was the making of the trip, being both knowledgeable and witty. Bernard at Blacklea gave us a fabulous gourmet based tasting involving his range of sauces and marinades.
The lunch at Moothi Estate Vineyard was a perfect mid-way break. Superb day’s entertainment.
Do yourself a favour and book a wine tour with James
His information and animation about Mudgee town centre, vineyards and surrounds is very entertaining. James is very easygoing and makes your experience very enjoyable.
Booking your tour is easy and he will offer you any help or information on organising your day.
James if you read this you will be certainly dragging our wine soaked butts around the vineyards again.
Fantastic Professional Company
Unbeknownst to us, he was making calls to accommodate us at each stop. He packed all of our wine buys in the vehicle then unpacked them at the end of our tour.
Everything went perfectly and we had the most wonderful day.
Thank you so much James. We'll be back.
Half Day Tour
James was absolutely lovely and made an effort to cater to everyone.
I would recommend this tour to anyone.
The Best Experience You Could Possibly Have
The wineries were amazing, great service and experience at all the ones we visited. James is incredibly knowledgeable and you can tell it's his passion and he loves his job.
Thanks, can't wait to come back.
An Amazing Day
He booked us into tours and for lunch at 6 wineries, full of local knowledge and such a fun, friendly guy. He won the local paper quiz we did on the drives between wineries.
Anyone who didn't have a great day with this beautiful man and his fabulous banter is lying.
Could not recommend highly enough.
We will be back later in the year. Thank you James.
Magical Memories
Things to know before you go
To make sure you have a safe and fun tour, here are some things to keep in mind.
Cellar doors fee
All wineries include a tasting fee. Some (not all) deduct the fee from a purchase.
Tasting fees are not included in the tour cost.
Weather
Wine tours will proceed regardless of the weather unless extreme conditions prevent us from accessing cellar doors.
Alcohol on the tour vehicle
It is against the law to consume alcohol on public transport vehicles. Penalties can be extreme.
Tour vehicle safety
Seatbelts must be worn at all times.
No portable coolers (Eskys) allowed on the vehicle
Level of Intoxication
It is your responsibility to monitor your level of intoxication. If any member of your tour becomes intoxicated to the point of being disruptive or rude, the tour will be terminated.
Cancelation policy
A $50 administration fee applies to any cancellation. For cancellations within 1 week of your tour, no refund applies unless seats can be re-booked. Private Tour cancellations will incur a $100 administration fee. If cancelled within 2 weeks of your tour, no refund applies unless seats can be re-booked.
