MALIBU WINE SAFARI: EXPLORER TOUR EXPERIENCE

Wine tastings AND zebras?? Man, California has EVERYTHING you guys, why didn’t I move here sooner? 😉 Over Labor Day, I got the chance to check out Malibu Wine Safaris and had strait up one of the most fun days of my life. You know when you’re like two minutes into something and you’re like ohhhhhhhmygod this is dope? Yeah, it was like that was like that. Turns out I love wine tastings and I love Malibu, just as I suspected. Read on to hear all about my Malibu Wine Safari Explorer Tour experience!

Located about an hour north of LA, Malibu Wine Safaris is a part wine tasting, part animal “safari” experience that incorporates two very different activities that were clearly destined for each other. In what was news to me, Malibu, CA has some gorgeous vineyards, and here, you can experience the Saddlerock Ranch Vineyard at a proper wine tasting, be driven around in an open air safari jeep by a guide dressed head to toe in khaki, and get to feed and see zebras, horses, llamas, goats, and even a giraffe (Stanley the giraffe meet and greets do have an up charge in ticket price, however).

I had been wanting to go to Malibu Wine Safaris for the longest time; when my boyfriend Alex came into town for the long weekend, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go. I booked tickets for the two of us as well as my sister and her boyfriend because we stan a good #doubledate. We ended up booking a 4:15 slot on a Saturday. I actually booked the tickets the day before (whoops) and it was the only time that was left, but since we decided to get dinner in Malibu afterwards, the time ended up working out fine. Granted, we were running late and worried we were going to miss our a slot (you need to arrive about 15 min early to check in), but fortunately the group was running a bit behind schedule and we didn’t have to miss anything. Side note, there is parking on site, but Ubering was totally the move so we could fully enjoy ourselves at the wine tasting if ya catch my drift.

Once we were all checked in, (def don’t forget to bring your ID!!), we boarded the jeep with the rest of our group. It was a huge safari style vehicle with 4 seats in each row, so we all got to sit together. We probably had about 10 other people in our group.

We immediately started on our journey and our guide filled us in on what we would get to see and do over the next couple hours. Part of the fun was definitely just driving around and taking it all in. The setting there is beyond gorgeous; it’s incredibly mountainous, with lots of greenery, trees, perfect blue skies. The terrain was pretty hilly and bumpy, which made riding around in an open air car even more fun.

We made four stops during our journey, where we would get out and gather around a small table for the bartender guide to tell us about the wines we would be trying. Oh, and take pictures of course. We tried about three different wines at every stop, and our guides let us have as many refills as we asked for; I’ve heard this may depend on your guide though! The second and third stops had animals; we were given lettuce to feed the zebras and got to pet some llamas and goats, and it was amazing. We were all thriving.

The wines were amazing!! Everything we tried was made in the vineyard, so you could purchase anything you loved. We tried all different kinds of blends; whites, reds, even some sparkling.

This was definitely not your run of the mill wine tasting experience; it was pretty casual and low key, not at all intimidating if a formal, traditional wine tasting isn’t your jam! Our day was boozy and silly and would be the perfect activity for literally any occasion: a big group birthday party, a tourist outing, a special date… Could not recommend anymore!!

Pricing & Info (Explorer Tour): $65 per person, 90 mins