Ensenada Shore Excursion: Wine and Cheese Tour with Lunch in Ojos Negros Valley

Ensenada, Mexico

5 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Group discounts
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Rather than simply ticking off the standard sights, discover fine locally made wine and cheese in Baja California when your cruise ship docks in Ensenada. This half-day private shore excursion visits the San Rafael winery and Rancho Ramonetti for wine and cheese tastings, followed by a lunch served with a glass of wine. Round-trip transfers mean you don't have to worry about taking the wheel once you've indulged, either.

This private tour promises undivided attention from your guide
Go wine tasting at a small winery in Baja California
Letting someone else take the wheel leaves you free to indulge
Save yourself hours of planning travel logistics

What's Included

Transportation Cruise Port – Ojos Negros Valley – Cruise Port
Visit to Infinity winery and wine tasting
Visit to Cava de Quesos and cheese tasting
Lunch at Rancho Ramonetti

Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup point

Malecon De Ensenada
Bahia Ensenada, 22880 Ensenada, B.C., Mexico

Itinerary

After pickup at the port, travel about 40 minutes in your private air-conditioned vehicle to reach the San Rafael winery.

Located in San Rafael Valley (Ojos Negros), the family-owned winery is one of the first vineyards in this region of Ensenada. Upon your arrival, learn about the winemaking process, then enjoy a tasting of three wines.

Next up, visit Cava de Quesos and take a walking tour of Rancho Ramonetti, where artisanal cheeses have been made for four generations. Learn about the process of making cheese as you take a guided tour in the ranch. Then stop into a campirano-style house and head to the underground cheese cellar where they age cheeses for as long as five years. Try six types of cheese during a guided tasting that includes local fruits and olive oil.

Next, have lunch and a glass of wine at their restaurant, which features local specialty dishes and cheese. After lunch, head back to Ensenada where your tour ends with drop-off at the port.

San Rafael

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Ensenada

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 4 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability
At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
Not wheelchair accessible

Not recommended for pregnant travelers
Most travelers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 3 days in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.0

based on 9 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Fun trip

Chrissy_H, May 2024

Great trip! The wine tasting was so good and we really enjoyed the cheese cave tasting and lunch as well. Very unique and fun excursion. Heads up that’s it’s over an hour drive to the first stop but totally worth it.

Excellent tour of wine country

Ali_S, Apr 2024

This was an amazing wine and cheese tour. It was like visiting Napa 50 years ago!! The wine was spectacular and the vineyards beautiful and isolated. No crowds, no selling or pressure. We got off the cruise and our driver was calling us directly so TURN ON YOUR SERVICE! Peoples other post was about getting lost. You can’t just ask the guards and follow people out the port. First we went to margarita museum at our request. Really cool history. Then 1 hour drive into the country . This was spectacular in April, scenic views. What Southern California looked like before all the development. Then 1 hour tasting at winery. We were all by ourselves and could ask the owner a million questions and hear about their awards. Then off to cheese farm. Really neat cheese cave and tour. The lunch was super filling and more vino!! The staff was so friendly. Our driver was hilarious. Taught us all about Ensenada history. We loved this tour. Relaxing, authenticity, felt so chill compared to California wine tours! Highly recommended!!

Cheese testing.

Iris_G, Apr 2024

The event was a boring and tedious experience. The guide person spoke in a monotone mode that made it hard to understand. The food was poor, we just got a piece of mushroom with cheese over it and the wait was too much. I was very disappointed with this event. Luckily the driver was great and made our time a bit better by keeping us engage in conversation during the transportation time.

Misleading meeting place!

Wendy_C, Feb 2024

We could not find our guide! The directions were tough- said to pass shops & look for a sign. Had no idea we had to pass through many tour busses to an isolated shopping area! Missed the tour!

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Wendy, every day more than 50 people found us without any issue. I have sent you meeting instructions and also a picture of the meeting place. Really sorry about this.

Could have been much better, if only....

Kevin_F, Dec 2023

A fair amount of miscommuication - advertised pickup and drop off at cruise terminal including picture of the building where to meet - that was changed to a pickup/drop off location 1/2 mile away. We also were told by the Cheese Tour that we were 30 minutes late but didn't have any notice of that during the first part of the trip and we were limited to what we could see. The first portion - the wine tasting was very very nice! It was close to town and the contact at the winery was splendid. Our driver was very pleasant but the overall company needs to improve.

Delicious!

Kelly_C, Nov 2022

Everything was wonderful. Our tour guide contacted us (via email and whatsapp) the day before to suggest a time change since it was Sunday. On the morning, we were a little confused where to meet, but we found them with a sign with my name (you walk all the way past the security gates and there is a small parking area near the bridge where they were waiting). Hazzel, our guide, and Arturo, our driver, were both wonderful. Hazzel gave us a ton of history of the city as we drove. The first place they suggested was swarmed by a large tour group coming off the cruise ship, so she offered to take us somewhere else if we didn't want to be with the crowds. We said yes, anywhere was fine, we just wanted good wine. So while we got a delicious cup of coffee, they called around and took us to an adorable tasting room just outside of the downtown, called Madera 5. The wine was very good, and we had the place to ourselves. Next we went to the cheese cave in Ojos Negros. Once we started into the mountains, Arturo pulled off the highway so we could see the city from the hilltop and take pictures. Our tour guide at the farm, Effrian, was very funny, and the farm was beautiful. We got to see the cows, pet the newborn calves, and taste homemade ice cream! The tasting in the cheese cave was beautiful: wine, bread, fig preserves, and six different cheeses. Lunch was outside on picnic tables (they did offer to seat us inside, but the weather was so nice). We do not eat meat, so we had pasta, quesadillas, and Portobello mushrooms. The pasta may have been the best pasta I've ever eaten in my life. Lunch also included another glass of wine or beer from a local brewery. We were absolutely stuffed. We let them know what time we had to be back on the ship, and they got us back right in time. It was a great experience that I highly recommend.

Rafael the tour owner and...

Nadia_H, Oct 2022

Rafael the tour owner and Arturo the driver were so welcoming and caring. Arturo the driver was exceptionally. He tried all the way to communicate in English with my husband. The entire drive was fun telling stories and experiences. He was awesome. We want to come back and hire him as our transaction. Now on the Cava de Quesos where we did the cheese tasting and the supposed lunch... was horrible experience. The first part of the tour I nicely mentioned the girl if she could please incorporate some English for my husband to understand and she didn't say yes or no she just walked away.... such an odd girl. The next part of the tour the girl was very friendly and sweet. No complaints about her. At the end of the tour our driver was waiting for us he mentioned now is good time. You guys can pick anything from the menu it's already included with the tour. We sat down at a table and soon a kid from Cheese place brought us menus and after that an hour later literally NOBODY not even the guy that kept checking the table next to us every 3 minutes.. nobody came to ask what we wanted to eat, drink nothing, 0 eye contact. I'm so disappointed that everyone in that place was taking care of right away expect us. I'm disgusted and disappointed about these people and I'm never coming back to Cava de Quesos or recommend it to anyone I know. Now we still got our lunch somewhere else. Arturo took good care of us and gave us many options to where to eat but we wanted to try to good quesatacos so he took us to CORA and it was amazing! I give 5 stars to the driver and the first winery we had the wine tasting and I give Cava de Quesos 0 stars. Again Thank you Arturo for a fantastic time.

Great trip for family, host and driver felt like family after we were done

Ashley_H, Apr 2022

The wine tasting was great. The staff was very knowledgeable and interesting to talk to. The cheese cave was something like we'd never seen before. The tour was fun and informative and the cheese was amazing. We would definitely go back. The most amazing part of the trip though had to have been our guide and driver. Fernando is likely the best host I've ever had on a tour. He was fun to talk to, provided a wealth of knowledge, and was willing to do whatever he could to make the excursion as enjoyable as possible. Our driver, Ricardo, was fantastic as well. Got us to the winery and cave safely and efficiently and also made the excursion fun for the whole family. I would recommend this to anyone visiting Ensenada. Don't be afraid to book outside of the cruise line. This was as safe as I have ever felt on an excursion and way more fun and customizable than the shore excursions that the cruise lines offer. Great value for the money as well.