malibu wine farms

Malibu Wine Farms | Malibu, CA

Malibu Wine Farms is a winery located in you guessed it, Malibu. You’re able to tour the winery, see some exotic animals, and get a buzz.

I went in October to celebrate my friend, Tyana’s, and my birthday. Since it’s Southern California, the weather was absolutely perfect. You have to make a reservation prior to you going because there is limited space per tour. There were twelve of us going so planning was essential. Everyone, except for me at the time, was coming down from Vegas. Our Airbnb and wine tour booked a month or so before and it was easy to reserve. I’d recommend booking even earlier because the other tours were already booked. Nevertheless, the tour we went on was fine. 

We did the Explorer Tour which is $65 a person. This is what you would expect from the Explorer Tour:

• Enjoy the best of our locally-produced wines and Saddlerock Ranch’s amazing scenery and wildlife on our classic tour, the Explorer Safari. Along the way, you’ll visit some of the ranch’s most exotic residents.
  • Tour of Saddlerock Ranch & Vineyard
  • Visit exotic animals
  • Taste 6 wines, 3 whites and 3 reds (1oz)
  • 90 Minutes (approx.)

Where this vineyard is located is up a very very very very tall and windy hill. You can easily drive up yourself because you don’t get drunk on your tour. Plus the tours start really early. I’m all for day drinking but it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Especially at 10am in the morning.

Pregame, baby. This isn’t your typical wine tasting experience, you will not get wasted. I pre-gamed a little plus I’m a lightweight and I was totally fine.

Spoiler alert, you get on this giant tour truck and they drive you to see some llamas and zebras and you get to taste three types of white wines. After you’ve tasted all of them, you can get another glass of your choice (same goes for the reds). It’s more picture taking than it is wine drinking. Basically a safari tour with some wine. It was cool feeding and petting the animals. During the tour, they also give you a history lesson on Malibu Wine Farms. After the llamas, zebras, vineyard pics, you get to the red wines. Same process with the three types of wine and an extra glass of your choice. I know it sounds like a lot of wine but you’re fine, dude. During the reds, they also have a spread of wine foods. Highly recommend their fig jam.

The infamous, Stanley the Giraffe. You may know him from the hit movie The Hangover III or you know him as the giraffe that Elon Musk was going to save during the Malibu fires. Whitney Cummings was heated that the property left their animals during the fires. Some piping hot tea back then. We went before the fires, but just a little history lesson. Not going to lie, it was so cool feeding the giraffe. They gave everyone some lettuce and we all got a chance to feed Stanley. This is also your only chance for a photo with him.

Finals thoughts… It was a fun, unique experience to do while celebrating two birthdays. Did we get drunk? No, but a fun little buzz. Did we get a lot of photos? Yes, it’s an influencer’s wet dream. Was it worth it? Totally, $65 was a small price to pay to meet some cool animals and kick it with friends.

Things to keep in mind…

• Before you book, explore the different types of tours that would best fit you and your group.
• Eat before. There is no real food on the tour other than crackers. We were so hangry afterward.
• Skip the Uber, you can drive. It’s out of the way and it’s also hard to get an Uber back.
• Pregame, if you’re a down ass bitch. You won’t get drunk at all.
• Don’t look like me when you’re taking photos with the animals