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Stephanie Vidergar

Oct 13
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south africa wine and safari

South Africa Wine & Safari: Tips to Know Before You Go

By Wine No Comments

There are trips that are good. There are trips that are great. And then there are trips that combine two things you’ve always wanted to do into a single nine-day experience that you’ll spend the rest of your life telling people about. Read on for a guide to one of the world’s most extraordinary travel combinations — from the Cape Winelands to Kruger National Park — a South Africa wine and safari tour.

When most wine lovers think about a food and wine vacation, they picture Europe — France, Italy, Spain, Portugal. South Africa rarely makes the shortlist, despite the fact that the Cape Winelands produce some of the most distinctive and compelling wines in the world, and despite the fact that no other wine region on earth can be paired with a luxury safari in the African bush.

south africa wine and safari

Why South Africa for Wine Travel?

South Africa’s wine story begins in 1659, when Jan van Riebeeck — the Dutch governor of the Cape of Good Hope — first pressed grapes at the Cape. Within decades, the region was producing wine for the Dutch East India Company ships refueling at the tip of the continent. French Huguenot refugees, fleeing religious persecution in Europe, arrived in the Franschhoek Valley in the late 1680s and brought with them centuries of viticultural expertise. The result was a wine culture that is unmistakably its own — shaped by European tradition but formed by African soil, climate, and history.

Today, South Africa is one of the world’s top ten wine-producing countries, with the Western Cape responsible for the vast majority of its output. The wine regions of the Cape — Constantia, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl — are recognized internationally for their quality, their diversity, and their extraordinary natural beauty. Table Mountain, the Simonsberg Mountains, and the Klein-Drakensteinberg provide backdrops that no vineyard in Bordeaux or Napa can match.

What makes South African wine distinctive is the same thing that makes the country itself so compelling: it is the product of a crossroads. Indigenous varieties like Pinotage exist nowhere else. Chenin Blanc — known locally as Steen and planted here in greater volumes than anywhere on earth — produces a range of styles from bone-dry to lusciously sweet. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Bordeaux-style blends perform exceptionally in the Mediterranean climate of the Cape. And the Cape Winelands’ biodiversity — the region sits within one of only six floral kingdoms in the world — gives the wines a botanical complexity that serious wine lovers find endlessly interesting.

The Cape Winelands: A Region-by-Region Guide

Constantia

The oldest wine-producing area in South Africa and one of the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere. The Constantia Valley, a short drive from Cape Town’s city center, sits between the slopes of the Constantiaberg mountain and the cool influence of both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The microclimate is distinctly cool by South African standards, making it ideal for Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and the historic sweet wines that made this valley famous in the 18th century — Constantia wine was served at Napoleonic courts and referenced by Charles Dickens.

Groot Constantia, established in 1685, is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A visit here is as much a history lesson as a wine tasting — the Cape Dutch manor house and cellar complex are extraordinarily well preserved.

Stellenbosch

The undisputed wine capital of South Africa. The Stellenbosch wine region is a fertile river valley with a mild Mediterranean climate — warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters — and more private wine cellars than any other area in the country. It is also home to the country’s most prestigious viticulture and enology programs, making it the intellectual center of South African wine.

Stellenbosch produces an exceptional range of styles, but its reputation rests most firmly on its red wines — Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and above all, Pinotage. The town of Stellenbosch itself is a university city with beautiful Cape Dutch architecture, excellent restaurants, and a lively energy that makes it one of the most enjoyable bases for wine travel in the world.

Kanonkop is widely considered the benchmark for South African Pinotage — the estate that most thoroughly established the grape’s potential for serious, age-worthy red wine. A tasting here is essential context for understanding what South African wine has become.

Jordan Winery, set on a stunning property with views across the False Bay, produces a full range of varieties with consistent excellence and has been recognized internationally for decades.

Franschhoek

The most charming and arguably most beautiful of the Cape wine towns. Franschhoek — French Corner — was settled by Huguenot refugees in the 1680s, and the influence is still visible: in the place names (La Motte, Chamonix, Haute Cabrière), in the architecture, and in the food. Franschhoek’s restaurant scene is disproportionately excellent for a small town, and several of South Africa’s most acclaimed chefs have made it their home.

The valley is dramatic — the eastern foothills of the Simonsberg and Klein-Drakensteinberg Mountains frame every view — and the wines reflect the variety of the terroir. Franschhoek specializes in Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon, with Champagne-method sparkling wines from estates like Haute Cabrière providing some of the Cape’s most distinctive bottles.

Anthonij Rupert Winery — set beneath the jagged peaks of the Groot Drakenstein Mountains in a recently restored historic manor — is among the most impressive winery experiences in the country.

Paarl

South Africa’s third-largest town and one of its most historically significant wine regions. Paarl sits beneath a dramatic granite outcrop — the domed rock that gives the town its name — and is known primarily for its red wines: powerful, structured Cabernet Sauvignons and Shiraz that benefit from the warmer, drier conditions here than in Stellenbosch or Franschhoek.

Fairview Farm and Winery is one of the Cape’s most distinctive producers — wine, cheese, and a famous collection of goats all share the property. A wine and cheese pairing here is one of the most pleasurable two hours available in the Winelands.

Tokara Wine Estate, tucked into the mountains above Paarl, produces wines with a focus on sustainable viticulture and organic techniques — and from a location with views that justify the drive alone.

Pinotage: South Africa’s Signature Grape

No guide to South African wine is complete without a deeper look at Pinotage — a variety that exists in meaningful commercial production essentially nowhere else on earth.

Pinotage was created in 1925 by Stellenbosch University professor Abraham Perold, who crossed Pinot Noir and Cinsault (then known locally as Hermitage, hence the name). The resulting variety is uniquely South African: when made well, it produces wines of deep color, concentrated fruit, and earthy complexity. When made poorly, it can show a rubbery or smoky character that put off international critics for decades.

The modern generation of South African winemakers has largely solved this problem, and benchmark Pinotage from estates like Kanonkop now earns scores and critical attention that rival the Cape’s most celebrated Cabernets. Tasting it in Stellenbosch — where it was born and where its greatest expressions are produced — is one of those experiences that changes how you think about what a place can do with a grape.

south africa wine and safari

The Safari: What to Expect

There are people who haven’t been on safari who are uncertain whether they actually want to go. There are no people who have been on safari who are uncertain whether they want to go again.

The experience is simply unlike anything else in travel — and if you’ve spent the first six days of a South Africa trip moving through beautiful wine country, the shift to the African bush is one of the most dramatic and thrilling pivots a vacation can take.

Kruger National Park and Private Game Reserves

Kruger National Park is one of the world’s legendary wildlife sanctuaries — approximately the size of Wales or New Jersey, it is home to an extraordinary density of animal species: 48 mammal species including the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and Cape buffalo), more than 500 bird species, and 114 reptile species.

Accessing Kruger through a private game reserve — which shares an unfenced border with the national park — provides a significantly better safari experience than staying within Kruger itself. Private reserves offer lower guest-to-animal ratios, expertly trained private rangers and trackers, the ability to go off-road in pursuit of animals (not permitted in the national park), and accommodation in luxury lodges that are, in every sense, extraordinary places to spend a night in the African bush.

Kapama Private Game Reserve is one of the most established and respected private reserves adjacent to Kruger. Its River Lodge — airy, open to the landscape, and set beside the Kapama River — manages the rare feat of feeling genuinely luxurious and genuinely wild at the same time.

The Game Drive

Drives typically go out twice daily: early morning (departing before or just after dawn, when predators are most active) and late afternoon (when the light is extraordinary and animals are moving toward water). Each drive is led by a ranger with years of experience reading animal behavior and tracking, accompanied by a spotter who scans the bush from a seat mounted on the front of the vehicle.

The Big Five are the headline, but safari veterans will tell you that some of the most memorable moments come from smaller encounters: a dung beetle moving something improbably large across a dirt road, a family of warthogs trotting in single file, a pair of martial eagles sitting in a dead tree at golden hour.

Sundowners

The African tradition of stopping the game drive as the sun begins to set, opening a drinks box in the bush, and watching the light change over the landscape with a glass in hand is one of those rituals that sounds pleasant and turns out to be one of the most genuinely moving experiences the trip produces. It is quiet. The scale of the landscape is apparent. The day’s encounters are still fresh. Most travelers describe it as one of their favorite moments of the entire trip.

When to Go

South Africa’s Western Cape has a Mediterranean climate: dry, warm summers and cool, wet winters. For wine travel, the best time to visit is:

February to April (late summer / harvest season): The vineyards are at their most active and beautiful. Harvest typically runs through March and April, and visiting during vendimia means you may have the chance to see the picking and processing that produces the wine in your glass. Temperatures are warm but generally not extreme.

September to November (spring): The vines are leafing out, wildflowers are blooming across the Cape, and temperatures are mild. A slightly quieter period than the peak summer months.

Avoid June to August for wine travel: the Cape has cold, wet winter weather during this period, and many estates operate reduced hours.

For safari, the dry season of May to September is traditionally considered the best wildlife viewing period — vegetation is lower, animals congregate around water sources, and the lack of undergrowth makes spotting easier. The wet season (October to April) offers its own rewards: newborn animals, dramatically green landscapes, and excellent birdwatching. A trip that begins with wine in the Cape in late summer (February to April) and transitions to safari can catch excellent wildlife viewing as the dry season begins.

Practical Notes

Getting there: Fly into Cape Town International Airport (CPT) for the start of the tour. The trip ends with a two-hour internal flight from the safari region to Johannesburg (JNB) — most international connections home depart from O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg.

Language: English is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages and is widely spoken throughout Cape Town, the Winelands, and all safari lodges.

Currency: South African Rand (ZAR). Credit cards are widely accepted in Cape Town and the Winelands; cash is less necessary but useful for small purchases.

Safety: Cape Town and the Winelands are navigated safely by millions of tourists each year. The safari region requires no specific precautions beyond standard travel awareness. Your guide and lodge staff will provide any destination-specific briefings on arrival.

Time difference: South Africa Standard Time (SAST) is UTC+2, putting it 2 hours ahead of the UK and 7 hours ahead of the US East Coast.

Planning a Private Tour

For travelers who want to experience South Africa’s wine country and a luxury safari with their own group — on their own dates, at their own pace — a private tour with Taste Vacations starts with a minimum of just two people.

The nine-day itinerary moves from Cape Town through Constantia, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl, before a short internal flight takes you to a luxury lodge adjacent to Kruger National Park for two days of safari. All logistics, accommodations, winery visits, meals, and transfers are handled — you arrive in Cape Town and we take care of everything from there.

$7,400 per person (internal flights approximately $600 additional).

→ Full tour details and private booking: tastevacations.com/south-africa-wine-safari/ → Request a free consultation: tastevacations.com/consultation-request/

Jun 22
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culinary travel trends

Culinary Travel Trends to Watch

By Food, Taste Vacations, Travel Tips, Wine No Comments

Culinary travel isn’t a niche category anymore. It’s one of the fastest-growing segments in all of travel, and 2026 is shaping up to be a particularly strong year for it. Across nearly every major trend report and travel forecast, the same message keeps surfacing: people don’t just want to eat well on vacation anymore. They want to participate. They want to understand a place through its food and wine, not just consume it as a backdrop to sightseeing.

That shift is changing what a great culinary trip actually looks like. The travelers driving this category now want to forage the herbs that end up in their lunch, blend the wine they’ll drink that night, and shake hands with the person who grew, raised, or fermented what’s on their plate. The destination still matters enormously — but increasingly, so does the depth of the experience within it.

Here’s a closer look at the trends defining culinary travel, along with the destinations where those trends are showing up most vividly right now.

The Big Trends Shaping Culinary Travel

1. Hands-On Is the New Fine Dining

The single clearest trend in food and wine travel right now is the shift from watching to doing. Cooking classes, market tours, foraging walks, and behind-the-scenes producer visits have moved from “nice add-on” to the actual centerpiece of why people book a culinary trip in the first place. Travelers want to learn the technique behind a regional dish, not just taste the finished version of it.

This isn’t simply about novelty. There’s a real cognitive and emotional difference between eating a meal someone else prepared and eating a meal you helped make from ingredients you gathered yourself. A trip built around a market visit and a hands-on cooking class produces a kind of memory — and a kind of understanding of a place — that a restaurant reservation alone cannot.

This trend shows up clearly in experiences like blending your own wine cuvée alongside a winemaker in Argentina’s Mendoza region, or spending a morning foraging wild herbs in the Georgian countryside before turning them into your own lunch. The meal matters. The process matters more.

2. Wine Tourism Is Expanding Beyond the Usual Suspects

For decades, “wine travel” mostly meant a short list of famous names — Napa, Bordeaux, Tuscany. That list is widening fast. Wine-curious travelers, many of whom have already done the classic regions, are actively seeking out wine country that doesn’t show up on everyone else’s itinerary: regions with serious winemaking traditions that haven’t yet been fully discovered by international tourism.

Croatia’s Istria Peninsula is a good example of this shift in action — often described as “the new Tuscany,” it’s drawing wine and food travelers away from Croatia’s more crowded coastline specifically because it still feels undiscovered. The same appetite is fueling growing interest in wine regions across the American West and the southern hemisphere, where the wine is excellent and the crowds haven’t caught up yet.

South Africa’s Cape Winelands are a strong example of this trend already in motion — a wine region producing some of the best bottles in the world, paired with a culinary identity shaped by African, Dutch, Malay, and Cape Creole influences that most travelers haven’t experienced yet. Closer to home, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Washington’s Walla Walla region offer the same appeal: serious, internationally respected wine, without the saturation of more famous American wine country.

3. The Rise of Regenerative and Community-Based Travel

A meaningful shift is underway in how travelers think about the impact of their trip. Rather than simply consuming a destination, more travelers want their visit to genuinely benefit the people and places behind the experience — staying at family-run properties, buying directly from small producers, and supporting the kind of long-term relationships that sustain a region’s food and wine culture rather than just extracting from it.

This trend rewards exactly the kind of access that takes years to build: relationships with family wineries who don’t open their doors to large tour groups, truffle hunters who won’t take a call from a stranger, small breweries and farms where the owner is the one pouring your glass or serving your plate. Increasingly, travelers can tell the difference between a curated, relationship-based experience and a transactional one — and they’re choosing the former.

4. Slow Travel and Fewer, Deeper Stops

For years, the dominant travel instinct was to see as much as possible — three countries in a week, a new city every two nights. That instinct is reversing. More travelers, particularly those drawn to food and wine, are choosing to go deeper into fewer places rather than wider across more of them.

This makes sense for culinary travel specifically. You cannot rush a wine region. You cannot understand a food culture in a single afternoon. The trips that produce the most meaningful experiences tend to be the ones that allow real time in one place — long enough to return to a favorite café twice, long enough to have a real conversation with a winemaker rather than a rehearsed tasting room script, long enough for the pace of a region to actually settle into you.

A week immersed in Tuscany’s wine country, or in Portugal’s Douro Valley, produces something a rushed multi-country itinerary simply can’t: the sense of having actually been somewhere, rather than having passed through it.

5. The Search for the “Undiscovered” Food Region

Overtourism fatigue is real, and it’s reshaping where people want to go. Destinations that feel saturated — overcrowded restaurants, lines for everything, a sense that you’re one of thousands moving through the same script — are losing their appeal even when the food is genuinely excellent. In their place, travelers are actively seeking out food regions that still feel like a discovery.

Peru is one of the clearest examples of this trend in 2026. Long associated primarily with Machu Picchu, Peru is increasingly being recognized — and sought out — for its extraordinary gastronomy, with Lima’s dining scene now considered one of the most exciting in the world. Travelers are looking past the classic tourist circuit toward the country’s culinary depth: its markets, its Andean ingredients, and its rapidly growing reputation among serious food travelers.

Portugal tells a similar story, though it’s a few years further along. It’s no longer entirely undiscovered, but it still carries the feeling of a destination that rewards travelers who got there before it became obvious — exceptional wine in the Douro Valley, a dining scene in Lisbon that keeps surprising people, and a sense of authenticity that hasn’t yet been smoothed over by mass tourism.

6. Multigenerational and Group Travel on the Rise

More travelers are pooling resources and time for one significant trip together rather than several smaller ones — siblings, multigenerational families, longtime friend groups, and wine or food enthusiast communities who’d rather plan one extraordinary week than several ordinary ones. Culinary and wine travel is particularly well suited to this trend, since shared meals and wine are naturally social in a way that, say, a packed sightseeing itinerary isn’t.

This is part of why private, custom-dated group tours have become such an appealing format. They let a self-selected group of people — who already know they travel well together — build a trip around the destination and pace that suits them, without needing to fit into someone else’s fixed departure schedule.

Destinations to Watch: Where Trend Meets Experience

A handful of destinations are showing up again and again in 2026 and 2027 trend forecasts — and they happen to align closely with some of the most compelling food and wine travel available right now.

Portugal continues its multi-year rise as one of Europe’s most exciting culinary destinations. It still offers the increasingly rare combination of serious wine country, an evolving and ambitious food scene, and a sense of discovery that’s harder to find in Western Europe’s more saturated destinations. The Douro Valley, in particular, remains one of the most beautiful and least-crowded wine regions on the continent.

South Africa has quietly become one of the most talked-about food destinations in the world right now, with its Cape Winelands and Cape Town’s diverse culinary identity drawing increasing attention from serious food travelers. The pairing of world-class wine with a genuinely distinctive cuisine — and, in many itineraries, a safari to follow — makes it one of the more unexpected and rewarding combinations in global culinary travel.

Peru is having a true breakout moment in global gastronomy circles, with food writers and travel forecasters increasingly framing it as a culinary destination first and a historical one second. The depth of Peruvian cuisine — its markets, its Andean ingredients, its rapidly evolving restaurant scene — rewards exactly the kind of immersive, hands-on travel that today’s culinary travelers are seeking.

Tuscany remains the steady, established leader of culinary travel, and 2026 is proving to be a particularly strong year for it — not because it’s newly discovered, but because overall demand for serious food and wine travel is rising, and Tuscany continues to be the destination against which everything else gets measured. Its wine, its truffles, its olive oil, and its unhurried pace make it less a trend and more a permanent fixture at the top of the list.

Chile and Argentina, taken together, exemplify the hands-on trend better than almost anywhere else. A blending course alongside a working winemaker, set against the backdrop of two dramatically different wine cultures separated by the Andes, is precisely the kind of participatory, story-rich experience that’s defining culinary travel right now.

What This Means for Your Next Trip

The throughline across all of these trends is simple: culinary travel rewards going deeper, not wider. Fewer destinations, more participation. Fewer crowds, more genuine connection to the people growing, cooking, brewing, and pouring what ends up in front of you.

Wherever you’re drawn to next — a wine region you’ve never considered, a food culture you’ve been meaning to explore, or a destination that’s quietly become the conversation among people who take their travel seriously — the experiences that will stay with you are the ones that let you slow down enough to actually be there.

Explore our private and small-group tours: tastevacations.com/tours/ Not sure where to start? Request a free consultation and we’ll help you find the right fit. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular culinary travel destination right now? Portugal and Tuscany are consistently among the most in-demand culinary destinations in 2026, though Peru and South Africa are seeing the fastest-growing interest among food-focused travelers looking for something less saturated.

Are wine tours still trending in 2026? Yes — and the trend is expanding rather than slowing. Wine tourism is growing both in established regions and in lesser-known wine countries that are gaining international recognition for the first time.

What makes a culinary trip feel different from a typical vacation with good food? The defining difference is participation. Trips built around cooking classes, market visits, foraging, and direct relationships with small producers tend to feel far more memorable than itineraries built solely around restaurant reservations.

Is it better to visit one culinary destination deeply or several destinations briefly? Current travel trends strongly favor depth over breadth. Wine and food culture rarely reveal themselves in a single afternoon — the most rewarding culinary trips tend to allow real time in fewer places.

Apr 30
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Chile & Argentina Wine Tours

Chile & Argentina Wine Tours: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go

By Taste Vacations, Wine No Comments

A guide to South America’s most extraordinary wine destinations — and why experiencing Chile & Argentina wine together is a journey unlike anything else in the wine world

If you’ve been drinking South American wine for any length of time, you already know the names: Mendoza. Malbec. Casablanca Valley. Colchagua. But knowing them from a wine list and knowing them from the place they come from are two entirely different experiences — and the gap between those two versions of understanding is exactly what a wine tour of Chile and Argentina is designed to close.

Chile & Argentina Wine 2Why Chile and Argentina Together?

The obvious question is why combine two countries rather than focusing on one. The answer is geography, contrast, and one of the most spectacular travel experiences available anywhere on earth: crossing the Andes.

Chile and Argentina share the longest mountain border in the world, and yet the wine cultures on either side of the Andes are remarkably different. Chile is coastal-influenced — wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains, its wine valleys benefit from cool marine breezes and a climate that produces wines of notable freshness and precision. Argentina is continental — high-altitude desert country on the eastern side of the Andes, where the thin air and intense sun create conditions that produce some of the most concentrated, powerful wines in the world.

Tasting the two side by side, in the places where they’re made, with the people who made them, is an education that no amount of reading or tasting at home can replicate. The contrast is instructive, the journey between them is extraordinary, and together they represent one of the most diverse wine experiences available on a single trip.

The flight between Santiago and Mendoza takes just forty minutes and offers some of the most scenic, jaw-dropping views in the world — the Andes passing below at close range, the continent’s highest peak visible from the window. It is, genuinely, a highlight of the trip in its own right.

Chile’s Wine Regions: What to Know

The Casablanca Valley

Chile’s Casablanca Valley produces notable white wines including Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, with both modern facilities and traditional clay vessel production methods still in use at some estates. Located between Santiago and the coast, the valley benefits from morning fog rolling in off the Pacific, which moderates temperatures and creates ideal conditions for aromatic white wines and Pinot Noir.

The Casablanca Valley is where Chile’s white wine revolution began in the 1980s, and it remains the benchmark for Chilean whites. If you’ve been drinking Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, there’s a good chance it came from here.

The Colchagua Valley

The Colchagua Valley in Chile is marked by the magnificent Cordillera de los Andes, showcasing a temperate region with a Mediterranean climate where Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Carménère thrive. This is Chile’s most acclaimed red wine region — often compared to Napa Valley in its concentration of prestigious estates and the quality of its flagship wines.

Carménère deserves particular attention here. A grape variety thought to be extinct after the phylloxera epidemic devastated European vineyards in the 19th century, Carménère was rediscovered in Chile in the 1990s, where it had been growing for generations under the mistaken belief that it was Merlot. Chile is now its primary home in the world, and tasting it in Colchagua — where the warm days and cool nights produce its most expressive version — is something no wine lover should miss.

The Aconcagua Valley

Located north of Santiago, the Aconcagua Valley is named for the Andes peak that towers over it — at 6,961 meters, the highest mountain outside Asia. The valley produces powerful Cabernet Sauvignon and is home to some of Chile’s most innovative winemakers, who have been pushing toward cooler sub-appellations closer to the coast. This is less-visited wine country, which means winery access tends to be more intimate and personal than in the more tourist-developed regions to the south.

Chile & ArgentinaSantiago and Valparaíso

Santiago is one of the great cities of South America, with breathtaking surroundings framed by the Andes mountains and wonderful museums, colorful colonial architecture, and delicious food and wine. The nearby port city of Valparaíso, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with steep, labyrinthine streets and colorful architecture, is a natural complement to wine country and one of the most visually distinctive cities in the Americas.

Argentina’s Wine Regions: What to Know

Mendoza

Argentina’s Mendoza region is the country’s premier wine destination, producing world-class reds like Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Tannat, as well as the signature white Torrontés. The city of Mendoza itself is one of the most livable and pleasant in South America — tree-lined avenues leading to sunny plazas, a pace that slows to match wine-country living.

The Mendoza wine region is divided into several distinct sub-zones:

Luján de Cuyo is considered the cradle of Argentine Malbec, where the first vines were planted by Jesuits in the mid-16th century and where altitude, intense sunlight, and the cooling effect of air descending from the Andes combine to create ideal conditions for the grape. Some of Argentina’s most celebrated estates are here.

The Uco Valley, located approximately 90 minutes south of Mendoza city and formed by the drainage network of the Tunuyan River, is protected by the striking Cordón del Plata mountain range. At higher elevations than Luján de Cuyo, the Uco Valley produces wines of notable freshness and complexity — it’s the most exciting new frontier in Argentine wine and the place where the country’s most forward-thinking winemakers are doing their best work. The region maintains consistent conditions for wine tasting throughout the year thanks to its high-altitude position.

Maipú is the most accessible sub-region, flatter and easier to navigate, and particularly well-suited to cycling between wineries — a popular and memorable way to spend a day in Mendoza wine country.

Mendoza in ArgentinaWhy Mendoza’s Malbec Is Different

Malbec originated in France’s Cahors region but found its greatest expression in Argentina — a fact that puzzled wine experts for years until the reasons became clear. The combination of high altitude (which slows ripening and preserves acidity), intense sunshine, minimal rainfall, and the cooling effect of cold Andean air after sunset creates conditions that are arguably better suited to the Malbec grape than its French homeland.

Argentina has been making wine since the 1500s and is one of the world’s largest wine producers. For most of that history, the wine was made for domestic consumption — it’s only since the 1980s that Argentine wine found the international export market. That relative lateness to the global stage means there’s still a sense of discovery here, and winemakers who are passionate about sharing what they’ve built.

Buenos Aires

Most South America wine tours include at least a day or two in Buenos Aires — and it’s worth planning time here regardless of your primary interest. The steaks are legendary, the tango is intoxicating, and the nights stretch on forever. The city’s cultural life, its neighborhoods (Palermo, San Telmo, La Boca), and its food scene are all world-class. For wine lovers, Buenos Aires also offers some of Argentina’s best restaurant wine lists, where you can taste the full range of what Mendoza and the country’s other wine regions produce.

Food in South AmericaThe Food: An Essential Part of the Journey

No wine tour of Chile and Argentina is complete without serious attention to the food — both countries have culinary cultures that are deeply intertwined with their wine traditions.

In Argentina, the asado — the traditional open-fire grill — is more than a meal. It’s a social institution. A typical Argentine asado criollo includes different kinds of meat and vegetables grilled over an open fire, empanadas to start, fresh tomato salads, and the kind of wine-pairing that makes everything make sense. The beef is extraordinary — Argentine grass-fed beef has a richness and flavor that pairs with Malbec in a way that feels almost designed. Empanadas Mendocinas (baked beef pastries) are the unofficial snack of wine country.

In Chile, the food culture is more coastal-influenced — Santiago’s markets offer an abundance of native ingredients and the seafood is some of the finest in South America, owing to the cold Humboldt Current that runs along the Pacific coast. The culinary scene in Santiago has developed significantly in recent years and is now among the most sophisticated in Latin America.

Chile and ArgentinaWhen to Go: The Best Time for a Wine Tour

The wine regions of Argentina and Chile welcome visitors from October through April, when temperatures are mild and rainfall is minimal. Summer months from December to February are ideal for exploring Chile’s Casablanca Valley.

For most travelers, March and April are the most desirable months — this is harvest season in Mendoza, when the vineyards are at their most active and beautiful. Mendoza’s wineries come alive during harvest season in March and April, and visiting during the vendimia (harvest) means you may have the chance to see — or participate in — the picking and crushing that produces the wine in your glass. The Mendoza Harvest Festival in early March is one of the most celebrated events in Argentine culture.

October and November (spring in the Southern Hemisphere) are also excellent: the vines are leafing out, the weather is mild, and the tourist infrastructure is operating at full capacity without the peak-season crowds of February.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to speak Spanish? Not at all. English is widely spoken in the wine tourism industry in both countries, and a good guide will handle all communication. That said, a few words of Spanish are always appreciated and will deepen your interactions with locals.

How physically demanding is a wine tour? Most wine tours involve light walking through vineyards and cellars — nothing strenuous. The most demanding part is typically the travel between destinations. Tasting sessions are conducted sitting down. The biggest physical challenge is pacing yourself across multiple days of excellent wine.

Can I visit both countries without flying? Yes — it’s possible to cross the Andes by road, which takes 6–8 hours but offers spectacular mountain scenery. Most tours use the 40-minute flight between Santiago and Mendoza for efficiency, but the road crossing is a memorable experience in its own right.

What’s the best way to get to Chile and Argentina from the US? Santiago (SCL) is the most common entry point, with direct flights from Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Buenos Aires (EZE) also has direct service from several US cities. Flying into one and out of the other is a common and practical routing for a combined tour.

What if I’m a casual wine drinker rather than an enthusiast? South America’s wine regions welcome all levels of interest. The landscapes, the food, the culture, and the people are as compelling as the wine itself — and the wine tends to convert people who weren’t previously

Planning a Private Group Tour to Chile and Argentina

For travelers who want to go with their own group — family, friends, a wine club — a private tour offers something a scheduled group departure can’t: complete flexibility over dates and pace, and the experience of sharing the entire journey with people you chose to be there with.

A private wine tour of Chile and Argentina typically requires a minimum of 6 travelers and runs for 9 days. The journey usually begins in Santiago, moves through Chile’s wine valleys, crosses the Andes to Mendoza, and ends in Buenos Aires.

At Taste Vacations, our Chile & Argentina Wine Tour has been designed around the principle that the best wine experiences require real access — to winemakers, to cellars, to the landscape. Our guide, Lorena Gil Fin, was born in Mendoza and has spent 20 years building relationships across Argentina, Chile, and Spain. The blending course at Viña San Esteban in the Aconcagua Valley — where your group works with winemaker María José to blend your own cuvée from component varietals — is one of those experiences that changes how you taste wine for the rest of your life. The tour runs on your dates, with your group, at $5,950 per person for 9 days across both countries.

Apr 14
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Tuscany in September

Tuscany in September Feels Like a Secret

By Taste Vacations No Comments

There’s a version of Tuscany that many travelers never find. Most people know a lot about Tuscany. But here’s what it actually feels like to be there in September.

The cypress-lined road climbing to a farmhouse. The vineyard at golden hour. The hilltop town with the view that makes you put your phone down. These images exist because they’re real — Tuscany is genuinely, unreasonably beautiful — but they’ve been photographed so many times that somewhere along the way they stopped feeling like a place and started feeling like a screensaver.

We’d like to offer you a different Tuscany. Not a hidden one — there are no secrets in a region this beloved. But a version that most travelers miss because they visit at another time, in a different way, or in the wrong company.

September Is When Tuscany Becomes Itself Again

The busloads thin in September. The French families and the American honeymooners and the tour groups counting heads have largely gone home. And what’s left is something the summer crowds inadvertently concealed: a region that is genuinely, quietly alive in a way that has nothing to do with tourism.

September is harvest season. The vineyards that looked like pastoral decoration all summer are suddenly the center of everything. Families are out in the rows. The air near the wineries carries something you can’t quite describe — fermentation starting somewhere nearby, earth and grape and something almost sweet. The people you encounter at the cellars aren’t in hospitality mode. They’re in the middle of the most important weeks of their year, and when they pour you a glass and tell you about what’s coming, they mean it.

The olive trees are still silver-green in the slanted afternoon light, a few weeks from their own harvest. The sunflower fields are done, their stalks dried and leaning, but the landscape they leave behind is its own kind of beauty — more austere, more honest. The tomatoes at the farm stands are extraordinary. The pecorino is at its best.

This is Tuscany operating at full capacity, for itself, for reasons that have nothing to do with your visit. You just get to be in the middle of it.

The Villages That Don’t Need Your Attention

TuscanyA lot of Tuscany’s famous towns have learned, over centuries, how to handle tourists. San Gimignano is magnificent — the medieval towers rising above the valley are genuinely astonishing — but the main street knows exactly what it’s doing. The gelaterias are optimized. The souvenir economy is finely tuned.

This isn’t a criticism. It’s just useful to know that the more famous a Tuscan town is, the more it has organized itself around the experience of being visited.

What’s interesting is how many towns haven’t. Radda in Chianti, perched on its ridge with archaeological traces going back 4,000 years, feels like a village that would exist in exactly this form regardless of whether you showed up. Montepulciano — steep and beautiful — is famous for its wine but not famous for being famous, which is a meaningful distinction. Spello, officially one of the most beautiful villages in Italy and largely unknown to anyone without a reason to be looking for it, has cobblestones worn smooth by genuine centuries of use, not footfall optimization.

The feeling of walking through these places is different. You’re not being managed. The bar in the piazza was there for the locals before you arrived and will be there after you leave. The man arguing about football at the corner table is not a performance.

What the Food Is Actually Doing

Tuscan food has a reputation for simplicity that is sometimes used to undersell it. ‘Simple ingredients, simply prepared’ — which is true, but misses why it works.

What Tuscan food is actually doing is trusting its ingredients completely. The bread is unsalted and stale-looking and somehow perfect with good olive oil. The ribollita — a thick, slow-cooked bread-and-vegetable soup — is the kind of dish that would be uninspiring at a restaurant that didn’t care and transcendent at one that did. The bistecca fiorentina is just steak and fire and salt, which sounds like nothing and tastes like everything.

The truffle, though, is where the philosophy becomes almost mystical.

Tuscan truffleThe Tuscan truffle is not a garnish or an affectation. It is an underground thing found by a dog following an instinct, dug from the roots of an oak tree in a forest that looks ordinary until it isn’t. Following a truffle hunter through the woods — watching a dog work, understanding that this skill has been passed down through families, that the location of a good truffle spot is guarded like family property — changes how you feel about what ends up on your plate. It is one of the more genuinely strange and wonderful food experiences available in the world, and it happens in forests that most tourists drive past without slowing down.

Chianti from Inside a Villa

There’s something about staying in the Chianti countryside — actually staying in it, waking up to vineyards outside the window rather than a hotel room in a city — that changes your relationship with what you’re tasting.

The geography of Chianti Classico is one of the most beautiful in the wine world: the hills, the elevations, the way altitude and aspect and drainage combine to create the specific character of a Sangiovese from this valley versus the next one. None of that is abstract when you ate dinner under the pergola last night and walked through the vineyard this morning and the people who made this wine live five kilometers away.

Wine tourism, in a place like this, isn’t really tourism at all. It’s just paying attention to where you are.

The Pace That Changes You

Tuscany toastThe reason people come back from Tuscany — from a real trip in Tuscany, not a rushed one — looking subtly different isn’t the sights. It’s the pace.

Tuscany doesn’t reward hurrying. The towns are arranged on hilltops specifically to slow you down. The meals last as long as they last. The afternoon light at 4 PM, when the shadows start to go long across the fields, is doing something to your nervous system whether you intend it to or not. You stop checking the time. You order a second glass of wine because the conversation is still going. You find yourself genuinely interested in what the winemaker is saying about the difference between clay soil and limestone.

This doesn’t happen on a packed itinerary. It doesn’t happen in large groups. It happens when the travel has been designed with enough space for the place to actually reach you.

A Note on September 2026

We have one small-group departure to Tuscany this September — 7 days, a maximum of 8 travelers, starting in Florence and working through the Chianti hills, the Val d’Orcia, Cortona, and Umbria. Truffle hunting in the forest. Cooking class at a stone farmhouse. A pecorino farm in Pienza. Wineries that welcome a group of eight the way they would welcome friends.

It’s the version of Tuscany we’ve been describing. And there are a handful of spots left.

→ See the full itinerary and dates: Tuscany Food & Wine Tour, September 10–16, 2026

Mar 31
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FAQs About Taste Vacations Culinary Tours

FAQs About Taste Vacations Culinary Tours

By Beer, Food, Taste Vacations, Wine No Comments

If you’re considering a culinary tour, it’s natural to have questions—especially if you’re comparing different tour companies or wondering what the experience will actually feel like. Read on for FAQs about our culinary tours: Answers to the most frequently asked questions from travelers considering Taste Vacations.

At Taste Vacations, we believe clarity builds confidence, so we want to answer some of the most frequently asked questions travelers ask when planning a food, beer, or wine-focused trip with us.

Whether you’re curious about group size, pacing, or whether our tours are right for you, the following will help you decide if Taste Vacations is the right fit for your travel style.

What makes Taste Vacations culinary tours different?

Taste Vacations specializes in small-group culinary travel designed to feel personal, relaxed, and thoughtfully hosted. Rather than packing each day with nonstop activities, our tours focus on meaningful food and drink experiences, regional culture, and time to savor the journey.

Guests choose Taste Vacations because they want:

  • Authentic food and wine experiences rooted in place
  • Small groups that encourage connection
  • A calm, well-paced itinerary
  • Real hosts who care about the experience

Our tours are about quality, not quantity—and that difference is felt throughout the trip.

FAQs About Taste Vacations Culinary Tours

Are Taste Vacations tours good for solo travelers?

Yes. Many Taste Vacations guests travel solo and find our public tours especially welcoming. Small group sizes make it easy to connect with fellow travelers, and shared meals and experiences naturally create conversation and camaraderie.

Solo travelers often appreciate that our public tours feel inclusive without being forced, allowing relationships to form organically.

How large are the tour groups?

Taste Vacations intentionally limits group size on public tours. Smaller groups allow for:

  • Better access to guides and hosts
  • More meaningful conversations
  • Greater flexibility during the trip
  • A more relaxed overall experience

This approach also helps create groups that travel well together, enhancing the experience for everyone.

Do I need to be a food or wine expert to join a tour?

Not at all. All Taste Vacations tours (public or private) are designed for curious travelers, not experts. Whether you’re passionate about food and wine or simply enjoy learning through experience, our tours meet you where you are.

Our hosts and partners provide context and insight without overwhelming guests with technical detail.

Are Taste Vacations tours highly scheduled or rushed itineraries?

No. Pacing is a core part of our philosophy. While each tour includes thoughtfully planned food, wine, and cultural experiences, there is also time built in to relax, explore independently, or simply enjoy where you are.

This balance helps travelers feel engaged without feeling exhausted—a common concern with traditional group tours.

Is a Taste Vacations tour worth the cost?

Travelers often tell us that what makes Taste Vacations worth the investment is the overall experience: the care, the pacing, the quality of experiences, and the relationships formed along the way.

Rather than paying for volume or extras you don’t need, you’re investing in:

  • Thoughtfully curated experiences
  • Expert hosting and local insight
  • Small groups and personal attention
  • A trip that feels meaningful and memorable

FAQs About Taste Vacations Culinary Tours

Can I ask questions before booking a tour?

Absolutely. We encourage it. Planning-stage travelers often have questions they don’t see listed on a website, and we’re happy to talk things through before you commit.

Whether you’re deciding between destinations, wondering if a tour fits your travel style, or simply comparing options, our team is easy to reach and happy to help.

If these FAQs about Taste Vacations culinary tours don’t answer your questions, we’d love to hear what is important to you!

Are Taste Vacations tours right for me?

Taste Vacations tours tend to be a great fit for travelers who:

  • Love food, wine, and cultural discovery
  • Prefer small groups over large tours
  • Value pacing and flexibility
  • Want a hosted experience that still feels personal

Dreaming about a future Culinary Tour?

Taste Vacations offers a curated selection of public culinary tours in Portugal, France, Belgium, and Italy, all designed for travelers who want to experience Europe through its food and drink—without rushing or crowding.

And, we offer even more choices for private food, wine, and beer tours around the world—gather your friends and family and you pick the dates—we do the rest.