Our tour guides are crucial to your vacation. They are with you from breakfast through dinner, introduce you to the food and drink experiences in your tour location, and serve as your advisor, guide, and often friend.
All our guides are experienced in both the regions in which they lead tours and the food or drink of that tour. However, we hire our guides as much or more for their personality as we do for their credentials. See below to read about your Taste Vacations staff and guides.
Allan Wright is the owner and president of Taste Vacations and Zephyr Adentures and has been running tours since 1997 when Zephyr Adventures first created the inline skating tour industry. Allan is a native of Seattle, resides in New York, and has lived in eleven cities in four countries on three continents during his many traveling years. He runs his own food and drink website and the local wine appreciation group in his hometown. When asked about his life dreams, Allan will tell you, “To have a significant impact on other people and the world and to have fun doing it.” Allan is a bit of an idealist.
“His passion for creating a travel company that is centered around the participants’ wants and needs clearly shows.”
“Brilliant! Always everywhere in tune to everything and everyone. Can he be cloned?”
Giacomo Benedetti is a native of the upper Tiber Valley in Tuscany. He has a master’s degree in Art History and is also a licensed guide. He is passionate about history and is generous sharing his vast knowledge with Taste Vacations travelers whenever he can. He admits it makes him very happy when people enjoy what he has to tell them about Italian history or what their feelings are about a Romanesque church, for example. His biggest flaw? “I become impatient if I must wait for a pasta with truffles dish!”
“Giacomo was always right there with a cheerful smile, local information and willing to help you. He made the trip super.”
“Giacomo was a real plus for the trip, both for his leadership skill and the research he must have done on local history.”
Giovanni Ramaccioni is our Italian specialist and a man of many talents. Not only is he an expert on the food and wine of his country, he is licensed tour guide and can expound on history, culture, or any other subject you choose about Italy. He has guided tours throughout Italy for many years and has been our Italian partner for almost a decade. Giovanni and his college sweetheart Michela live in Tuscany with their two kids.
“Best local guide we have ever been on a tour with. He really knew his country and could talk about everything to do with it easily.”
“Giovanni made my trip. His personality, energy and knowledge were awesome and his sense of humor just made him a joy to travel with.”
Francisco Franco Afonso believes a great life is made up of wine, travel, and food. And he should know as he has been guiding wine experiences since 2006 and has his WSET III wine certification. Not content to just stay home and continue to explore all of Portugal’s wine appellations (which he has!) Francisco has traveled extensively to explore wine regions all over the world including wine regions in New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Spain, and France! You will meet Francisco on our Portugal Wine Tour … or perhaps in another wine area of the world!
“Francisco added critical extensive wine knowledge and had a great attitude and energy that made the trip fantastic for all guests.”
“Francisco was a font of knowledge and enthusiasm and I can’t imagine visiting Portugal without seeing it through his lens of local history, culture, and experience.”
Jenny Siddall is a Brit who lived in Rioja, Spain for many years and travels extensively to the wine regions all over the globe. She has earned a WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits as well as a masters degree in Viticulture and Oenology. She is a Wine Educator and has worked in several Spanish wineries. Jenny is fluent in Spanish, Italian, and French and so you will find her on any of our food or wine tours in Europe or even beyond.
“Jenny is a gem and a real pro. Unflappable, good-natured, professional, and a true pleasure to be around. She clearly loves her work and that enthusiasm pops through all the time. I cannot rave enough about her!”
“Jenny was wonderful. Her patience apparently unlimited. She set a wonderful tone for each day, and brought things together at dinner.”
Jim McCammon is a semi-retired clergyman who, as he describes it, “has a passion for the beauty of wine”. He has become such a fan he volunteered to work at the busy “crush” time in a local winery in his home Sonoma County and spends his vacations traveling to wine festivals. You will be impressed with Jim’s ability to engage you on just about any subject you choose! Jim regularly runs our Sonoma Wine Tour.
“Jim McCammon was a wonderful guide. He is very knowledgable about the vineyards and so much more. We appreciated that he is both professional and personable, which made for a very enjoyable day of both learning and conversing. Thanks Jim!”
“Jim was delightful. I appreciate that he didn’t have a set agenda, so the conversation and pace of the tour was spontaneous and flexible. The combination of Jim’s insight, his wisdom gleaned from years of ministry and counseling, and his passion for wine and nature were exceptional. The best guide I have ever had!”
Lorena Gil is a native of the wine region of Mendoza, Argentina. She has 20 years of experience working in a variety of different aspects of tourism including wineries, hotels, adventure tourism, and ski resorts. She is highly knowledgeable about not only her home country’s wine regions but the wine regions of Chile as well. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and has been doing so as a wine tourism instructor for the past 10 years. “Wine and mountains are the spirit of my town and I love sharing this concept with people”.
“Lorena is a remarkable woman who is exceptionally skilled at what she does. She knows when to lead out and when to join in. She cares deeply about her clients and it shows.”
“You need a rating choice that is better than Outstanding for Lorena. She is so very, very exceptional.”
Although Santiago Castelo lives and works in Peru and is an expert on Peruvian culture and history, his knowledge spreads beyond his country’s borders. Having lived in the U.S. for a time, he is able to relate to North Americans and is comfortable conversing on any subject you choose. Born and raised in the Cusco area, Santiago has served as a guide for many years and will amaze you with everything he knows about the flora and fauna, the Incas and the Spanish, and of course the local food and drink. Santiago’s compassion for his people is easily apparent, as is his wickedly fun sense of humor!
“On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being the best … I would rate Santiago as a 12.”
“Santiago was the best – an encyclopedia and always attentive to safety. A really nice guy as well. He has a great respect for Andean culture and I learned a lot from him.”
Willem Swanepoel is loves to share his beautiful country of South Africa with others and is passionate about the wine, history, wildlife, and natural beauty of the the Western Cape. Willem has been in the tourism industry for over 12 years and is a wealth of knowledge of local wine and culture. He feels lucky in his chosen profession to be able to meet new people and to spend time sampling great wine in such breathtaking surroundings.
“Willem was very informative and it was so interesting hearing the history behind it all. He is a very easy person to get on with and we both throughly enjoyed our trip with him as our guide.”
“Willem was a wonderful guide and went out of his way to help us. His knowledge of the area, wildlife, and of course, wine, was amazing.”
William is a wine educator in the wine region of Washington state, just over the border from Oregon. He loves connecting with his guests and sharing his passion for and knowledge about wine. “I want my guests to have the best wine country experience possible.” He began working in the Washington wine industry in 2005 and currently works for Wautoma Springs Winery and at the Walter Clore Wine & Culinary Center.
“Amazing! William is a wonderful guide of Washington wines.”
“Wiliam is a knowledgeable asset and host – a wonderful experience.”
Yannick de Cocquéau lives in Ghent, Belgium. He’s adept at what he describes as a “Burgundian Lifestyle” which actually just means he enjoys life as much as possible and especially good food! His passion for beer takes an important place in this. Yannick works at the regional tourist organization and is in charge of everything related to beer tourism. In addition, he graduated as a beer sommelier, brews his own beers, conducts tasting sessions for groups, is active in different beer associations and is also part of the team behind the Zythos Beer Festival. As he loves his country and wants to share this love, beer appreciators can’t go wrong spending time with him in Belgium! As Yannick knows every Belgian brewer personally and the stories behind the breweries and their beers, he fits extremely well in the job of beer guide on our Belgian tours.
“Yannick was very attentive to all our needs and shared his time with all – always with a smile. He was so full of knowledge about both the culture, the areas we were visiting, and history of beer. Very impressed!”
“Yannick brought so much to the table with beer knowledge, local knowledge, and extraordinary energy and patience.”
