About us and our experience.
Wine Tours & Wine Tasting is owned and managed by wine nut and incessant traveller Gary Sargent. Gary leads a small, dedicated team of expert consultants and operators around the world, and is very ably assisted by Malka, his Peruvian wife and Somm (the more attractive of the three people above!). The wt2 website is the wine tourism arm of the well-respected Escaped Travel brand specializing in Latin American tourism.
Gary (originally from England) is currently studying for the WSET level 4 Diploma having passed levels 2 and 3 in London, plus a Somm qualification at the Wine Institute in Salta, Argentina. Although very well versed and experienced he is far from being a wine “expert”, with massive amounts still to learn, but he does know tourism inside out from his two decades in the industry and managing several tourism brands.
He has spent over 20 years living in Latin America, most of which have been in Peru but also in Mexico, two years in Argentina, two more in Chile, plus many adventures all over the wine and non-wine world. He and his small team of staff have travelled to almost all the corners of the regions they advise you on – they know these places and love them.
In more recent times Gary and Malka lived in Argentina, and between 2016 and 2018 were enjoying the very high-altitude wine from their base in the city of Salta. In 2019 they were giving the Caucasus (Georgia and Azerbaijan) a try and also six months in Turkey. Living in the ancient wine world allowed them to gain much more experience in the ancient ways of wine production, plus modern wine tourism, of course, they now really love the Birthplace of Wine region.
From 2022 the couple will be basing themselves between Santiago de Chile and Cusco in Peru, moving to match the tourism seasons each year. The ridiculously long country of Chile is the major powerhouse of wine in South America and a real innovator on the world stage and a great place to learn more.
Update: The couple have now planted vines on their land in Calca, Peru and plan to produce micro-quantities of high-altitude wine. Follow their Facebook for the Sacred Valley Winery to watch the progress.
Planning and booking with us will mean you deal with just one person, your expert travel consultant. You deal with just one company, then relax and let us deal with everything. We will take care of your pick-ups, transfers, tours, hotels & activities plus international or domestic flights if you wish. We are the one-stop shop for wine tours (plus conventional tourism) all over Latin America, Europe, and Asia Minor.
We strive to maintain our very high standard of customer service and attention to detail. We pride ourselves on knowing about our destinations, we speak from first-hand experience and pass that knowledge on to you. Please feel free to ask us any questions you have about visiting any of the wine regions we cover.
