Private Wine Tours in Lima, Chincha & Ica
Day 1 – Start your Peru wine tour in Lima
After breakfast, you will be picked up by your local guide and taken to the colonial center of Lima. Founded in 1535 as the “City of Kings”, Peru’s capital is now a bustling metropolis of nine million people. The old colonial center, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has many historic churches and buildings famed for their traditional, ornate balconies.
You will visit the Plaza San Martin and the Plaza de Armas – home to the Presidential Palace and the impressive Colonial Cathedral among other Colonial structures.
After your sightseeing tour, you will need some lunch to re-charge so around 2 pm we will take you to a famous up-scale Peruvian buffet restaurant, where you will be able to try many of Peru’s signature dishes. We will give you information explaining the main dishes you can try here, such as Ceviche, Lomo Saltado, Rocoto Relleno, Tiradito, Aji de Gallina, Escabeche, Chaufa … the list is a long one!
After a lunch of this magnitude, rest might be in order! We will take you back to your hotel to put your feet up. Early evening you will be met by your guide and travel out to explore the bohemian area of Barranco.
Micro-breweries are gaining popularity in Peru and a recent craft beer festivals have seen over 20 different exhibitors get involved in the promotion of their brews to the general public. We will visit one of these micro-breweries and enjoy a tour of the small facility and an explanation of the process involved in making the beer. Then, of course, we need to try some!
After the brew-pub, we can go for a Pisco cocktail at one of the most emblematic and historic bars in Lima. Juanitos has been a fixture in Barranco since 1937 and is a real piece of Lima nostalgia, which appears to be almost frozen in time. The place has been a source of inspiration to writers and artists over the years, and today a wide range of people can be seen cramming in from tourists, through politicians and celebrities, to regular local people. Try one of the famous Jamon del Norte sandwiches and you are taking a bite out of history.
Day 2 – Ica, Queirolo Winery, Vineyard and Hotel
Today your Peru wine tour will get “real” as we head off down the Pan-American Highway in our private vehicle, experiencing the traffic chaos and general disorder that Peruvians have to deal with. After around 45 minutes we will make a stop at the Queirolo Winery in Pachacamac. This winery is where the Queirolo family, who arrived in Peru from Italy in 1877, have been producing wine since 1880. Obviously, technology has changed over the last century and a half, and the plant is now very modern, with a capacity of over five million liters.
You will be taken on a guided tour of the facility and see where the grapes you will soon get to know are processed, bottled and shipped to customers. In 2002, Queirolo moved its vineyards to where they currently are in Ica, and in 2011 it became the first company in Peru to have a hotel within its vineyards. This excellent hotel will serve as our Peru wine tour base for the next few days.
Queirolo Vineyard Hotel – click to view the place
After an hour tour of the Queirolo winery, you will board your vehicle again to continue the drive along the sandy highway. On this drive, you will see plenty of disorder, ramshackle houses and witness regular Peruvians doing what they do. One of the main problems that Peru has, in common with all under-developed countries, is economic inequality and this will become obvious to you on the journey. We will stop en-route if there is something that catches your eye.
We will continue on to Ica for a late lunch at your hotel or local restaurant. After checking in at the Queirolo winery hotel, surrounded by vines, we will have lunch we will meet the resident sommelier for a tasting of the Queirolo flagship line, Intipalka. After a tasting of around Intipalka wines and a visit to the winery viewpoint, you will be free for dinner.
Day 3 – Artisan Pisco and La Caravedo
This first place is very “old school” and slightly bizarre, with the small-scale production of Pisco being done almost completely by hand. Over the years methods will have been refined somewhat but basically, the process has remained the same for centuries.
Our local guide will show you the old-fashioned stills, an array of traditional fermenting bottles and explain the process, including showing us the different grapes and/or vines (according to the season, of course). If the timing is right, then we may be able to come back to this winery later in the day to join in treading the grapes in the traditional way. This is done at night to avoid the heat and too many insects.
After you have explored, you will have a tasting of the numerous products sold here … and maybe take a small souvenir for your home bar. Around 11 am, we will drive a short distance to the La Caravedo, a Pisco distillery said to be the oldest, but ironically now probably the most modern distillery in Peru.
After the technical tour, we will enjoy a Pisco tasting in the winery, direct from the storage vats, if filled; and if not, from the finished product in the bottles. This tasting will be accompanied by an extensive Peruvian tapas selection to keep you going until you have dinner in the hotel later in the evening. When we get back to the hotel we will have a cocktail-making class, using Pisco as the base, what else!
Tacama: The Oldest Winery in the Americas
While moving between winery visits on one or more of the days, we should be able to stop at a local food or products market, so you can see and feel what regular life is like here, and see some of the bizarre forms of transport that Peru has along its desert coast.
Day 4 – Vista Alegre & Tacama
We will leave the hotel after breakfast to visit two more wineries on and their respective vineyards. The first visit is to Vista Alegre only 15 minutes or so from the hotel. This winery is semi-industrial, not equipped on the scale of Queirolo or La Caravedo, so it makes a nice contrast: things are not quite so pristine and seem a little more “rustic”. Saying that Vista Alegre does produce a wide range of wines and Piscos that have won awards, as has the second vineyard, Tacama.
After a look around the winery and its equipment, you get a chance to try some of the products of course. There are some great photo ops around the place with the old and new equipment, plus the cellar with large oak barrels.
After Vista Alegre, it is off to Tacama which has wines that are very popular in the local market: you find Tacama in most supermarkets and restaurants. This visit includes a look at the nursery area for the vines and a climb of the bell tower for a panoramic view over the vineyard. Then you can enjoy another tasting of what Tacama produces.
On the way to our next stop, we will try something different and stop at a small chocotejas factory to see how these delicious local chocolates are made … and try some, of course. If there is interest, we can also visit the small, but excellent Ica Museum to learn about the history of the Inca and pre-Inca inhabitants of this area.
Your Peru wine tour with us is all about trying something different so we take you to the surreal environment of the Huacachina Oasis. Huge sand dunes surround this natural oasis, and a small community has grown up around it catering to locals who want to swim or row small boats.
There are plenty of foreigners and locals who go out into the dunes on exciting sand buggy rides. You can also sandboard while out in the dunes on the buggy ride if you wish … or simply enjoy the scenery and watch others slide down the dunes. Depending on what the group wants to do, and how we are for time after our previous visits, we will have time to either eat at one of the restaurants here in the oasis or wait until we get back to the hotel.
If there are people who wish to fit in either a flight over the Nazca Lines or a trip to the Ballestas Islands, this can be done during the schedule (local conditions permitting). It would mean missing one of the mornings of the regular tour. This can be arranged on-site through your guide.
Day 5 – Back to Lima, end of your Peru wine tour
Tearfully it is time to end our Peru wine tour adventure, leave the Ica wine region and head back to Lima. Your arrangements will depend on your route and what to combine after the Peru wine tour – will you be going home? to another wine region or elsewhere in Peru or South America? Just let us know and let us arrange everything for you.
