What will our Wine Tours look like after lockdown?
The tourism landscape has changed and it is true that we may have new considerations when we start traveling again. But saying that, it is hard to imagine any type of tour that carries less hygiene risk than private, post COVID wine tours. So what will need to change when we get back to traveling? Let’s look at what our wine tours were like before:
- Picked up from your hotel by a personal guide
- A vehicle just for you with a personal, private driver/guide
- Visits to wineries where you are often the only guests
- If you are not the only guests then only as small groups
- Private tasting with your guide, or winery staff member
- Time spent in wide-open spaces, vineyards, cellars, etc
- Outdoor activities in the sunshine, and often eating outdoors
- Dropped back at your hotel in your private vehicle
So, you can see that our operation was already quite a bit different from a tour where you traveling on a large bus, with people you don’t know, visiting places where many people are gathering and eating a buffet lunch somewhere very public!
Before the pandemic, social distancing and lack of contamination factors were already built-in to our private wine tours. So we think that not a lot will have to change in order for people to feel secure on our post-COVID wine tours.
Great Georgian BBQ at the Chubini wine cellar 
Some expert guidance on viticulture at Chateau Nuzun
Of course, we will spend even more time making sure hygiene is fully up to the mark and introduce anything we deem necessary in order to be even safer than before. Super-sanitized vehicles with wipes and hand gel always available for example, but the core operation was already heavy on exclusive and private arrangements.
Obviously tourists will have arrived at their hotels via commercial flights before we meet them, but as we all now know the process of flying is changing and more safeguards will be in place. The same will be true of hotels, plus we will only work with establishments that take hygiene very seriously, and we will check regularly!
International travel is a passion for millions, and after the scare and privations of the pandemic post-COVID travel is likely to be characterized by people spending a little more on luxury and private travel arrangements while ticking off some bucket list experiences. Wine lovers will want to extend themselves and visit some of the less mainstream wine destinations such as Chile, Georgia, and Moldova – this is right in our wheelhouse!
