Avanti Destinations has introduced three new customizable wine-focused itineraries in Argentina and Uruguay, a new tour of a pisco distillery in Peru, as well as more than 20 wine-focused tours in Argentina and Chile. The company's itineraries are designed for independent travelers and custom groups of 15-100 passengers and are exclusively through travel agents.
In Argentina and Chile, travelers can take wine-tasting daytrips to the Maipu, Lujan, and Uco wine valleys. Avanti offers a classic wine tasting at a historic cellar built in the 1800s. In Argentina, the wine-tasting experiences can be combined with other activities, such as bicycling or horseback-riding, as well as a gourmet lunch. Travelers can stay at a winery, some of which offer packages that include tastings, dinner, and a massage or other wellness services. Argentina produces varietals such as Bornarda, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Chardonnay and Malbec.
The new Flavors of Argentina customizable package includes a seven-day, six-night itinerary with visits to Mendoza and Buenos Aires, and it can be booked 365 days a year. Wine and gastronomic highlights in Mendoza are a private winery cooking class with lunch and a tasting, a private wine and olive tasting with lunch and a gourmet wine pairing dinner. In Buenos Aires, the itineraries includes a choice of either a gastronomic or tavern tour in the district of San Telmo; a choice of food tours in the Palermo neighborhood, visiting pizzerias, taverns or steakhouses; dinner, a tango show; and a private North & South Buenos Aires city tour. Most of these tours are private, and private arrival and departure transfers, as well as a choice of accommodations, are also included.
Chile's Carménère is an ancient grape grown for centuries in Bordeaux but wiped out in France in the late 19th century. The vines had been brought to Chile before the phylloxera plague swept the French vineyards. Other Chilean varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Pinot Noir.
Avanti offers seven different winery daytrip tour and tasting options from Santiago. The Colchagua, Maipo, Aconcagua and Casablanca valleys are within a few hours of the capital. As in Argentina, travelers can stay in accommodations from small bed-and-breakfasts to grand wine estates, featuring horseback riding and local vineyard tastings. In Santiago itself, the private tour Chilean Wine Discovery with Dinner introduces travelers to the 48 aromas associated with wine, as well as a tasting.
In Uruguay, daytrip tours to wineries from either Colonia del Sacramento or Montevideo may be added to any stay. The tour operator offers two new customizable packages:
- Best of Uruguay, which spends eight days / seven nights in Carmelo, Montevideo and Jose Ignacio and includes three wine tastings, four lunches, a walking tour of Colonia, a vineyards and Jesuit ruins tour in Carmelo, a walking tour of Montevideo and its port market a tour of Pinapolois and Punta del Este and a tour of Garzon and the surrounding area. Also included are all private ground transfers and breakfasts.
- Uruguay’s Unexplored Wine Country offers three days / two nights at Finca Narbona Lodge, where Tannat, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Petit Verdot are grown. This package also includes a private, full-day Jesuit ruins and wineries tour with tastings, private picnic, wine and cheese tasting with an enologist and daily breakfasts.
Finally, a new Pisco distillery tour is offered as part of the three-day / two-night Nazca Lines and Ballestas Islands itinerary. Travelers will learn about the production process of this high-proof Peruvian brandy-like spirit, invented by Spanish settlers 400 years ago and traditionally aged in ceramic amphorae. Pisco is also produced in Chile.
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