Tinto Wine Tours

let us do the work for you

"I had been living in Portugal with my wife, Nina, for close to 10 years when we decided to open our first wine shop in Virginia Beach. We knew when we opened that our focus would be on everyday European wines. We learned quickly that many of our customers were not familiar with Portuguese wines and the Alentejo region where we are from.

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Our goal was always to share our experiences living, eating and drinking abroad with our customers, but we knew that there was a huge difference between describing our experiences and sharing them firsthand. This disconnect eventually led to our first tour of Alentejo. Portugal is so special to us and we wanted to find a way to share the experiences we've had over the last decade. Our approach to travel is simple - if you were traveling to meet close friends, where would they take you? What would they show you that's not listed in any guidebook?

The biggest difference I’ve observed between life in Southern Europe and life in the United States is the pace. Here, the most important part of the day is often simply the daily meal and we honor that local rhythm on our tours. The day starts with a leisurely breakfast that is followed by a bit of local culture; we will visit one winery for a tasting followed by a long, leisurely lunch or dinner. The meal is the centerpiece of the day. We don't have much interest in ticking boxes, rushing around, waking up at the crack of dawn or traveling all day. We like to be based in one or two places during our six nights together.

Since that first tour, we have been lucky enough to partner with colleagues in other great wine regions who have the same deep experiences tying them to that culture that we have here in Portugal. We now offer wine tours in Portugal, Italy, Spain and France."

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-Peter Brinkman, Founder of Tinto Wine

"Years ago we saw an ad that grabbed our attention, "sit back, and leave the driving to us." Vacation planning can be a hassle and we had done it ourselves for years: booking hotels, renting cars, buying day tour tickets, train tickets, bus tickets and entrance fees. We struggled to find restaurants that weren't tourist traps, and attempted to deal in languages that aren’t our own. Sure, you will always be able to find guidebooks and language classes, but if what you want is free time spent wisely without hassles and without a massive planning regimen, you can’t beat Tinto Tours."

One set price pretty much covers the whole vacation, which is usually a week or 6 days long. Best of all, the food and wine can’t be beat. We got to experience out-of-the-way places we would never have found on our own. We went to restaurants only locals would know, we went to Michelin star restaurants, and we enjoyed catered lunches that gave us an insider's view of the wine industry.

     We first traveled to Alentejo, Portugal. We arrived in Lisbon and eventually headquartered in Evora, where we stayed in a four star hotel and were provided amazing breakfasts to start each day. Our second tour was to the Loire Valley in France. On Tinto Tours the day begins at a reasonable hour, 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., and activities often go well into the evening, lingering over sumptuous communal dinners, or taking a night of free time to explore on your own. There’s enough flex time to accommodate most travelers. We learned after the first Tinto Tour that unless you plan to buy a ton of souvenirs you really don’t need much pocket money; the set tour price takes care of nearly everything. All of our travel in country, our entrance fees to sites, our four star hotel stays, and two huge meals a day were covered. The Tinto hosts have a lot of helpful suggestions for using your free time and the travel group is small. On both trips, we went with only 8 to 10 couples and made great new friends.

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     We can confidently say we will never cold plan another European vacation. We’re looking forward to traveling to Tuscany with Tinto next, and we hope they eventually expand their offerings so we can continue to “sit back” and leave the planning to Tinto."

- Tinto Members Val & Clay Drees, Virginia Beach