Intimate groups, one microbus, on the road since 2014
Our mission
A new window on ancient lands
Vinotours' goal is to introduce you to new, unique experiences, food and wines that will enhance and challenge your perceptions of our world. We take you behind the scenes to discover the history and living essence of various cultures in order to appreciate them more fully.
Travel plans for those intrepid spirits who want to go it alone
VinoTours LLC offers wine, food and cultural tours of Portugal, Spain and Italy. We are constantly in touch with leading professionals in these countries to keep up to date with what is happening in their areas, so we can offer the most informed tours available.
Founded in 2014 by Richard Hewitt, a certified sommelier, translator and builder. We keep groups intimate so a winery can host us properly, a restaurant can seat us in one room, and nobody is counted onto a bus. We use a private microbus with a driver throughout, local guides in the cities, and hotels chosen for character rather than star ratings alone — though they are four-star and above.
Richard Hewitt
Director & guide
Certified sommelier, translator and builder, and adjunct professor in the enology program at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville. He is the author of two travel books, A Cottage in Portugal (Simon & Schuster) and Return to A Cottage in Portugal (Gradiva), and spends half the year in Portugal and Spain and the remainder in Virginia. He speaks Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, English and Greek, leads every departure and pours at every tasting.
Alexis is a Hospitality and Tourism master's student at ISCTE Lisbon, bringing years of world adventure-travel experience to every journey she helps plan. A devoted wine lover and long-time admirer of the cultures behind the bottle, she is the friendly voice that keeps guests organised before departure and well looked after on the road.
Our vision
The lands we know best
Alentejo
Miles of vineyards and cork oak trees, historic hilltop cities and deserted beaches. Portugal's largest region covers a third of the country, stretching north and east of Lisbon toward the Algarve and east to Spain.
Douro & Porto
The steep, precipitous terraces of the oldest demarcated wine region in the world — and Porto below it, a riverside city of bridges and a photographer's paradise.
Spain
Several cultural milieus in one country, from the enigmatic Basque north to the fiery Catalan east, each with its own history, traditions — and table.
Italy & beyond
Piedmont and Tuscany at harvest, and further afield Georgia, which enchants with unspeakable beauty and is the birthplace of wine.
We visit cities and villages, wineries and historical sites, and we will always offer the best of customized wine and cultural tours. Join us on our next departure, or let us help you create a dream tour of your own.
From our journeys
Places, tables and moments along the way
Monsaraz — a hill town above the Alentejo plainPinhão — the Douro's terraced valleyQuinta da Bacalhôa — tiles, gardens and wine near AzeitãoCortes de Cima — vines under the wide Alentejo skySan Sebastián — the bay at the edge of the Basque countryBilbao — the Guggenheim on the Nervión river
