On time pick up from our hotel. Tour around the highlights of the city. Guide was very knowledgeable and personable but the city itself is just not that scenic.
Trevor R. · United States
ToursByLocalsVerified on toursbylocals.com ↗
The story
Wine where nobody expects it
Vines are not what people picture an hour and a half from Guayaquil, and that is the point. Allyson ran this day for travellers who wanted to see how grapes grow at the equator, meet the people who make the wine and spend a slow day in the countryside. She still organises it on request.
- 08:30
The briefing on the road
Pickup in Guayaquil and about an hour and a half into the countryside. On the way your guide explains the puzzle you are about to see: how vines manage without winter at the equator, why the growers prune when they do, and what that means for the glass at the end of the day.
- 10:00
Secateurs in your hand
You walk the rows with the people who tend them, between vines that run toward the hills. They show you where to cut and why, and hand you the secateurs. Then the best part: a wine grape picked straight from the bunch, thick-skinned and sweeter than you expect, warm from the sun.
- 11:30
Into the cellar
Out of the sun and into the cool of the winemaking cellar. Tanks, barrels and the smell of fermenting fruit; the team walks you through how the grapes you just tasted become wine, from the press to the bottle. Ask the questions you always wondered about: they are happy to answer.
- 12:30
Four glasses at the main house
A tasting of four of the estate’s wines at the main house, poured and explained one by one. Afterwards, time is yours: photos among the vines, a slow walk or binoculars for the birds that live around the vineyard. Then the drive back to Guayaquil in the late afternoon light.
