Wine tourism and drinks

In wine tourism, the traveler visits wineries and producing regions. Drink routes follow the same idea for other products: cachaça, craft beer and coffee. The interest is in the process and the history, not in quantity.

It is not a separate official category. The World Tourism Organization treats wine tourism as part of gastronomic tourism, and because production takes place in the countryside it is also related to rural tourism. Restaurants and the typical dishes of each region are subjects of gastronomic tourism.

You do not need knowledge of the subject to enjoy it. Visits are designed for laypeople, and those who do not drink alcohol will find grape juice, coffee, the landscape and the history of the producing families.

The Serra Gaúcha is the country’s best-known wine region. In Bento Gonçalves lies the Vale dos Vinhedos, the first Brazilian region to receive a Denomination of Origin for wines, with dozens of family and large wineries side by side. Nearby Garibaldi is linked to sparkling wines and has a route dedicated to them.

In Santa Catarina, São Joaquim produces so-called high-altitude wines, in vineyards planted above 900 meters. In the Mantiqueira Range, a pruning technique inverted the calendar and grapes are harvested in winter, the dry season with cold nights: São Bento do Sapucaí, on the São Paulo side, and Andradas, in southern Minas, welcome visitors to wineries among the mountains. There are also irrigated vineyards in the semi-arid Northeast.

Paraty, on the southern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, has produced cachaça since the colonial period, and the city’s name was once synonymous with the spirit. In Santa Catarina, Blumenau is the center of a region of breweries with German tradition, with factories open to visitors. And Carmo de Minas, in the Mantiqueira of Minas Gerais, is known for specialty coffees, with farms that show the crop and the roast.

Two to three visits a day are enough: one in the morning, a long lunch and another in the afternoon. More than that, tastings blur together and the tour becomes a rush. A three- to four-day itinerary allows you to get to know a region calmly.

Most small wineries and many distilleries and farms operate by appointment, and tastings are charged separately: check the current price list and confirm before you go. During the grape harvest and winter holidays, demand is high and reservations must be made in advance.

In the highlands, nights are cold even in summer, and a warm layer is useful year-round. To carry bottles home, producers often have special travel packaging; for flights, check the airline’s rules for transporting beverages.