Photos Tinto Travels

How it All Started

Originally from Virginia, Peter Brinkman moved to Portugal with his wife Nina, over 15 years ago. In living abroad, they truly fell in-love with the culture, wine and food of Portugal, and wanted to share their own experiences with people back home. This was how their wine shop in Virginia Beach, Tinto Wine and Cheese, was first created.

Later, in sharing their own European wine experiences with their customers, both felt inspired by them to create Tinto Travels, putting together Wine Tasting Tours in Portugal, as well as in some of the best wine regions in Italy, France and Spain. Peter and Nina are able to partner up with winemakers and various local guides who share their knowledge about the heart and art of food and wine travel making each tour unique.

Each of the tours have been designed and crafted to share the most delightful and delicious aspects of European culture in ways where you can sit back in historical settings, enjoy your experiences and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Val & Clay Drees, Virginia Beach

“Vacation planning can be a hassle, and we have done it ourselves for years: booking hotels, renting cars, buying tour tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, and entrance fees. On our own we struggled to find hotels and restaurants that weren’t tourist traps, and felt challenged to communicate in languages that weren’t our own. Sure, you will always be able to find guidebooks and language classes, but if you want to truly experience the joy of travel, Tinto’s Wine Tasting Tours are the best.

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 or Michelin star restaurants and we enjoyed wonderfully catered wine tastings in places that are not available for anyone else – it was just us and all of those who, since then, became our dearest friends.

For our first trip with Tinto Wine Tasting Tours we went to Alentejo, Portugal and stayed in Evora, at a lovely 4-star hotel and were provided amazing breakfasts each morning. We got to experience extraordinary out-of-the-way places we would never have found on our own.

Our 2nd tour was to the Loire Valley, in France. On Tinto Travels the day usually begins around 10:00 a.m. and activities often went well into the evening, lingering over sumptuous communal dinners at exquisite locations or landscapes.

Also there was the added benefit of having enough flexible time to relax and explore on our own, and helpful suggestions from the Tinto hosts for things to do in our free time – which came as a commodity to process the amazing things we were experiencing .

After our first Tinto Tour, we learned that unless we planned to buy a ton of souvenirs, we really didn’t need much pocket money, as the set tour prices took care of all of our travel in the country, including our entrance fees to sites, our hotels, wine tastings and two huge meals a day.

Something we also appreciated was that the travel groups were small, with only 8 to 10 couples, giving us the chance to make great new friends.

We look forward to every Tinto Travels tour! We have become addicted to the easy living, out of the way places and the camaraderie Tinto is able to give.”

Marion Weed, Rome, Georgia

“One of the things that most impresses me about Tinto Travels (Peter and Nina) is their ability to curate for the unexpected.

I will never forget our traveling group heading to Villa Angarano as part of the day’s schedule in what had been, by then, a truly magnificent journey through the Italian Venetto region. For all of us, it was already incredible to taste wine and dine “al fresco” among the vineyards with Villa Angarano’s Palace owners and the XVI century Villa as a backdrop. As this wonderful afternoon was coming to an end, we were surprised by an invitation to the family Chapel on the property, with a request: by all means, no pictures!

That got us curious, since pictures were something no one was able to stop taking (what else could be in store for us?). As we all found a seat inside the chapel, a concert by three tenors would take place, performing a line-up of Italian arias, accompanied by a piano, in such a wonderful and exclusive place – The Villa Angarano!

I still remember all of us being moved – some to tears – by that moment’s beauty, as if time stopped, talking us back centuries while listening to an impromptu concert in such a beautiful and rare setting. This overwhelming experience became the highlight of the day and week. It was a sense of personal joy and a rare opportunity, difficult to find nowadays…

Since then, I have traveled with Tinto Travels. With whom else? It is not only about the amazing places and people you get to know, it is also the relaxed and friendly atmosphere that is created. It is about curated privileges and a sense of the unexpected that fills you with delight, underlining the fact that, by the end of the trip, you have lived through something out of the ordinary, which “normal” tours are not able to deliver: I always know all has been taken care of by Tinto Travels, meticulously!“