Intimate groups. All-inclusive. No travel agency between you and the people who make what you drink.
Led by Chef Marcus Guiliano across five countries and 350+ producer relationships built over two decades.
Intimate groups. All-inclusive. No travel agency between you and the people who make what you drink.
Marcus and Jamie Guiliano are restaurateurs, wine educators, and agave-industry authorities based in the Hudson Valley. Their producer relationships span six countries and two decades. These are not vendor contracts. They are friendships built at dining tables, in barrel rooms, and across harvests.
Call them collaborators. The producers do.
350+ wineries visited in person. Harvests shared side by side with the families who grow and ferment what they love. Producers who answer their calls directly and hold bottles aside before the group arrives. Each journey exists because of relationships built long before the departure date. The difference is where you stand. Not at the tasting bar. At the family table.
Founders of Aroma Thyme Bistro in Ellenville, New York. Open since 2003.
Chef Marcus Guiliano and Jamie Guiliano are restaurateurs, wine educators, and agave-industry authorities based in the Hudson Valley.
As founders of VIP Winery Vacations and owners of Aroma Thyme Bistro — one of the Hudson Valley’s most awarded restaurants since 2003 — they have spent more than two decades cultivating direct relationships with winemakers, estate owners, and agave producers across Europe, Mexico, and the United States.
These journeys are not constructed for tourism.
They are an extension of relationships built harvest by harvest, bottle by bottle, conversation by conversation.
Together, they have personally visited more than 350 wineries across five countries, along with numerous mezcal palenques and tequila distilleries. They have walked vineyards during harvest, tasted from barrel alongside cellar masters at estates like G.D. Vajra in Piedmont and Siete Leguas in Jalisco, and shared meals in private homes where hospitality is inherited, not performed.
These are not business contacts.
They are trusted relationships.
When you travel with VIP Winery Vacations, you step into private wine tastings, hidden barrel rooms, boutique vineyards, and agave fields — insider access far from the tourist path. You are welcomed by the people who live and breathe what they produce.
Access is personal.
And it is earned.
Marcus brings the perspective of a Michelin-recognized chef, wine educator, and agave authority — someone who understands how terroir, culture, and craft shape what fills the glass. Jamie brings warmth, intuition, and a refined eye for detail that ensures each departure feels seamless and intentional.
Every itinerary is designed personally.
No outsourcing. No scripted experiences. No volume departures.
Only carefully curated journeys built on trust.
VIP Winery Vacations is not a tour company.
It is a circle of access.
Read more about our chef-hosted wine tours →
Wine Tour Operator of the Year by the Global Prestige Awards, three consecutive years. Sustainability and hospitality honors from LUX Life, Corporate Vision, and two additional international bodies. Trusted by producers in eight countries.
Every VIP Winery Vacations departure begins with a private consultation.
We learn how you prefer to travel, what regions interest you, and what level of immersion you seek. European cellars. Agave fields at their source. Producer homes no visitor has seen before.
Each winery vacation package is built from the conversation — never from a catalog. Planned personally. Managed by the same people who pour your wine at the estate.
Only once we understand your expectations do we extend an invitation to join an upcoming departure.
A Personal Invitation from Chef Marcus
VIP Winery Vacations was never designed for volume. Every departure is intentionally small — eight to twelve invited guests who share a table with the producers themselves.
This is the result of two decades spent building relationships, not itineraries. From Aroma Thyme Bistro in Ellenville, New York, to estate kitchens across five countries, Marcus and Jamie Guiliano have earned the kind of trust that opens doors no travel agency can access.
Every winery vacation package is personally shaped. No booking engines. No group tours repackaged under a luxury label. Just producer relationships that took years to build and a team that manages every detail from consultation to return.
Access is extended, not advertised.
Five countries. Decades of depth.
We didn’t choose Italy from a map. We chose it from a dining table — at estates like G.D. Vajra and Vietti in Piedmont, where the families pour from barrels they’ll never sell to distributors. From Puglia to Sicily, our wine and food tours in Italy are built on years of direct relationships with the families who make what you drink.
Burgundy and Champagne are not destinations we rotate through. They are places we return to, year after year, because the domaines expect us back. Marcus has returned to these estates season after season, building the kind of trust that opens private dining rooms to small groups of eight. Vineyard-row conversations at generational domaines most visitors will never see.
Catalonia is emerging. Penedès and Priorat are producing wines that rival their French neighbors — at a fraction of the pretension. Our Catalonia Wine & Gastronomy Tour pairs these estates with Michelin-level dining curated by Chef Marcus. Spain rewards the curious. We built a departure for them.
Aroma Thyme Bistro, open since 2003, is the foundation. From boutique producers along the Finger Lakes to the estate vineyards of Santa Barbara and the farm-to-table corridor of the Hudson Valley, our luxury wine tours across the US carry the same insider access as our international departures. Marcus and Jamie Guiliano live here. The relationships are not seasonal — they are daily.
Marcus Guiliano’s authority in agave spirits is not borrowed. It was built across years of sourcing alongside producers like Siete Leguas, Fortaleza, and through a long-standing collaboration with Primo Imports and industry authority Tom Bracamontes. Every winery vacation package begins with a relationship, not a booking engine. Mexico is where that principle started.
Explore our incredible Italy wine and food vacation packages and other gastronomy experiences available for 2025. Discover your next adventure!
All-inclusive. All personal. Nothing outsourced.
Every VIP winery vacation package is built around a single principle: nothing between you and the experience. No surprise costs. No outsourced logistics. No third-party guides reading from a script. What you see below is what every guest receives, regardless of destination.
Vineyards, barrel rooms, and producer homes not open to the public
Meals selected by Chef Marcus from restaurants and private kitchens he has visited personally
Tastings, transfers, accommodation, meals, and gratuities. One price, nothing added later
Eight to twelve guests per departure. No exceptions
Marcus and Jamie Guiliano present on every journey, from first morning to final evening
Market visits, artisan workshops, and experiences that exist because of relationships, not itineraries
A private conversation to shape your itinerary before you arrive
From airport arrival to final departure, every detail managed by the same team that hosts you at the table
A Curated Collection of Signature Journeys
Each year, we release a limited number of privately hosted departures. Small groups. Personal access. Intentional pacing. These are not tours. They are chapters in a global story of wine, agave, and place, hosted personally by Chef Marcus and Jamie Guiliano.
A rare immersion into Mexico's most dynamic wine region. Private cellar access at estates Marcus has sourced from for over a decade, chef-led tastings alongside the winemakers themselves, and intimate gatherings with the producers who built Valle de Guadalupe before the world noticed.
More regions are coming soon! We’re always researching and curating the next “soul-shifting” destination for you to explore.
Our guests often share how truly special these trips are.
