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Cellar Tours is a Luxury Wine Tours company, offering exclusive chauffeured Food & Wine Vacations in Spain, Portugal and Italy for English speakers. We specialize in custom designed vacations, events and incentives related to food and wine.
We are a licensed and fully bonded tour operator and travel agency and past client references are always available upon request. We are also proud members of ASTA (The American Society of Travel Agents) and the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) and are in our 6th year of business.
Our company has been featured in Forbes Traveler, Departures Magazine, Travel and Leisure Magazine, Time Magazine (Europe), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Boston Globe, The Sunday Telegraph (UK), The Independent on Sunday(UK), The International Sommelier, The Observer (UK), Spain Magazine (UK), Wanderlust Magazine (UK), Frommers, Moon Handbook Spain, Food and Wine Magazine (US, Online) The Cultured Traveller (US), New York Weddings Magazine, The Vanguardia (Spain), El 3 de Vuit (Spain), Expansión (Spain), Deia (Spain), The Broadsheet (Spain), Swirl Wine Magazine (US), and gourmet radio shows such as "The Main Ingredient" (Spain) and Robert Whitley's Wine Talk Radio (US).
Our food and wine tours are high end, offering tailored, personalized service and exquisite itineraries to individuals and groups. Cellar Tours bring you on unforgettable chauffeured wine tours through some of the most charming, untouched wine regions in the world. All luxury accommodation, restaurants and wineries are hand selected, and are the best in their category in terms of comfort, charm, character and services.
The entire Cellar Tours team, including Genevieve (Director) and Des McCarthy, Linda White Wolf (Marketing), Jessica Benavides (French Speaking Tour Specialist), Simona Piccinelli (Italy Specialist) and all of our wonderful local guides and chauffeurs, bring unique and professional attributes to the fore. We confidently invite you to join us on a special trip to remember, come explore the wine roads of Spain, Portugal and Italy with Cellar Tours!
Cellar Tours Team
Genevieve McCarthy: Raised in San Diego, California, Genevieve has lived in Europe for the last 10 years, between Spain, Ireland and Italy. Genevieve worked for the top wine importer in Ireland and for a prestigious winery in Italy (Franciacorta, the best sparkling wine region) before settling down in Madrid. She admits to being a "foodie", and has exhaustively researched gourmet locations in Spain, Portugal and Italy, for the last 10 years. Genevieve has received her wine education credentials through the WSET in London, The Wine and Spirit Education Trust. The WSET is the International wine industry standard. She has an extensive network of contacts in the wine industry in Spain, Italy and Portugal, which enables her to bring small groups to exceptional wineries, that are otherwise closed to the general public. Her love for food & wine, coupled with her passion for languages (Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Portuguese) and her degree and background in luxury travel and tourism (Royal Dorset College in Dublin), ultimately led her to create a boutique wine tours company.
Des McCarthy: Born in Cork, Ireland, Des has worked in television and radio, in management for the last 15 years,
in Dublin and London. In Ireland, Des worked for RTE, the national television station, and spearheaded
the development of interactive online and television services for the station. He also worked as
member of various EU media project's, which took him to Israel, Copenhagen, Berlin and Paris. Apart
from his native Ireland, Des has lived and worked in India, the UK, and the United States. He has
travelled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. In fact, Des and Genevieve actually
first met while both were on vacation in the Caribbean. Des brings his management expertise to the
company, along with a love of travel, people and of course, great wine. Now living in Madrid, Des and
Genevieve enjoy doing all of the research involved with Cellar Tours - great restaurants, visits to
fascinating villages and "work-related" wine tasting. He says that it's a hard job, but somebody's got
to do it.
Simona Piccinelli, Italian specialist: The latest addition to the International Gourmet Team at Cellar Tours (since 2005), Simona was born in Brescia, Italy, in the heart of Franciacorta wine country. Simona is fluent in English and French along with her native Italian. After studying "International Studies" in Trieste, she lived in Paris before returning to Italy to work in marketing for a top winery in Campania, near Naples. She went on to work in key positions in the Italian wine business, PR & communication, and wine export in Franciacorta, Tuscany, Sicily and Piedmont. She is a professional sommelier, member of the AIS (Associazione Italiana Sommelier) and of Critical Wine (an Italian wine professionals group). Simona organizes our corporate food and wine hospitality events, runs our VIP luxury wine tours in Italy and works on our ever expanding product development in Italy.
Jessica Benavides: As the commercial director for Cellar Tours in Spain, Jessica liaisons with all our top suppliers as well as prepares and leads specialized, VIP food and wine tours. Born in Lima, Peru, she was raised from the tender age of 6 months in New York City, NY, where she gained valuable experience working in the top end hospitality sector including high-end restaurants as a reservation and hosting staff manager. Her love of culture and travel has taken her around the globe where her studies have included architecture and interior design in London; Art in Florence; and Wine and Gastronomy in Paris where she currently resides. Jessica speaks four languages including Spanish and French, and is also the marketing manager for Cellar Tours in France. Jessica has ample experience in wine tourism in France and has led various exclusive groups to the finest French Cellars, and she now brings her experience and vivacious dynamism to our clientele in Spain, where they can enjoy VIP wine tastings at famous Spanish wine estates, unique gastronomic experiences and luxurious accommodations, all with the assistance of an experienced multilingual professional.
Linda White Wolf: Born and raised in San Diego, California, Linda White Wolf now resides in Cave Creek, Arizona.
Linda has a colourful background. She worked for years in the "Rock" music industry in Los Angeles, in
the capacity of upper management for several record labels. She was Executive Vice-President of
Mission Records, owned by Glenn Frey of the "Eagles". Ms. White Wolf has had an illustrious career in
the Entertainment and Communications industry for over 14 years. Apart from her position as sales and
marketing director of Cellar Tours, she is the founder and President of Wolfpack Enterprises L.L.C.,
an entertainment and media consulting, marketing and management company. Linda brings her sales and
marketing experience to Cellar Tours, as well as her passion for travel, horses, and good food. Linda
is the proud owner of an Andalusian Cartujan stallion, and has been smitten by Spain for a number of
years. Cellar Tours is a genuine family company, with all members bringing unique and complementary
attributes to the table.
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