This Fall, Enjoy an Aristocratic, 5-Star, 12-Day
Culinary Adventure in South America
A Grand Wine Expedition to
Argentina and Uruguay October
3-14, 2006
Dear Traveler,
 South America is home to some of the world's oldest cultures… stunning
architecture… and breathtaking scenery, reasons alone for you to visit.
Still, for all the accomplishments and history here, until recently the
wines had little reputation beyond these borders.
But all that has changed in the last 15 years.
Today, South America's wineries have catapulted from the last century
into the new millennium. And the results range anywhere from solidly quaffable…
to legendary.
Across the South American continent, new vines are sprouting from hills
and valleys, and their fruit is the backbone of modern-styled Malbecs and
Cabernets that now stand proudly alongside the world's top wines.
Many carry the names of the world's top winemakers and vintners, drawn
to South America by its superb growing season and laid-back lifestyle.
This October 3-14, you have the rare opportunity to meet top wine makers
from Argentina and Uruguay… taste and talk about their wines with them…
enjoy the delightful hospitality of their chefs… and experience this continent's
lush beauty.
You'll also dine in some of South America's finest restaurants, including
what many critics consider one of the 10 best restaurants on the planet.
You'll enjoy an invigorating day at the spectacular Iguazu Falls, staying
overnight right next to the falls.
Plus visit Uruguay's oldest winery, which for nearly 160 years has made
a legendary Cabernet Sauvignon cherished in Europe.
And because -- like so many of our past participants -- you're likely
to find this continent downright irresistible, we've also arranged for
you to meet with several of our investment-minded colleagues on the ground
in Argentina. You'll learn about vineyard properties… forestry investment…
mountain hideaways… and big-city retreats… all to be had at incredible
values.
What's more, we'll have along with us throughout our journey our very
own top-flight sommelier, Andres Rosberg. Andres appears often on TV and
radio programs. His opinions are regularly published in national media,
both in Argentina and abroad, including the internationally respected Wine
Spectator. You'll find him utterly charming… and extremely knowledgeable.
You know, we here at Opportunity Travel have been escorting people to this part
of the world for over a decade now. You can rest assured that in our company
you'll be traveling in comfort and style. We'll stay in luxury hotels,
take chartered flights across the continent, and be thoroughly pampered
in every way. This is grand travel -- in the early 20th-century, aristocratic
tradition.
Your Personal Access to Wine Aristocracy
 Here's just some of what you'll experience…
You'll arrive in Buenos Aries and check into our chic hotel in the heart
of the city's fashionable Recoleta area.
We'll take you around to give you a bit of an introduction to this vibrant
city, which has a sophisticated, genteel Latin American influence… but
is on a cosmopolitan par with New York or Paris.
Large boulevards, expansive parks and plazas, tall trees… it's such a
nice walking city with a very European feel. Here people use all the community
green space. Stroll through a park, and you'll see people reading, picnicking,
talking… and even dancing the tango.
This first evening in Argentina you'll enjoy a wine reception at the hotel,
featuring some of South America's most memorable wines, presented by a
representative from Austral Spectator's Guide -- one of the most
serious guides to the wines of South America.
You'll want to get a good night's sleep, because the next day we'll head
out by chartered private plane to Missiones to visit a forestry project
managed by Ushay Forestal. There we'll meet economist Steve Rosberg, a
Managing Partner, who will give us the full run-down on this eco-friendly
opportunity. It offers a tax-efficient way to grow wealth outside the stock
market, provides a smart means of diversification for your portfolio, gives
you an opportunity to enjoy your investment for recreation, and can offer
the possibility of Argentinean residency, too.
That was the trip of a lifetime!!! Marilyn
and I enjoyed it immensely - now for the hard part - a diet… You did a
spectacular job of leading the charge and we all love you for taking
such good care of us. I can't imagine what kind of tour will ever
top this one.
-- Don and Marilyn Geddes,
New Orleans, LA
Of course, this being a culinary trip, primarily, we'll take advantage
of the mottled light and comfortable shade a eucalyptus canopy provides
and enjoy a traditional Argentine barbecue, complete with an array of local
wines we'll taste under the direction of our sommelier, Andres.
At the end of the afternoon, we'll board our chartered plane and head
to Iguazu for a visit to the famous falls! We will overnight at the Sheraton
Hotel, located right next to the falls. The next morning you can
join us for a Grand Adventure Tour of Iguazu, which includes a jeep ride
through the rain forest, a zodiac boat excursion up river to the falls
(and yes, partially into the falls!) and then a walking tour on the lower
and upper trails surrounding the falls.
Then after getting cleaned up from our excursion, you will have time for
lunch before we depart on our private plane to Cafayate, Salta.
Family Vineyards in Salta
 We now head out into wine country -- to Cafayate, Salta in northwestern
Argentina. This area is famous for its lovely colonial architecture… and
for its extraordinary wines. The soil is profoundly fertile here, and the
wines being produced in this region are some of the nation's very best.
We'll overnight at the brand new Cafayate Wine Resort (cafayatewineresort.com). This
hotel sits right in the middle of a vineyard. This evening we will
enjoy a special wine tasting at the hotel and dinner.
Over the next couple of days, we'll visit the family-owned Domingo Hnos
Vineyard and dine at local fincas (wine estates).
We'll enjoy a leisurely (and informative) tour and tasting at the San
Pedro de Yacochuya Vineyard. The family here has been in the wine business
since 1850, and the clay wine storage jars from that era survive to this
day. Here you'll encounter an extraordinary Malbec, the kind of wine you
just can't get at home.
We'll lunch at a local winery and then enjoy dinner at Finca Las Nubes,
where our sommelier, Andres will indulge us in a tasting of wines from
this region.
We will also visit the Esteco winery, where you'll be treated to spectacular
views of the vineyards and the magnificent Calchaquí Valley, where crystalline
streams meander through green and rocky terrain. From the town of
Cafayate we will travel by motor coach to the city of Salta to see this
wonderful destination and overnight in a lovely boutique hotel.
Cafayate: Where the World's Top
Winemaker is Practicing
His Craft
"You would expect Cafayate to be an extremely hot place, especially
as it is nowhere near any major body of water. In fact, Cafayate is about
as far from the equator (on the South side) as Cuba is (on the North side).
But, because of its altitude and the almost total lack of humidity (thanks
to the Andes mountains), Cafayate is remarkably temperate during the day
and frequently quite cool at night.
"These features, along with massive amounts of water from artesian
wells, make Cafayate truly exceptional. There are blue skies here more
than 300 days of the year and the weather is essentially always the same
-- warm during the day cool at night. Add this climate together with dry,
rocky, mineral-rich soil, and you see why Cafayate is one of the best places
in the entire world to grow highly concentrated grapes for winemaking.
"Although Mendoza (a few hundred miles to the South) is better known
as Argentina's "wine country," the world's elite winemakers have
focused their recent efforts on Cafayate.
"Michael Rolland, who is indisputably the world's top winemaker,
has been working in the Cafayate vineyards of the Etchart family. The wine
he made there, from their San Pedro de Yacochuya vineyard, is one of the
most sought after bottles in the world.
"Rolland makes wine at the top estates in Bordeaux and Napa, where
his bottles sell for hundreds of dollars apiece -- or even thousands of
dollars apiece. But it's fair to say that he's fallen in love with Argentina:
'If there is anywhere a place that encompasses the perfect match of climate,
soil, costs, human resources, and above all, freedom for creativity and
minimal bureaucracy to hinder the genuine development of a new and exceptional
viticulture, that place is undoubtedly Argentina.'
"If you're interested in wine, rent or buy the movie Mondovino, which
takes a critical look at the impact Rolland has had on the global wine
industry and follows him to Cafayate.”
-- Porter Stansberry, Editor, Porter Stansberry's Investment
Advisory
Mendoza: Extraordinary Dining in Argentina's Wine Capital
Next we'll take our private plane to Argentina's wine capitol of Mendoza,
where we'll be based for two-and-a-half days. There you'll check into the
lovely, old world Park Hyatt, with its beautifully restored 19th-century
Spanish colonial façade, top-flight service, and rich mahogany woodwork.
Here you'll have time to relax… stroll the splendor of the Plaza de la
Independencia, on which the hotel sits… and enjoy the city.
On our first day in Mendoza we will explore the Valle de Uco area, where
you'll find a large stretch of vineyards belonging to the major Argentine
and foreign wineries. The Uco, at the foot of the Andes, is blessed with
a climate that encourages high-quality wines.
Its Chardonnays, Merlots, Malbecs, and Semillons have beautiful and different
characteristics to those in other areas of the province, and you will be
able to sample them at the Posada del Jamon, Clos de los 7, and O. Fournier
vineyards.
In the Lujan de Cuyo district, the cradle of Argentina's wine Renaissance,
which put Argentina back on the wine map with its stunning Malbecs, we
will begin at the Altavista winery, which is owned by the French winemaking
d'Aulan family and was launched in 1997 under the direction of Jean-Michel
Arcaute, who Robert Parker twice named "winemaker of the year."
From there, we'll continue on to Bodega Enrique Foster, which produces
award-winning wines of international acclaim. We'll lunch there under a
chestnut tree in the midst of vines and snow capped mountains.
I was very impressed by all of it - the high
level of the wineries and accommo-dations, and the interest and intelligence
of the group.
-- Rick Jones,
Healdsburg, CA
While based in Mendoza, we'll dine extremely well. (We'll do so throughout
our trip, in fact, but your meals in Mendoza are sure to stand out.)
Our first dining experience and wine tasting in Mendoza will be at Club
Tapiz, just outside of Mendoza. Located on an estate built in 1890 and
surrounded by vineyards, the Renaissance-style villa enjoys an extraordinary
view of the Andean Range and is regarded as one of Mendoza's best restaurants.
And then we've arranged for a culinary experience unlike any other when
you dine at Francis Mallman’s restaurant: 1884, which the British newspapers The
Times and The Daily Telegraph call the seventh-best restaurant
in the world. Others are more conservative and simply call it one of the
10 best on the planet. The Argentine way is to grill using wood rather
than charcoal, and Mallman is brilliant at it. This will be a spectacular
dinner with wine equal to the menu.
And then we jump in our charter plane once more for our flight to Montevideo,
Uruguay.
On to Uruguay… to Sample Legendary Wines
In Montevideo, the capitol of Uruguay, we'll stay at the new deluxe Radisson
Montevideo Victoria Plaza Hotel. Stylish and warm, the hotel houses
large and comfortable guest rooms with classic French-style furnishings
and panoramic city and river views.
On the 25th floor is the Arcadia restaurant, which Frommers cites
as "the city's most elegant dining room."
Montevideo is smaller than Buenos Aires, but it has a surprising cultural
diversity and is a picturesque blend of colonial Spanish, Italian, and
Art Deco styles.
In fact, many wealthy Argentines come here to relax during the summer
break and bask on the white sandy beaches of nearby Punta del Este.
Meet Your Guide: Argentina's Premier Sommelier
You'll be escorted throughout this extraordinar wine adventure by
one of South America's finest sommeliers. He'll be on hand to give you
an insider's introduction to some of the world's best wines. Meet Andrés
Rosberg:
Andrés Rosberg is one of Argentina’s first professional sommeliers. He
is a member and co-founder of the Argentine Sommeliers Association and
has achieved the introductory level at the Court of Master Sommeliers.
He is a juror of international wine contests in Argentina, Chile, and
Uruguay, as well as a member of the tasting panels of the Austral Spectator,
the sole guide to the wines of South America, and of the prestigious Placer magazine
in Uruguay.
Andrés has organized the Forum del Vino wine fair each year in
Buenos Aires since 2001, presenting Argentina’s best wines both to consumers
and gastronomy professionals. He also founded and directs Cavas del
Sur, Argentina’s first rare and limited-edition wines auction house.
He managed the wine program of the Gran Bar Danzón wine bar,
which revolutionized wine consumption in Buenos Aires, making it fashionable
among younger people to drink fine wines by the glass. He also managed
the wine program at the Villa Hípica restaurant, where his wine
selection was repeatedly chosen as the country’s best and earned the restaurant Wine
Spectator’s "Award of Excellence," the first such restaurant
award given in Argentina. His taste and judgment is revered throughout
the nation.
Andrés is a market opinion leader. He appears often on TV and radio programs.
He runs a weekly wine column on the local P+E cable TV channel, and is
co-host of Buena Cepa, an AM radio wine magazine that is broadcast
every Saturday morning.
His opinions are regularly published in national media, both in Argentina
and abroad, including Argentina’s most classic food and wine magazine, Cuisine & Vins,
the internationally respected Wine Spectator, and others in Uruguay,
Venezuela, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. His works and opinions can
also be found online, where he has collaborated in the past with www.ArgentineWines.com,
one of the most well-regarded Spanish-language wine sites on the Internet.
Andrés currently teaches Sommellerie both in Uruguay and Venezuela,
travels to production zones and wine salons continuously, is in charge
of the wine division of the Argentine chapter of the Slow Food International
Movement, organizes wine events, and does consultancy work through Myriad-The
Wine Pros, of which he is a founder and director.
Andrés is an Argentine and Danish citizen and fluent in English, Spanish,
and (almost) French.
Even Your Wine-Snob Friends Can't Taste These
While in Montevideo we'll travel inland just a bit to visit two wineries
– Carrau and Bouza.
You're going to love both… but I have to tell you, they have a real treat
in store for you at Carrau. It's a top-of-the-line wine called Amat, made
from a grape called Tannat, a native of the southern Bordeaux region in
France.
Amat, in the hands of the Carrau family, is made from small yields of
the finest handpicked Tannat grapes. Because of that, the wine is really
concentrated. In the glass, it has an, intense color, long legs, and the
rich aromas of ripe red fruits, plums, and licorice. The oak gives complex
flavors of coconut and fresh tobacco.
It was a very complete trip - overall a very, very good trip. On
a scale of 1-4 the accommodations and vineyards were 4+!!!
-- Dean
Moyer, Thousand Oaks, CA
This is a heck of a wine… and your wine-snob buddy at home will never
be able to guess the grape from which it's made. The real treat for you
is that we will have an entire vertical tasting of this wine, all the different
harvests since it first was made in 1998.
But Carrua won't be our only stop this day. We will visit the tiny Bouza
winery, one of the newest state-of-the-art developments. Bouza wines are
made by Eduardo Boido, probably Uruguay's best winemaker.
You'll top off this amazing day with dinner back in Montevideo.
We've Saved the Best for Last
On our last day of this adventure, we'll take a chartered flight back
to Argentina, to the city of Colonia -- and one of the highlights of the
trip: the century-and-a-half-old Los Cerros de San Juan winery.
 Its grounds are beautiful, and with nearly 160 years of history, the passion
for good wine is palpable here.
The hospitable winemakers will invite you to taste their best wares and
sample delicious food while you enjoy the beautiful surroundings. There's
no better way we can imagine to top off a truly extraordinary trip. Fully
sated, we'll take a chartered flight in the afternoon back to the International
Airport in Buenos Aires to catch an evening flight home to the States.
During your stay in Argentina and Uruguay, you'll hit the cultural high
points and travel like a privileged insider. But your real fun is going
to be tasting and buying the wonderful wines you'll fall in love with.
Throughout the program, you'll stay in four and five-star accommodations
and, as you've seen, dine in some of the best restaurants anywhere. Because
of our insistence that this trip be truly exclusive, in the genuine tradition
of aristocratic travel, we must limit our number to just 14. That affords
us the comfort and convenience of chartered flights throughout the trip
and ensures we'll be an intimate, well-pampered group.
The cost of this sensational 12-day journey -- with its visits to cultural
highpoints, personal meeting and tasting with South America’s top vintners,
special excursions, five-star hotels, and world-class dining -- is $4,997
per person, based on double occupancy (the single supplement is $500).
That includes round-trip coach airfare Miami/Buenos Aires (air add-ons
from other cities are also available); seven chartered private flights
within South America; airport transfers and all ground transportation in
Argentina and Uruguay; all breakfasts, some lunches, and most dinners as
outlined on the schedule; first-class hotel accommodations; translators
for tours and the many vineyard visits; wine lessons and guidance throughout
the program from expert sommelier, Andres Rosberg; introductions to investment
opportunities in Argentina; all domestic and international taxes; assistance
from our staff throughout the trip… and a whole lot more.
Already High Demand for This Intimate Wine Adventure
This wine tour to South America is all about the lush wines… sumptuous
dining… world-class accommodation… and great camaraderie, all amidst some
of the world's most beautiful surroundings.
So when you accept this invitation, please do so with the confident knowledge
that your 12 days in South America should be one of the greatest cultural
excursions of your lifetime… nothing else should matter.
To claim one of the 14 available spots, CLICK BELOW now.
Warm regards,
Barbara Perriello,
Director, Opportunity Travel
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