Ica Vineyards: Which Ones Are Worth It and How to Visit Yourself

If you’re a tourist, you’ve probably travelled to Ica either to stay in Huacachina, or to visit the famous, UNESCO-tentative-list pisco vineyards of Ica. Or both.

Either way, when you arrive you’re going to get overwhelmed with tour-guide touts hustling you for an S/70 tour of Ica Vineyards that goes to the same smaller, tourist-themed pisco spots that the other 100 tours are visiting that day.

If you’re a bit more of an “experiences, history and culture, please get me away from this organised group of 30 people” type traveller, this is not the way you want to see the vineyards of Ica.

You’ll be pleased to know that there’s a better, more chill, and more authentic way to do it. I’m here to set it out so you don’t spend hours trying to sort out routes, venues and prices yourself like I did.

First things first though, check out my guide on Huacachina for a full rundown on how to spend a couple of days in this iconic desert oasis. If you’re looking for where to stay, I’ve also got you covered – from higher-end options to the rundown of which hostel won’t keep you up all night. This best places to eat in Huacachina guide will also be your best friend after an afternoon of straight pisco!

Beautiful La Caravedo vineyard and garden view at Ica Vineyards in sunny weather.

What to avoid

As mentioned above, you’ll find cheap options with pretty much every single tour guide you see lining the streets. If you don’t mind massive groups, very little vineyard wandering or explanation, and only one or two actual tastings, then go for this and save yourself a bit of money. Actually, you probably won’t save much, because the whole sell here is getting you to buy a pisco sour or three at the end. It does have its good points though – dancing, organised group fun, “get involved” energy. Just be prepared for crowds and chaos.

If that sounds like your idea of hell, then read on for what you’re more likely to actually enjoy.

About the Ica vineyards

Ica is the heart of Peru’s pisco production. With a dry desert climate, free-draining soil and almost constant sunshine – it is ideal for growing the eight grape varieties used in pisco. And it’s serious enough business that Peru has put its pisco vineyards forward for UNESCO World Heritage status. The tentative listing covers 14 vineyard and production sites across five regions. Ica has more of them than anywhere else. Some – like Tacama – date back to the 1500s, making them among the oldest working vineyards in South America.

Important to note too: there are both pisco and wine vineyards in Ica. I wanted to visit both. Not because I’m an alcoholic, obviously… But because when you’re in Ica, you’ve got to make the most of what’s on offer.

Visiting Ica vineyards in March? You’re in for a TREAT

If you happen to be in Ica in the first half of March, you’ve timed it perfectly. This is when the Vendimia – Ica’s International Grape Harvest Festival – takes over the valley. Vineyards across the region throw open their doors. People stomp grapes with bare feet in a big, music-and-dancing free-for-all. This is the old, pre-machine way of extracting the juice, and it’s since become the festival’s signature party.

Vineyard rows at Tacama in Ica, Peru under a clear blue sky. — Pavillion where grape stomping takes place in La Caravedo Ica vineyards

Open-air pavilion with brick pillars in La Caravedo Ica vineyards where grape stomping takes place. — Pavillion where grape stomping takes place in La Caravedo Ica vineyards

Where to go: the best vineyards in Ica

There are two larger vineyards I’d really recommend in Ica. Both are easy to visit, relatively inexpensive (depending on the tour you book), and easy to do a round trip to both from Huacachina/central Ica in 3-4 hours. They also have on-site bars and restaurants if you want to make a day of it. These fill up quickly though, so you’d need to book in advance.

Tacama – Peru’s Oldest Vineyard

Tacama is located a little off the usual Ica tourist trail. However, it sits miles above its more central neighbours in terms of history, venue, tasting options and the rest. It’s surprisingly busy, in a popular kind of way, rather than feeling overcrowded. Tacama produces both wine and pisco, so if you only go to one place, here you’ll try a bit of everything.

You pick from a menu of tours when you arrive, and honestly, the basic ‘traditional’ tour is more than enough. Entry to the restaurant and the Tacama shop is free (obviously you pay for what you buy/order) but in terms of visiting the vineyard, you only pay for the tour itself, not entry to the site.

Chalkboard sign listing wine tour options at Tambo de Tacama in Ica, Peru. — Wine tour options at Tacama vineyard in Ica, Peru.

If you’re a Spanish speaker, you’re in luck – tours in Spanish run far more frequently. English tours happen, but you’ll wait until enough English-speakers gather. We did it in Spanish and translated for the non-Spanish speakers in our group, which worked fine-ish (though my technical wine Spanish was definitely not up to scratch…).

The tour itself

You wait in a big, genuinely lovely garden with views over the vines – perfect for photos. If you time it right, you might just get to see a horse show while you wait. Tacama keeps a herd of 30 Peruvian Paso horses and throughout the day there are traditional dance performances.

First stop on the tour is the old huarango-wood wine press, where the grape juice was traditionally extracted to start the process. This fed both the wine and the pisco, so that’s the same starting point for everything they make here.

Wooden barrels stacked outside on lush green grass with vines in the background at the Tacama vineyard in Ica — Waiting area before the tour

Tacama old wine press with rustic wooden sculpture and vineyard view in Ica, Peru. — Waiting area before the tour

Then you’re taken in for a ten-minute documentary (Spanish, with English subtitles) on the estate’s history: how the Spanish brought vines over in the 1540s – largely because they needed communion wine and shipping it from Europe was a nightmare – and how the estate went on to develop white wine, red wine and pisco. I knew literally nothing about the history of wine and pisco in Peru before this trip, but have since learned that after the Spanish kicked off wine production in Peru, Spain later banned wine imports from Peru to protect its own producers. Peruvian growers then switched to distilling their wine into a “grape brandy” instead, and that’s how pisco was born!

From there you tour the production facilities – the old concrete fermentation vats, the tanks, the giant wooden barrels. It’s mostly for display now rather than in active use, so it’s more a “this is how it was done” historic walk-through. Still cool though, and you get to see some ancient-looking wine-pressing devices that make you appreciate even more the lengths people would go to for a decent copa de vino.

Tour notes

The only thing I noted was that the tour was quite light on detail about how pisco is actually made, how it’s defined as pisco (there are strict set criteria, which I learned later), the age-old feud over Peruvian vs Chilean pisco, and so on. I got all that at the next tour (see below!), so if you’re after more of that, this one maybe isn’t the best for you.

Vintage winery machinery and artifacts at Tacama vineyard in Ica

Large wooden wine barrels in Tacama Vineyard tour in Ica

The tasting

You then sit down for a tasting at the end. The traditional tour gets you a white, a red, a very sweet sparkling, and a pisco. They talk you through the aromas and flavours and show you the bottles as you go. Four pours, nicely paced. It was exactly the right amount for a first of two tastings in one very sunny afternoon.

After that, you’re free to browse the gift shop or head to the on-site restaurant, Tambo. You’ll want to book that well in advance though, as walk-in tables are hard to come by.

Indoor wine tasting room with long table and vineyard view at Tacama.

Bottle of Gran Tinto wine from Ica Vineyards in Peru.

Verdict

The whole thing takes about an hour and is a solid introduction to Ica’s wine and pisco scene. As Peru’s oldest vineyard, and reputedly the first in all of South America (though I heard that claim about several others…), it earns its spot on any Ica itinerary.

Bodega La Caravedo – Pure Pisco at the Oldest Distillery in the Americas

If Tacama is where you go for the wine-and-pisco overview, Bodega La Caravedo is where you go when you want pisco and nothing but pisco. This is the home of the famously classy Pisco Portón brand, and it’s the real deal – pure, traditional, historic pisco production done properly.

A quick bit of history, because I knew nothing about it before I arrived. Hacienda La Caravedo was established in 1684, which makes it the oldest continuously operating distillery in the Americas. It still runs the original gravity-fed system of pisco production – grapes pressed at the top of the hill, fermented lower down, and distilled at the bottom in centuries-old wood-fired copper falca stills. This goes on right alongside a modern eco-distillery (rooftop garden, recycled distillation water, the works) built by its current owners. It’s where Pisco Portón is made, under one of the most respected master distillers in the country.

So: if you have zero interest in wine and just want to properly understand pisco, come here.

The place was almost empty when we arrived. It’s further out than Tacama and in the opposite direction – roughly a 30-minute drive from Tacama, and about 40 minutes back to Huacachina – but well worth the detour.

Signboard advertising antique vehicles at La Caravedo Ica Vineyards in sunny weather under a blue sky.

Beautiful La Caravedo vineyard and garden view at Ica Vineyards in sunny weather - a wedding event is being set up.

The tour: possibly the best value in Ica

As with Tacama, there are several tours to choose from, but the traditional tour at S/50 each was a steal on two counts. One, the sheer amount of knowledge the guide packed in, and two, the sheer amount of pisco they pour you. We got five straight shots in the tasting at the end, and let’s just say the rest of the afternoon was LIVELY (to put it mildly).

The tour was in Spanish. They’d have run it in English if we’d waited ten minutes or so, but we were in a rush to get back, and between the guide practising a bit of his English and our group’s mixed Spanish, we got by just fine.

You kick things off with a complimentary can of ready-to-drink chilcano, with a choice of four flavours. Honestly – win. You then walk through the gardens before the guide leads you to the traditional foot-squeeze pressing area, which has absolutely stunning views over the vineyard and grounds. We even caught them setting up the events space for a wedding (side note: if whoever I end up marrying isn’t up for a wedding in a venue like this, it’s over).

Person holding a can of Porton Chilcano readymix chilcano in a vineyard setting in Ica. — Enjoying a refreshing Chilcano at Ica vineyards during a sunny day.

Scenic view of La Caravedo Ica vineyard with mountains in the background. — Enjoying a refreshing Chilcano at Ica vineyards during a sunny day.

Then you head inside to where the pisco rests in its vats. We happened to visit just after production had wrapped and they were mid-clean, which meant we could actually walk into the areas where they heat and distil the spirit. Obviously we had to take photos in there – which, having done a wine tasting at Tacama less than an hour earlier, we were suitably dramatic about.