There isn’t much to see in Ica, to be honest… But there are wineries! I decided to visit Tacama, the oldest winery in South America. The place is beautiful, installed in a pink hacienda surrounded by vines. It was created in the 16th century by the Spaniards to avoid having to import wine for religious orders. After WW2, they imported French technology and knowledge, which was the beginning of producing wine with modern technologies. Still today, they work closely with French enologists.
You have different tours available, I went with the “Traditional tour” (1h) which includes a very well done video explaining the creation process for red and white wine, as well as sparkling wine and pisco, in Tacama. There is then a tour where you can see the different barrels and machines used. The tour ends with a tasting of 3 products (wine and pisco). It was interesting and , the guide spoke very good English. I do think it would have been nice to take the Estate tour as well, to have a closer look to the Hacienda.
After the tour, take a glass of wine on the restaurant’s terrasse, El Tambo de Tacama, looking over the garden, and enjoy the peace and quite, it’s really nice. You can order some food or some piqueos, I recommend the piqueos de queso (more or less like mozzarella sticks, with guacamole) with a glass of sparkling wine Aguja (8 soles).
Tacama Website
To get there, take a taxi (around 15 soles from the Plaza de Armas).
Tue-Sun 9am-5pm
Tradicional tour: 10 soles, you don’t need to book in advance
Just meets World 