What Our Clients Say
"You did it again! Our Chalone Shareholders experienced another memorable trip to South Africa! You contributed three very important ingredients to our successful tour... a tremendous amount of knowledge, a constant attention to detail and a delightful sense of humor. Our participants were thrilled with the results."
-Vicki Hamilton, Chalone Shareholders Group-
"This was the first time we worked with XO Travel and the experience was wonderful. They were knowledgeable, efficient and understood our specific needs. In particular, their comprehensive knowledge of the destination we wanted to visit proved immensely valuable."
-Karen MacNeil, author of "The Wine Bible",
Director of Wine Program at the Culinary Institute of America-
"We want to thank you for the beautiful tour you gave to us (AIWF Founders) in Bordeaux. All the arrangements were super, but from the moment you joined our group, the journey became more interesting and more informative. Your personality is so vibrant, and you are knowledgeable, organized and caring.
-Margrit Beiver Mondavi, Robert Mondavi Winery-
"Our group had a fabulous trip to France which you and your staff put together....Thank you and everyone at XO Travel for making this a very special trip.
-Jim Frein, Confrerie des la Chaine des Rotisseurs, Bailli,Vail Chapter-
"I wish to acknowledge how much we enjoyed and learned during our (Chalone Wine Group Shareholders) two weeks in Australia. The wide range of top wineries, the great dinners and lunches, the most interesting and varied hotel accommodations, the travel arrangements, the balance between wine tastings and general touring, all the attention to detail and the gracious and pleasant demeanor with which it was all accomplished was simply incredible.
-Robert E. Beck, Black Oak Vineyard & Winery
Some of Our Clients
WINE & GASTRONOMY TOURS:
Chalone Wine Group, Napa, CA
Woodward Graff Wine Foundation, Sonoma, CA
Society of Medical Friends of Wine, San Francisco, CA
Paso Robles Wine Growers Association, Paso Robles, CA
Executive Wine Seminars, NY, NY
French Culinary Institute, NY, NY
American Institute of Wine & Food, CA
The Single Gourmet, NY, NY
Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs - Vail, CO
Betty Rosbottom Culinary Group, Columbus, OH
The Pleasanton Hotel, Pleasanton, CA
Jerry Della Famina's East Hampton Point Restaurant , L.I., NY
Guy Reuge's Mirabelle Restaurant, L.I., NY
Blattmann Associates, B.C., Canada
International Wine and Food Society, Chicago, Ill.
HORTICULTURAL TOURS:
The Royal Oak Foundation, NY, NY
The North American Strawberry Growers Association, Fond du Lac, WI
Florafax International, Tulsa, OK
Marie Selby Garden Group, Sarasota, FL
Professional Plant Growers Association, CA
CULTURAL TOURS:
Asolo Theater Guild, Sarasota, FL
La Gran Scena Opera, NY, NY
Cassandra James - French Painting Tour
PATRICIA NICHOLLS, Managing Director. British-born, a graduate of Kings College, London University, and the University of Salamanca, Spain, she has accumulated 25 years' experience in the travel industry and she speaks five languages fluently. She has worked professionally managing programs worldwide for a number of large US Tour Operators before starting XO Travel Consultants in 1987.
She creates our exclusive XO Travel itineraries, personally researching and visiting all the tour destinations before their inclusion in any itinerary. Over the years she has developed a wide range of friendships and contacts throughout the food and wine world. She is a member of IACP.
JAMES HORWITZ, President. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he has lived in Paris and London and the south of France and traveled the world for many years as a freelance journalist and writer, contributing to many international publications. He is a longtime wine enthusiast with numerous contacts in the wine world, and is a New York restaurant wine director and wine consultant.