Wine tourism in France: how oenotourisme has changed at French wineries

Oenotourisme, as it is known here, has been going through a bit of a revolution in France over the past 10 years. Maybe revolution is a bit of an exaggeration. More of an evolution.

In previous decades, French wineries were not that interested in appealing to tourists. Only the Champagne houses and certain chateaux in Bordeaux and Provence made any effort. The rest were happy to sell to passers-by or those keen enough to make an appointment.

The norm in my region (Roussillon) was just a sign on the roadside saying “Dégustation – Vente” and someone (hopefully) available to do an impromptu tasting. No parking, no opening hours, no prices and no facilities.

It was a far cry from the wine tourism offerings found in California, South Africa or Australia where wineries had built quite impressive visitor centres with tasting booths, restaurants, gift shops, conference rooms, guided tours and dozens of staff in logo-branded T-shirts teaching people about their wines.

The reasons were historical. French people don’t, in general, visit wineries to learn about wine or have an experience. They know what wine is. They go to taste and buy, usually by the case, and based on a personal recommendation.

Therefore, the tastings were free and prices were the same, or less than one would expect to pay in a shop. Only a small percentage of innovative wineries offered something for tourists to do. Most were not really interested in attracting visitors who would only buy a couple of bottles, if anything.

In the New World, wineries needed to create their own wine culture and promote their regions. One way of doing that was to get people to visit them. Most New World wine regions have a tourist board which maps out vineyard trails, a central visitor centre, links with tour operators and lists dozens of attractive wineries to visit, many with restaurants and even accommodation. Some of these have become quite exclusive. In Napa Valley today, the average price of a tasting is $80 and the average price of the
bottles available to buy at the cellar door exceeds $100.

The French wine authorities realised they were missing a trick. France is the most visited country in the world and wine is one of its most iconic products. So about 10 years ago they started to offer financial grants to wineries prepared to create a tourism offering. As farmers do love subsidies, some of these tourist facilities were just property developments or hastily planned “Field of Dreams” projects.

At the same time, regional wine promotion organisations have created quality designations that wineries can apply for, supposedly to help tourists choose the best places to visit. This is great for visitors wanting more and better choices, but has it really been of benefit to the wine industry? I’m not so sure.

First of all, when state subsidies are offered, they always come with a long list of rules to comply with. We are one of those innovative wineries that have always offered tourist activities. When the regional wine board introduced their “Quality” certification system, only those wineries which had created a new facility under the subsidy scheme were included.

It took us several years to be re-included on the list of wineries to visit. In the meantime, the “official” list of accredited wineries was circulated to all the regional tourism websites and publications. I’m sure we are not the only winery to have been bypassed by the regularisation of wine tourism.

Public sector websites tend to get out of date very quickly, so some of those sites have the wrong opening times, incorrect pricing or even list wineries that have closed down.

Secondly, many of the wineries which entered the oenotourism market had never done it before. While some made  a real effort to create attractive and enjoyable experiences, hiring professional staff, others relied on cheap apprentices with only superficial wine knowledge or tried to do it in their spare time.

The result was a drop in the average level of satisfaction from visitors. More isn’t always better. Recently, third parties have entered the market, like they always do when there are government subsidies on offer. I was receiving a phone call or email every week at one point asking me to promote my activities on new wine tourism websites.

They would either ask for a registration fee of several hundred euros or take a 15–20% fee on any booking we received. Even though it is time-consuming to repeat the same information on multiple websites, it sounded like a way to increase visitors. However, some of those agencies just paid Google to get their listings placed above ours.

The result was that our direct bookings went down and the number of people calling in at the winery after doing a Google search fell dramatically.

I’m not convinced the initiatives and subsidies have increased the market for wine tourism. Many more wineries are competing for a slight increase in the number of visitors. It may have been wiser to spend public money promoting the wine regions on TV and in other media. Some of the experiences are formulaic.

Where once a visit to a French winery could be a fascinating insight into the life, history and unique wines of the vigneron, these days it can be a scripted speech given by a seasonal employee followed by an attempt to sell “trophy” bottles – wines that are only available at the cellar door and at inflated prices.

The evolution is not all negative though. It is now a lot easier to find a winery that has a restaurant or provides activities like a horse ride or walking tour through the vineyards. Many of the wineries that created visitor facilities use them to host events like music concerts, cookery workshops and wine-tasting courses. Unlike the regular wine tourism offerings, these special events appeal to local French wine consumers and have encouraged people to visit their local wineries rather than just drive past them on their way to buy wine at the supermarket.

Have you noticed more wine tourism in your area? Have you been to an event at a winery? Did it encourage you to buy wines from them and to go back with friends or become a regular customer?

Jonathan Hesford has a Postgraduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and is the owner, vigneron and winemaker of Domaine Treloar in the Roussillon. If you have questions on this wine column, email info@domainetreloar.com