“We need to create a point of attraction”: the Sérignan winegrowers’ cellar is also laying down the wine tourism map

Grâce à l'application pour smartphones, les fresques qui décorent les cuves s'animent. Midi Libre – Laurent François

Visites guidées, dégustations, animations, boutique… La cave coopérative des vignerons de Sérignan entend développer l'activité oenotouristique. Pour ce faire, elle s'ouvre aux acteurs du tourisme et de l'économie du territoire.

No respite. In this month of March, while pruning in the vines is coming to an end for some winegrowers and others are working their soils, it is still time for bottling at the cooperative cellar of the Vignerons de Sérignan. Employees are not only busy behind the scenes in the cellar. In the offices, too, there is no idle time. Olivier Cabanis, the site director and his team don't just think about concocting fine nectars.

Struggling

At a time when viticulture is suffering from a crisis due, among other things, to the drop in wine consumption and a slowdown in exports, cooperative cellars are forced to struggle to keep your head high. In Sérignan, therefore, winegrowers have taken the gamble of turning towards wine tourism. Thursday March 14, around fifty people, elected officials, but above all tourism and economic players met at the cellar. The opportunity, for Olivier Cabanis, to show the places: "It'was a kind of open day, smiled the director.We had invited professionals who might, for example, be interested in our modular room, the Roger-Audoux space, whether for their conferences, their seminars, their meetings or even for organize workshops or cocktails. We seek to develop the wine tourism approach around our wine profession, to introduce people to our work and our products. This therefore also involves the professional world, the aim being that people temporarily leave their company and come to our room." 

Animated frescoes based on drawings made by schoolchildren

Those present were able to discover the exterior tanks, painted by Guillaumit, an artist from the southwest, illustrator, graphic designer, designer and director of animated films:"They were decorated in the summer of 2023 and from the start of the school year that followed, the artist worked on the digital aspect, with Artivive, a smartphone application  allowing you to animate the frescoes." 

"Selling the world of wine"

Guillaumit worked on the basis of drawings made by students from the Jules-Ferry school in Sérignan. The work of the vineyard, during the four seasons, is represented there. Visitors were able to discover the animation of the frescoes, through their mobile phones. to make visiting the premises fun: "The goal is to bring people in, s'enthusiasm& nbsp;Olivier Cabanis.There is, for example, one  twenty campsites around us, a certain tourist dimension. It is necessary to create a point of attraction and entertainment during the holidays. We need to stand out, sell the world of wine. Last season, we organized two guided tours per week. We are going to do it again, notably by advertising more to tourism stakeholders. And why not, if it works, not move to three weekly visits ?"

The Sérignan winegrowers' cooperative cellar in figures

The cooperative winegrowers of Sérignan was founded in 1935. It brings together 170 cooperative winegrowers with an average age of 46 years. In 2021, major work was carried out for an investment of  8 M€ : 6 M€ having been invested for production and 2 M€ for the cellar (180 m2) and the wine tourism room (160 m2).

The cellar is now equipped with two docks for receiving the 20-ton harvest. There is a capacity of 4700 hl of stainless steel vats which allow the treatment of grape must to produce white and rosé wines. The site is also equipped with a "gulfstream" thermovinification device, the treated grape musts are intended for the production of red wines. A building brings together all the presses, including a recent one with a capacity of 100 tonnes.