On a scooter, with music, on a stroll, at the castle… the estates compete in imagination, the beautiful summer of wine tourism in Occitanie

Au Clos Bagatelle, à Saint-Chinian, la famille Deleuze propose un “After Beach” tout l’été. - Burguiere Gaylord

The Occitanie estates compete in imagination to make their wines known. Summer after summer, the success continues, via individual initiatives and around locomotives such as the AOC Costières de Nîmes syndicates with the Jeu Divin de Nîmes, on Thursdays, until the end of August, and the AOC Languedoc, at the helm of the Estivales de Saporta, Narbonne, Sommières, Pézenas, Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone, O’Millésimes which will once again combine wine and cinema, on August 23 and 24 at the Domaine d'O, in Montpellier.

“Today, you can no longer simply put a sign on the side of the road inviting people to visit your wine cellar, that's a thing of the past!” Ten years ago, when Geneviève Rière, former director of cultural affairs in Mèze, retired, tourism in wine-growing regions was still there, far from the ever richer vintage of summer 2024: cultural, intimate, festive, sporty, with catering or food trucks… the offer is now plentiful.

“It was a risk, I was retiring reluctantly”… Geneviève Rière takes up the challenge proposed by the management of the Beauvignac cellar, on the Costières de Pomérols terroir, in Mèze :“An evening under the stars", where jazz, wines from the Thau lagoon are combined with a meal from a local caterer. You can also buy wine there“on sale on concert nights”.

On August 15, 2024, two weeks before the end of the season, it will be sold out for the Lucky Gas Trio, one of the last dates of the “Jazz Thursdays”, the 160 places have been taken by storm. “It took off, people are calling us from Paris to book their evenings as summer approaches!”, rejoices”Geneviève Rière, who has since declined the offer of neighboring estates to duplicate the concept.

It has spawned offspring: in Beauvignac, tourists are also offered introductory tasting workshops, or a tasting guided by sophrology.

“The exchange, friendliness and simplicity that we put forward are indirectly commercial”

“This has brought us new customers to the cellar, and has made people talk about the estate in a positive way”, says Céline Monar, operations assistant at Château de la Dournie (Saint-Chinian), who initiated the “apéros au château”, launched “seven or eight years ago”.

Food truck, musical entertainment and wine sold by the glass or by the bottle… “Tourists are happy to party and discover the wines of the appellation in a beautiful setting, the inhabitants of Saint-Chinian did not know, for many, that our estate housed a park with century-old trees. The exchange, conviviality and simplicity that we put forward are indirectly “commercial”, the evenings are eagerly awaited and many people have La Dournie in their main or secondary home”, notes Céline Monar.

To the point that the operation plans to add dates to the current calendar (last, August 15), and to expand the current capacity, 150 to 200 people : "We are asked to go further". Already, the orangery of the castle has opened this year to exhibitions with the artist Alexandre Hollan, a lover of trees.

At the Château de la Dournie, “Aperitifs at the Château” all summer long. DR

“We have a somewhat sluggish season, but it's a concept that people like”, says Janice Blesch, a holiday advisor at the Canal du Midi tourist office in Saint-Chinian, who also welcomes the initiative of the Deleuze family, at the neighboring Clos Bagatelle estate, organizer of summer “After beach” evenings for three years: every Thursday, a visit to the estate is combined with a tasting of eight to nine vintages, accompanied by tapas, for small groups, “maximum fifteen people”, specifies Christine Deleuze.

At Clos Bagatelle, in Saint-Chinian.

“Mainly foreigners, which is encouraging”

While attendance is “sawtooth” this year, the concept is attracting tourists “mainly foreigners and some are returning, which is encouraging. The feedback is very positive”.

A windfall of 5.2 billion euros

260,000 hectares, the first wine-growing region in France, the first “organic” vineyard too, with 36% of the land cultivated in an environmentally friendly manner… but “professionals still a little scattered in structuring this activity, which is complementary to their initial vocation”, noted the regional chamber of commerce in a document which recorded the first steps of a joint reflection within the Committee regional tourism and wine tourism stakeholders, on wine tourism.

“Wine tourism services are only limited by the imagination and inventiveness of the operators”, noted the CCI, which invited field players to move away from the classic “tasting tour” to capture the 30 million tourists who visit Occitanie each year, and to embrace this “very trendy approach to tourism”, and potentially “likely to generate an activity”, whether we are talking about “turnover or employment”.

Atout France indicates that a third of tourists cite wine and gastronomy as a motivation for a stay in France. According to the national agency for tourism development, their spending reaches 5.2 billion euros.

For the past four years, the Castelnau estate in Pézenas has been offering tours on electric scooters on Tuesday evenings in the summer, with a first tasting/catering stop at the place called l'Étendoir des fées, which takes in a landscape of red earth, before returning to the cellar, a “different way” to promote, says Margot Muret, who supervises the French speakers (a colleague is in charge of the English speakers).

At the Domaine de Castelnau, a tour on an electric scooter, a tasting break at the Etendoir des fées and a finale at the cellar. DR

In Limoux, in the Aude, from May to September, the Sieur d'Arques winery offers a four-hour morning around wine, “for a somewhat informed audience” : visit of the cellar, Château de Flandry, a 19th century manor house currently being restored and acquired forty years ago, plantation of truffle oaks, conservatory of the local Mauzac grape variety, history of the Toques et Clochers event, visit of the museum, barrel-aging galleries 17 meters underground, tasting and brunch… for Tiphène Vanderm, at Sieur d’Arques, it is "more of a wine tourism sharing, a way of making oneself known, than a "commercial operation".

For five years, the English have been faithful to the meeting. And there again, "all the feedback is positive".

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