After the welcoming and open announcements by Anthony Swift, Wine Pleasures, the first two speakers also gave welcoming talks. Champagne causes eyes to sparkle and the region is anxious to see if Champagne will be added to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.

Philippe Harant, Director of the Champagne Marne Tourism Office presented “La Champagne, a Sparkling Wine Tourism Destination.” He started with, “Champagne, what a wonderful word.” Philippe mentioned that there were 330,000,000 bottles of champagne sold world-wide in 2014. Philippe talked about many of the historical sites in the Champagne region including UNESCO sites. Philippe mentioned that visitors want to experience the vineyards and producers. Wine tourists can look for the label Vignobles and Découvertes for 450 Champagne tourism sites that will provide an excellent tourism experience.

Session 1.1 

Wine and Food Travel Is Most in Demand by Tatiana Livesey, Winerist

Winerist stands for wine tourists. Tatiana talked about Moldova, an off the beaten path for wine tourism. The company can help wine tourists know what wineries to visit, restaurants to eat and lodging. “Travel is not a reward for work, but education for the soul.” The trends in travel is to meet local people and immerse oneself in their culture. Wine travelers want to hear the story of the winemaker. Wine tourism is no longer a niche market.

Tatiana discussed some of the findings that Winerest discovered through a survey of 500 people that they conducted. Some of the findings included:

98% are wine and food lovers

24% basic 46% intermediate 30% advanced in wine knowledge

79% were interested in wine and food holidays

For what regions are your favorite wines from, France, Italy and Spain were at the top

Once starting wine travel, 79% are repeat wine tourists

The majority of respondents, 47% go on wine holiday for a weekend.

The majority of wine travelers spend between 75 – 150 euros per day on a wine holiday

76% book online.

88% buy wine at the winery.

Tatiana discussed some data about wineries, for example the majority do not provide online tools for booking even though the majority of people prefer to book online at the last moment. Most wineries do not have blogs and those that do, often do not blog enough during a week.

Session 1.1

Potential for Wine Tourism in India by Lavina Kharkwal of Highwines

Lavina spoke of the emerging wine industry in India. She said that the modern winemaking in India began in the 1990s. Today India has two wine regions.

Session 1.2

The Country of Diversity, Hungary by Gabriella Gónusz of Wine a’More Travel

Gabriella talked about Hungary as a wine tour destination. She showed us a map of the country and pointed out the plane and the Danube River. Gabriella mentioned Budapest as a destination city for gastronomy, architecture and history. For wine tourism, there are 400 small wineries where you can visit the cellars and stroll in vineyards. There is a diverse number of grapes in Hungary, mostly white. Furmint is one of the most important varietal grapes. There are seven wine regions comprising of 93,000 hectares of vineyards. Perhaps the most famous region is Tokaj.

The Hungarian people are friendly. You can not visit a cellar without tasting the local cuisine.

Session 1.2 Supporting and Promoting Wine County Tourism in Ontario by Regina Foisey, of the Wine Council of Ontario

Showing images and maps, Regina presented the statistics of the wineries in Ontario. In 1982 there were only five wineries. In 2003 the number had risen to 66 and now Ontario has more than 170 wineries. Despite all of these wineries, Ontario wineries are relatively unknown.

Session 1.3
Integrated Interpretive Planning a Winner for South Australian Wine Tourism by Jane James and Helen Edwards, The Lane Vineyard, Australia

Jane James is interested in the visitor experience. She wants customers to get what they want and not what tourism industry thinks they want. A memorable tourism experience is one that you can actually remember. You have to think about the experience and have an emotional reaction to it.

Jane talked about interpretation and equated it to storytelling. It needs to have a key message that visitors can take home and remember. A winery or wine region should identify a tag line of less than ten words. The Adelaide Hills wine region has a tag line “Fall in love all over again.” Their take home message for food and wine is “Tickle your palate and tempt your taste buds.”

Helen Edwards talked about the Lane Vineyard. This was Helen’s family’s vineyard. Their store would center around the vineyard site, single vineyard wines and the family. The family would tell their story in an engaging manner. A tag line was “grown in our backyard, every berry.” There were other tag lines. I liked, “Casual bliss on the top of our world.” This tag line was on a sign close to their restaurant on the property. The Lane Vineyard use tags lines in marketing and staff training. They also use tags lines online and particular in social media.

Session 1.3

Promoting Your Wine Tourism Business Through Sales, Service & Knowledge by Hilarie Larson of Northwinds Consulting

After describing her many years in the wine industry, Hilarie said, “Wine tourism is BIG.” Wine tourism involves many aspects including but not limited to hotels, art, buses, cycling, trains, and even snowshoeing.

Wineries need to know that they are “selling a dream.” What do wine tourists want? They want to engage in a dream. The wine tourist expects quality, knowledge and attention.

Hilarie went on to explain how important social media is for wineries. The number of wineries using email/social media is small.

For the wine tourist service is everything. It all comes down to people. People are the common denominator.

One of the attendees asked about the cost of doing this and Hilarie said that from her point of view these things are cost effective.

Session 1.4
Champagne Savoir-Faire by Marie-Anne Louvet of Les Secrets du Vin 

Marie-Anne Louvet gave an overview of the Champagne region and the major grape varieties grown in each region. She spoke about the chalky soils, but also mentioned that sand and clay soils are also common in smaller areas. After an overview of the land, Marie-Anne discussed champagnes including sweetness levels of the dosage. She then discussed the producers that had champagnes at the grand tasting.

Grand Tasting

Seven champagne producers were pouring two to four champagnes from their portfolio. There were a variety of champagnes, most brut. There were a few rosés and grand crus as well as a 1st cru. The tasting was organized as a walk-around tasting. Attendees walked from table-to-table, in no particular order.

Cheers,
Terry & Kathy