Wine Tourism : Although this has been a difficult Summer season, wine-based tourism has had a good innings this year.
France holds the world record for the number of visiting tourists and now it's vineyards are proving to be an ever growing tourist attraction.
So much so that Hervé Novelli, Secretary of State for tourism, plans to create a wine tourism quality label which would favour development in this sector by covering all the wine roads & circuits in France.
Despite the bleak weather this Spring and the lack of holiday spending money in pockets, The Bordeaux Tourist Office registered a significant increase in the number of tourists participating in the twenty or so wine tour circuits in and around the Bordeaux vineyard.
Since the beginning of this year, 11,000 customers registered as opposed to 8,500 last year.
The "Unesco effect" (Bordeaux having Unesco national heritage status since 2006) has played a major role in attracting tourists but more and more wine properties have adapted their reception facilities to cater to the growing demand.
The educational walk through the vineyards and visit of the wine-making facilities can certainly make for a succesful family outing, explains Jean-Daniel Debart, owner of Château Cablanc, a 120 hectare property including 65 hectares of vines, 60 kilometres East of Bordeaux.
The Château provides a warm family welcome, a circuit through vineyards and woods including explanatory signs and riddles to solve, followed by a simple explanation of the wine-making process and a relaxed tasting of wine or grape juice.
"90% of our visitors had never been inside a wine château before" and nine families out of ten come away from the visit with a bottle of Château Calanc (3 - 7 euros per bottle). The château also boasts a gîte and a reception room.
Meanwhile, the adults continue their tour of the property and are still having trouble finding the origin of the quote " Better to drink the wine from here than the water from there", perhaps the answer is right under their noses.....
César Compadre
S.O. 26/08/08
Translated by Maxine Colas.