“The glamour that people perceive is just that — perception,” says Earl Sullivan, founder of Telaya Wine in Idaho in reaction to what the image of the wine industry is. The marketwatch.com article on how to invest in a winery continues, “Of course, the wine business isn’t strictly about glamour — or money, for that matter. ‘You have to characterize it as an investment of passion,’ says Joel Redmond, a senior financial planner at Key Private Bank.”
And that is one of the things making the wine business so special. It is about more than profit – it is also about passion. Passion for the land and viticulture, the viniculture and technology, the mystery of maturation and of course the lifestyle associations.
Having said that, the romantic picture of the wine industry and the passion of those involved in it, only go that far. In the end, you have to survive – there has to be some profit in making and selling wine.
In South Africa, as in many other countries, it has become increasingly difficult for the individual farmer to farm profitably with wine grapes and we have seen in recent years that an added offering at the cellar door has helped support these businesses financially. Wine tastings, vineyard tours, restaurants and events are all initiatives employed by wine farms to add to their income.
Wine tourism has been used so successfully that today it is an industry in its own right.
With La Motte being so successful in its wine tourism offering with international and local acknowledgement and my own belief in the importance of this industry for the economy of the Western Cape, I have written about wine tourism extensively on my blog.
It is holiday season in South Africa and I thought we should have a look at the highlights of the wine tourism offering, here and abroad.
Let’s have a look at some of the awarded wine tourism experiences in the traditional wine countries as per the recommendation of the Great Wine Capitals of the World this week and next week, we can have a look at what the new world and especially South Africa has to offer.
Spain (Bilbao | Rioja):
Art & Culture
Vivanco Enoturismo y Experiencias
Restaurant
Gourmet Echapresto S.L. Venta de Moncalvillo
Architecture & Landscape
Grupo Empresarial Criteria – Calado – S.L.
France </a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.greatwinecapitals.com/best-of?filter_region=2&year_won%255Bvalue%255D%255Byear%255D=2014″>(Bordeaux):
Wine Tourism Services
Architecture and Landscapes
Accommodation
Arts and Culture
Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences
Portugal (Porto):
Accommodation
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences
Architecture and Landscapes
Wine Tourism Services
Wine Tourism Restaurants
Italy (Firenze):
Accommodation
Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices
Art and Culture
Architecture and Landscapes
Wine Tourism Restaurant
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences
RUFFINO – TENUTA DI POGGIO CASCIANO
Accommodation
Germany (Mainz | Rheinhessen):
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences
Wine Tourism ServAArt & Culture
Accommodation
Restaurants