How can we develop wine tourism in 2026?
Wine tourism is no longer a bonus — it’s a key driver
For a long time, welcoming visitors to the vineyard was a secondary activity. A side venture. Something we did “when we had time”.
Those days are gone. For many wine estates, wine tourism has become a direct source of income, a sales channel, and above all a way to build a lasting relationship with customers.
But developing your wine tourism business cannot be improvised. Here’s what really works.
Start with what you have — not what you imagine
The first mistake is trying to create a wine tourism offering “from scratch”, by imagining what visitors might like to see. The right approach is the opposite: start with what already exists, what is authentic, what is unique to your estate.
Do your cellars have distinctive architecture? That’s an asset. Does your family history span several generations? That’s a resource. Are your cultivation practices unusual or committed? That’s a story.
Successful wine tourism tells a truth — not a staged performance.
Structuring the visitor experience
Once you know what you want to tell, you need to structure how you tell it.
This involves several practical elements:
The visitor route — which areas are open to the public? In what order do visitors discover them? Each stage must have a purpose: to inform, to move, to surprise.
The pace — not all visitors move at the same speed. Some want to see everything in 20 minutes. Others will linger for an hour. A well-designed route accommodates both.
The narrative — what turns a visit into an experience is the story being told. Not the technical details of the wine — the human story behind every decision, every plot, every vintage.
Simple signage
The audio tour needs a physical entry point: a QR code somewhere on the estate, at the entrance.
It’s a minor constraint. And it’s also an opportunity.
Some estates take the opportunity to create something stylish: a small poster printed on fine paper, an engraved wooden sign, an elegant slate. Nothing expensive, nothing complex — but something that says “we’ve thought of you” from the moment you arrive.
Signage doesn’t need to be exhaustive. Two or three well-placed points are enough to guide the visitor. The key is that it should be consistent with the estate’s identity — understated in a minimalist estate, warm and welcoming in a family-run winery, artistic in a place that likes to break the mould.
Welcoming visitors without being constantly on hand
This is the central paradox of wine tourism for small businesses: we want to welcome more visitors, but we don’t always have someone available to guide them.
The solution isn’t to turn visitors away. It is to design an experience that runs independently.
A digital audio tour does exactly that. Visitors scan a QR code at the entrance, enter a 4-digit access code, and start their tour from their smartphone — no app to download, no internet connection required. The narration guides them at every step. Your teams remain available for what really matters: tasting, sales, and personal interaction.
Opening your estate to international visitors
Wine tourism is attracting an increasingly international clientele. Belgians, Dutch, British, Americans, Germans — many are seeking authentic experiences in French vineyards.
But welcoming them without speaking their language is often a barrier. A multilingual tour solves this problem: the same content, translated and adapted, accessible in the visitor’s language as soon as they scan the QR code.
This isn’t a luxury — it’s a prerequisite for attracting this clientele.
A response to the crisis in wine consumption?
Wine consumption has been falling in France for several years. Younger generations are drinking less — but differently. They want to understand what they’re drinking. To know the origin, the winemaker, and the choices behind every bottle.
This is a fundamental trend, not a passing fad.
Wine tourism meets this need perfectly. Not by trying to persuade people to drink more — but by creating the conditions for a relationship of trust to develop between the visitor and the estate.
A visitor who has walked through your vineyards, heard you talk about your terroir, and understood your winemaking choices — that visitor chooses you. And they tell others about it.
Well-designed wine tourism doesn’t sell wine. It creates ambassadors.
Measure and adjust
Developing your wine tourism also means understanding what works.
How many visitors use your tour? Which stops hold their attention the longest? Which languages are most commonly spoken? This data, available in a dedicated dashboard, allows you to tailor the content, enhance the experience, and make better decisions.
Without data, you’re making improvements blindly. With data, you’re making improvements with purpose.
Where to start in practical terms?
Developing your wine tourism doesn’t require a massive investment or a complete overhaul. It requires clarity and a methodical approach.
Three questions to get you started:
What do you want your visitors to take away? An emotion, a story, a conviction about how you work.
Which areas can you safely open to the public? Vineyards, gardens, tasting rooms, exhibition spaces — the areas you can open up define the setting.
Do you have the content to tell your story? Photos, texts, anecdotes — you have more than you think.
Once these three questions have been asked, everything else can fall into place. Gradually, at your own pace.
Photo: Sarah O’Shea / Pexels
Xavier Adraste is the founder of Merci Gabin, a platform offering digital audio tours for wine estates.