Wine-related tourist offers are among the new favorite activities of French and foreign tourists when choosing a destination for a weekend of discovery and escape.
Wine route, tastings, visits of vineyards, but also vinotherapy, wine is invited in all its forms during weekends of romance or amongst friends.
Including gourmet food, gastronomy, care and well-being, discover the perfect alliance between the discovery of flavors and a relaxing break thanks to a brand new concept: wine-relaxation weekends!
A weekend of well-being and wine-based treatments
The wellness weekends were born from a growing need amongst tourists to recharge their batteries and let go for a few days.
To meet this expectation, new ideas have emerged in recent years: thalassotherapy in spa hotels or in thermal spring resorts, yoga retreats, meditation weekends or even detox holidays have quickly found their followers.
Wine and well-being
Wine has always been associated with a moment of pleasure and sharing, and can be enjoyed on many occasions: as an aperitif on the beach whilst admiring a sunset or on the terrace of a starred restaurant during a dinner.
Wine is the perfect complement to a cocooning weekend by the sea or a regenerating stay in a thermal spring resort. Indeed, who hasn’t dreamed of a massage or a facial whilst enjoying a glass of wine?
To combine wine and wellness to perfection, there are many possibilities for visitors from all over the world. For example, they can enjoy a night in a château on the outskirts of Saint-Émilion with a private spa and oenology classes, a weekend in an 18th century castle on a wine estate in the Graves region with a sauna, spa and fitness room overlooking the vineyards, or a wellness getaway in the heart of the vineyards of Narbonne, between nature, sun, spa and wine.
But France is not the only country to offer these relaxing spa weekends.
In Japan, it is possible to take a dip in a pool of red wine (or a pool of sake) known for its anti-aging virtues at The Yunesson Spa Resort. In Argentina, The Vines Resort & Spa offers visitors the chance to relax while watching the sunrise and sunset. Finally, in Spain, Hotel & Spa Arzuaga perfectly blends wine tourism with wellness facilities to escape the monotony and stress of the city.
All you have to do is choose your dream destination!
Wine tourism can also take a more surprising form with vinotherapy. Although the virtues of wine and vine for the body have been recognized since antiquity, it is only in the 2000s that these benefits were rediscovered and integrated into care rituals.
It is in the heart of the Bordeaux vineyards, at Château Smith Haut Lafitte that Les Sources de Caudalie is setting up its wine spa and offering grape-based treatments for the first time. It is also possible to stay there for a few days to discover all the benefits of the vineyard.
An essential ally for our well-being, grapes contain polyphenols, a natural antioxidant that restores the skin’s radiance, as well as resveratrol, which naturally fights against skin aging. Vinotherapy offers a complete range of treatments, from nourishing and relaxing baths with grape extracts to exfoliating and regenerating massages with grape seed oil.
A gourmet wine weekend
Among the many themes proposed for a gastronomic weekend, wine tourism always attracts wine lovers from all over the world, in France and elsewhere. Whether in the Bordeaux region, the Loire Valley, Burgundy or Alsace, but also in Italy, South Africa, the United States or Australia, there is no shortage of wine routes around the world!
The concept is simple: tourists follow a defined circuit that takes them around the region to discover the local cellars and vineyards.
Visits, gastronomy and discovery
These gourmet weekends are an opportunity to discover the world’s terroirs. Between starred restaurants where an exceptional wine list is proposed and winegrowers’ tables and guest houses, epicureans will be conquered.
It is thus possible to discover the vineyards of Burgundy in a horse-drawn carriage or those of the Rhone Valley by Segway, to learn how to saber champagne during a gourmet meal in Saint-Quentin in the Aisne.
On safari, between nature and adventure, wine lovers from all over the world can taste wine in a different way by traveling the wine routes of South Africa for a guaranteed change of scenery. But that’s not all, the mixture between African cuisine and the aromas of the region’s wines will surprise many.
In Italy, food and wine tours take visitors from all over the world through the vineyards of Tuscany, where the best wines of the country are produced: Montepulciano, Brunello di Montalcino, San Gimignano, and of course Chianti. Between walks and tastings, all the richness of this wine region is just waiting to be discovered.
The perfect combination of relaxation and flavor
Thanks to the combined expertise of wine and well-being professionals, these wine-relaxation weekends and stays offer varied and complementary activities.
For example, at Château Belloy in the heart of the Fronsac vineyards, visitors can first stroll through the vineyards, enjoy the wellness area and finally spend a night in the estate villa. A tasting of different wines representative of the know-how and flavors of the region will also be offered.
In the north of Italy, several hotels with authentic charm offer thalasso and wine tasting stays between lake and mountains for a unique experience. The possibilities are many and varied!
These multi-themed weekends and stays are the ideal opportunity for local winemakers and producers to work hand in hand with hotel and wellness professionals to broaden their clientèle and make themselves known to wine aficionados and oenology enthusiasts.
This new type of tourism is an excellent way to revitalize the regions and their terroir. And, for the winegrowers and winemakers, it is also the opportunity for a friendly and relaxed encounter with their consumers to establish a special and long-lasting relationship with them that can be extended at the many fairs related to the world of wine organized throughout France.
Spirit tourism takes center stage
Inspired by wine tourism spirit tourism is a perfect complement to wine tourism, offering visitors from all over the world the opportunity to discover the secrets of making spirits from our regions, such as Armagnac, Calvados, Cognac, Pastis, Absinthe or Chartreuse. It is the ideal opportunity to alternate between cellars, cider factories and distilleries during a gastronomic stay at the foot of Mont Saint-Michel!
The enthusiasm of French and foreign tourists for spirit tourism reflects a desire to go back to basics: authenticity, values, ancestral know-how.
For a romantic weekend or a getaway with friends, spirit tourism invites travelers from all over the world to go off the beaten track by allowing them to discover or rediscover a rich heritage.
With more than 210 companies producing spirits in France, spirit tourism offers, like wine tourism, visits to production and manufacturing sites, meetings with the many professionals in the sector (liqueur makers, distillers, master blenders, coopers, glassmakers, etc.), activities (manufacturing workshops, etc.), discovery tours (museums, farms, manufacturing workshops, etc.), tastings, etc.
To meet the growing demand from French and foreign tourists, many events are organized that are very popular with the general public: the Printemps des Liqueurs, the Absinthiades in Franche-Comté, the Calvados Experience in Pont-l’Évêque in Normandy, or the Salon des Spiritueux in Paris whose 4th edition should be held next September.
Spirit tourism is also very present throughout the world with emblematic destinations. Whiskey lovers can discover the best distilleries in the world by traveling the roads of Scotland between loch and mountain, while staying in ancestral castles. The rum, cane and sugar route also opens its arms to all spirit lovers from Guadeloupe to Martinique for an exotic and gourmet experience.
