Wine Tourism, a strategic asset for the whole industry

The Wine industry is facing multiple challenges, including lower consumption, over production and broader economic pressures. Wine tourism offers a multi-faceted way forward.

The cellar door is so much more than just another sales channel. Wine sales are important, as are higher margins from direct sales, but they are only part of the potential of tourism for winemakers, and for the wider industry.

Yes, you are able to introduce your wine directly to clients away from the noise of competing wines, but it’s also a strategic opportunity to expand a brand, and communicate your winery’s philosophy. DTC (Direct to Consumer) retention is key: margins are better and it’s an opportunity to transform visitors into more than just customers, into engaged members of a community, fostering loyalty and ultimately turning them into ambassadors for your brand, and fine wine in general.

Wine Tourism is a product in itself

Wine tourism is a complementary income stream to wine sales, gaining more importance as sales fall. Results of the 2025 Global Wine Tourism Survey* show that 65% of wineries consider wine tourism to be either profitable or even very profitable.

Visitors are coming for an authentic and local interaction rather than a transaction.
Fostering meaningful relationships helps solve one of a wine producer’s biggest challenges: how to create an emotional bond between consumer and the brand. This is destination marketing. And the impact is felt across the industry: for even if they don’t consume or buy much wine on the visit, they are initiated into the wine world. Offering events and complementary products is a different conversation to simply selling wine. Over 60% of wineries set a focus on either offering local and authentic experiences or personalized and niche products.

The Napa Wine Train, one of the most emblematic wine tourism experiences in the Napa Valley and the GWC Best Of Wine Tourism Award winner 2025, finds one of the most challenging trends is the perception of wine as exclusive, expensive, stuffy, and difficult to navigate. They work hard to create a warm, educational and inclusive experience, focusing their attention on who they hire, how they lead, the guests they aspire to welcome and how they market to them. They aim to make wine approachable without sacrificing quality, driving visitation by reaching new, more diverse audiences instead of relying on the core consumer of the past.

On the European side of the word, Braunewell Winery in Rheinhessen, shares their authentic, origin-based wines with a traceable wine profile thanks to precise, sustainable production guidelines and species protection. Their local investment in a biodiversity wine trail, sustainability certification and the Best Of Wine Tourism Award for Sustainability, has created an interesting range of offerings that responds to a demand for sustainable tourism in Germany.

Photo : Weingut Braunewell (c) Ines Barwig

Create new consumers

Not everyone who comes to a winery is an expert. The 2025 Global Wine Tourism Survey showed that only 6% of all wine tourists had a high knowledge about wine, according to the wineries surveyed. Understanding and sharing how and when people want to consume wine broadens the reach, enhances their comfort and engagement and offers interaction with new customers.

Offering a range of entry points, whether through price or activity, makes it easier for people to find the experience that suits them best. It’s an opportunity to demystify wine and make it accessible. By treating wine tourism as a form of targeted market research, we can identify new services that appeal to customers and strengthen brand positioning.

In these times of falling consumption, attracting and cultivating new clients is key. Wine tourism converts curious visitors into faithful followers and shows them different opportunities to reach for wine. Food matching, wine-based cocktails, simplifying tasting language and wine games all increase knowledge, build confidence and create lifelong clients.

Photo : Napa Valley Wine Train Locomotive (c) Napa Valley Wine Trains

The Napa Wine train delivers 15 exceptional journeys, this encourages repeat visits, sparks interest among first-time guests, and welcomes every level of wine knowledge and a price point to suit every budget. They offer a wide range of classic cocktails and beers that includes an NA Beverage Selection of non-alcoholic beer, crafted zero-proof cocktails, and even non-alcoholic wine. Gen Z may drink less alcohol but their visit to wine country remains important, and wine appreciation is an opportunity to promote responsible consumption and emphasize the role of moderation in enjoyment.

Communicating and the Zeitgeist

Building a community is an opportunity to both answer questions from customers and share the challenges facing the producer. Storytelling can connect with customers about how the changing climate and other environmental factors impact the style of wine and the ways that winemakers and new PDO regulations are rising to these challenges.

Wine tourism offers a way to communicate the challenges of rising alcohol levels and evolving organoleptic profiles, and how we are responding to them. There’s no better place to share stewardship of the environment than when guests are standing amid the vines.

Communicating directly with your community creates valuable feedback for a winery, offering real insights into evolving market and consumer expectations. By treating wine tourism as a form of targeted market research, we can identify new services that appeal to customers, strengthen brand positioning — all while offering value and an excellent reason to return.

A case in point is another Best Of winner from Germany, the team at Manz Winery, who see customers becoming more price-sensitive, whilst demanding quality, sustainability, and experience. As a family winery, they respond by sharing wine as more than just a drink: it is culture, craftsmanship, emotion.

Photo : Weingut Mainz (c) Weingut Mainz

Proofed for the future

Wine tourism offers powerful ways to mitigate the challenges facing wine producers. Wineries who treat their cellar solely as a shop are missing out on opportunities to grow and diversify their business through alternative income streams, increased margins and new recruits.

Engaging strategically with wine tourism, leveraging powerful marketing tools like social media and search engines inspires new and diverse audiences. It helps expand brands, create new products, customers, experiences and partnerships, which is bound to bring a better understanding of clients and their desires. It is a way to support your product in the marketplace as well as at the winery.

Wine tourism is a built-in motor to innovate across the wine sector, but it must also constantly evolve in order to help future-proof wine’s offer, both inside and outside the bottle.

*Global Wine Tourism Report 2025: A joint study by Hochschule Geisenheim University, UN Tourism, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), the Great Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC), and WineTourism.com, Prof. Dr. Gergely Szolnoki, Hochschule Geisenheim University, Geisenheim, Germany

About Great Wine Capitals

The Great Wine Capitals Global Network*, established in 1999, unites world-renowned wine regions with the objective of driving innovation and collaboration, enhancing sustainable competitiveness in the wine and tourism sectors worldwide. Their accumulated expertise and developed strategic partnerships position wine tourism as a critical growth engine for the industry.

Wine tourism plays a pivotal role in diversifying revenue streams and enhancing brand visibility, driving profitability across the value chain. By creating memorable visitor experiences, it transforms wine estates into destinations, strengthening their economic impact and competitive edge. These activities deliver increased profitability for wineries industries worldwide.