As holiday budgets tighten, how can wine estates keep attracting visitors?

Price, image, experience: how to remain desirable without devaluing your offering?

The second week of the All Saints' Day holidays has just begun. For wineries still welcoming visitors, there are a few days left to share schedules, available time slots, and offers already available to holidaymakers. The current situation prompts us to consider the role of outings in household budgets. This summer, 62% of holidaymakers surveyed by ADN Tourisme and G2A reported having to cut back , with paid leisure activities among the first expenses impacted. This data reflects the choices made by holidaymakers as a whole. It doesn't directly measure the number of visitors to wineries. However, it does highlight that a cellar tour or an activity in the vineyards competes with other outings during the stay. In these circumstances, lowering the price of the tour or the bottles is often the most immediate way to attract attention and encourage a purchase. However, this doesn't always solve the real problem: an offer that the visitor is unfamiliar with, doesn't fully understand, considers too complicated to organize, or can't distinguish from other options will not be chosen, regardless of the price. The focus of this new article is therefore less on whether prices should be lowered than on determining what makes a visit worth choosing. Is it the price, the perceived value, the format, the opening hours, the lack of visibility, or the absence of a specific reason to visit? The answers vary depending on the target audience and the winery's positioning. Promotional campaigns for the industry and winery tourism initiatives can help identify the right approach.

1. The budget is tightening, but not all visitors are reacting in the same way.

A visit is chosen within the context of a complete trip. Visitors don't just consider the price; they also factor in travel costs, time constraints, scheduling, booking options, and nearby activities. They also want to understand what they will experience and what they will gain from the experience. An affordable tasting can be difficult to choose if its promise is vague or if the visitor isn't sure it will suit them. Conversely, a more expensive experience can be considered worthwhile if it grants access to a unique location, an opportunity to interact with the winemaker, or a discovery that can't be found elsewhere. The value of a visit truly isn't solely determined by its entrance fee.

Expectations vary from one audience to another. A knowledgeable enthusiast might seek an in-depth tasting, a technical discussion, or access to a specific vineyard plot. A family might want to share an activity suitable for everyone. A couple on holiday will look for something that easily fits into their day. The winery must therefore identify the concerns and desires of its target clientele before adjusting its pricing. If visitors are unaware of what's on offer, an invisible promotion won't entice them to visit . If booking is complicated, a discount won't eliminate the difficulty. If the experience seems impersonal or overly technical, a different format might better meet expectations. Price is an effective lever when it's the real obstacle. It's also important to distinguish between selling wine and selling a tour. A promotion on bottles can trigger a purchase at the winery or online. A tour must convince visitors to dedicate time to a place. The two activities can be mutually beneficial if the welcome inspires a desire to discover the wines, while still allowing visitors the freedom to leave without buying.

2. Make the offer seem accessible, then give a reason to come

When budgets are tight, visitors may dismiss an activity before even looking at the price if they think it's too expensive, too specialized, or not suited to their interests. The first approach, therefore, sometimes involves changing the perception of the offering rather than lowering the price. The recent campaign by The Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB) – “So Many Burgundy Wines” – provides an interesting illustration of this. With the tagline “So Accessible” for Mâcon wines, it opens a gateway to a wine region often perceived as complex or expensive, without reducing all of Burgundy to a promise of low prices. On the scale of a winery, the same principle can be applied to the tour : specify that it is suitable for novices, show what visitors will discover, and clearly indicate that no purchase is expected. These details alleviate any hesitation and help everyone visualize the experience.

But the public still needs an opportunity to take action, i.e., to book tickets. During the 2026 Six Nations Tournament, Terra Hominis partnered five matches with five vineyards and offered special deals on wines from participating estates, depending on the French national team's performance. The promotion was time-sensitive and lasted only 40 minutes after the final whistle. The campaign focused on wine sales, not tour bookings, but its underlying principle is adaptable: a specific event can increase the visibility of an offer by providing a dedicated time slot for potential buyers. For a winery , this event could be a harvest-related visit, a workshop held on a weekday evening, or a special opening during a local festival. The goal isn't simply to add a discount at any cost, but to make the offer easily identifiable and clearly explain why visitors should come on that particular date.

3. Create a reason to come, then measure its effect

When visitors are deciding on their outings, an offering must allow them to envision what they will experience and understand why it is worth the trip. Some estates achieve this by creating original activities, others rely on their expertise or adapt their opening hours to times when the public is available. At the estate PIERRE & BERTRAND COULY in Chinon, an escape game set up in the wine cellar transforms exploring the site into a team game. A year after its launch, it had welcomed 1,600 visitors, representing 20% of the estate's total attendance. The premise-solving a mystery in a wine cellar—makes the experience immediately tangible. An estate doesn't necessarily need to create an escape game to stand out; the idea is that it can showcase its expertise, open up a space that is usually closed, or offer a glimpse behind the scenes of its operations to differentiate itself further. This is what the [name of the escape game] offers, albeit in a different form. Domaine Baudon in Montagne-Saint-Émilion, visitors can discover the work of using animal traction with Jupiter, the Percheron horse used to weed the vineyards. This experience isn't artificially added to the tour; it reveals a practice within the estate and the daily life of its vineyard workers. Farm stays, bike rides with picnics, and wine and chocolate tastings also expand the reasons to stop. Opening hours can also be a deterrent. On the Côte du Midi, near Narbonne , about twenty estates take turns opening on Sundays , when short-stay visitors are looking for activities. At Le Grand Celier, the brunches organized during these Sunday openings contribute to the appeal of the event, and the shop generates 40% of its revenue on Sundays. On a destination-wide scale, these collective events give estates visibility they would find more difficult to achieve on their own. In the Tarn region, 13 estates organized nearly fifty aperitif-concerts during the summer of 2026. Attendance was estimated at over 20,000 visitors. Each estate chose the number of dates suited to its capacity, while the joint program multiplied opportunities to discover the vineyards.

These examples address different challenges: escape games make visits unique, Domaine Baudon transforms expertise into an experience, Sunday openings adapt to public availability, and aperitif concerts create a local event. The right format depends on the estate, its resources, and the visitors it hopes to attract. An expensive experience will be meaningless if it doesn't align with its identity or its capacity. It's also important to distinguish between attendance figures and the event's actual impact. The number of participants indicates the success of an event, but it doesn't tell you how many came specifically for it, how many discovered the estate for the first time, or what benefits it generated. Depending on the objective, the estate can track bookings, the proportion of new visitors, on-site sales, and the cost of organizing the event. These indicators help determine if the offering attracts the target audience and if it's worth repeating.

Five levers to pull when your holiday budget is tight

1. Evaluate the overall cost of the outing: your target visitor is considering not only the price of the visit, but also travel time, the time required, and expenses on site. A shorter package, a convenient schedule, or a combined activity with a local partner can make the outing easier to integrate into their holiday budget.

2. Make the value of the offer immediately understandable: present the content, duration, and price of the experience, specifying who it is for and what makes it special. To reassure visitors discovering the estate, also indicate that no wine purchase is obligatory.

3. Offer several ways to discover the estate: an essential, affordable format can coexist with a more in-depth or premium experience. Visitors can then choose according to their budget, time, and interest in wine, without the estate reducing the price of its entire offering.

4. Target promotions to a specific objective and audience: a two-person rate during a less busy time slot, a benefit for local residents, or a limited-time offer can boost visitor numbers. Before communicating, ensure the promotion covers its costs and remains consistent with the resort's positioning.

5. Measure the actual impact of the campaign: track bookings, visits, new visitors, and related sales, then compare these results to those of a typical period. Views and press coverage measure visibility; they are not sufficient to establish that the offer attracted additional visitors.

Conclusion: Making perceived value a lever for attractiveness

When vacation budgets are tight, a visit to a winery becomes a competitive expense. To remain appealing, it must meet the expectations of a specific audience, take into account the overall cost of the outing, and provide a compelling reason to visit. Price reductions can be part of the solution, provided they serve a defined objective and preserve the winery's financial stability. The process begins by identifying the obstacle: price, lack of availability, a confusing offer, or an experience too similar to those offered elsewhere. This diagnosis allows for the selection of the right approach, followed by the measurement of its impact on visitor numbers and business activity.

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