Professional area

Wine tourism

One destination, two vineyards

There are 2 Protected Designations of Origin on the destination Cahors Lot Valley: the AOP Wine of Cahors and the AOP Coteaux du Quercy.

More than 180 winegrowers whom we support and promote: wine tourism is one of the strategic axes of the tourist office.

More and more customers are in demand to discover the vineyard and its actors. This interest materializes through meetings around know-how and products that embody the destination.

We support winegrowers through various actions to qualify the offer: field visits and qualification of the offer, labeling, advice, support for project leaders, specific events, etc.

Among the activities we organize...

There are those to promote the wine of Cahors to our visitors: summer tastings at Vinoltis, independent tasting with the Enomatics, the Fascinant Weekend.
….and those for the networking of winegrowers and labeled partners such as training or coffee meetings.

The destination Cahors The Lot Valley has two labeled vineyards:

The vineyard of Cahors in the Lot Valley, along and around the Lot Valley
The Quercy vineyard, further south in the Quercy Blanc, straddling the Lot and the Tarn-et-Garonne

The Vignobles & Découvertes label

Logo Vineyards and Discoveries - Atout France

What is it ?

The Vignobles et Découvertes label has existed since 2009, it is awarded for a period of 3 years by Atout France, on the recommendation of the Superior Council of Wine Tourism. According to a standard of use, its primary objective is to facilitate the organization of a stay for wine tourists in the labeled destination, by promoting all the service providers who offer a qualified service. Among these service providers, we find a large part of the tourism but also wine trades - winegrowers, wine merchants, restaurateurs, accommodation providers, leisure service providers -: Vignobles et Découvertes is a collective brand that brings together and federates all of these players.

Integrating the Vignobles et Découvertes label allows you to be part of a network of wine tourism professionals, to have visibility on national and international markets, and to benefit from advice, support for setting up a project, etc.

What criteria to meet?

The Vignobles et Découvertes certification standard is based on that of Qualité Tourisme, a label that values the quality of the services offered by a service provider. There are criteria that evaluate the entire structure and the service(s) offered - exterior, signage, means of communication, wine tourism offer, sale, etc. - over the entire stay, i.e. before, during and after the stay of the wine tourist.

The list of Vignobles & Découvertes evaluation criteria

Find out more about Vineyards and Discoveries

The Vineyards and Discoveries label Graphic charter V&D V&D destinations in France The 1st Meetings of Wine Tourism Facebook Vineyards and Discoveries

Storytelling

It is a narrative communication tool that captures the attention of visitors using their emotions. Here, it will be a question of organizing the storytelling of the Vignobles de Cahors in the Lot Valley by pooling and sharing knowledge, but also by building and telling a common story around the chosen “landscape” positioning.

Why set it up in the vineyard of Cahors ?

This new tool is part of the action plan created for the 2018 wine tourism strategy, it was carried out in 2019 with the help of the company Œno Story. Storytelling serves to promote the destination and the wine tourism experience offered by telling the story of its oenocultural assets in connection with its positioning around the landscapes. It offers avenues for its appropriation by the actors of the destination and the tourist clientele: it is a common basis for the presentation of the vineyard to visitors and inhabitants.

Methodology

Lot Tourisme

The writing of thematic sheets

An inventory was carried out in order to identify the objectives to which the thematic sheets would respond:

Make knowledge accessible and shared
Developing cultural and differentiating wine tourism
Reinforce the image and the uniqueness of the destination.

Thus, 15 thematic sheets were created and distributed around 6 major themes:

History
Brand
Gastronomy
Vitivinicultural know-how and techniques
Art, culture, traditions
Geology, geography, terroir and landscapes

Lot Tourisme

The definition of eno-landscape units

Different criteria have been chosen to define the oeno-landscape units such as landscape coherence, the presence of an emblematic site and “secondary” tourist sites, oenotourism experiences, etc.

Writing the story

An experience is a moment that is remembered because it is particularly intense, extraordinary, rich in emotions, significant and/or because it constitutes learning.

Two approaches have been favored for the promotion of this wine tourism experience:

By cross-cutting themes; with History of water, Causse always, What the stones say, Landscapes to taste and Cahors, wine in the city
By oenolandscape units; with Around Puy-l'Évêque, Around Luzech and Around Cahors.