The Coming of Enhanced Wine Tourism

Wine tourism has always meant visiting wineries, tasting wines, maybe buying, and moving on. Sometimes there might be a look at the wine production facility. This is changing.

 

Sipping in the vineyards
image from Visit Napa Valley

 

A 2025 survey from the Global Wine Tourism Report showed that a quarter of the winery respondents said they are expanding their wine tourism and half said they are thinking about it. The other quarter are probably taking a wait-and-see to observe the success. 

The expansion of what wine tourism includes is underway. In California, you'll find a few places with a castle, tasting from barrels, tasting in a vineyard, and more. To make up for getting fewer people visiting, wineries are looking for more way to extract money from you and build up loyalty.

Some already have tours of vineyards, the winemaking facility, or caves. Not everyone is set up to do this, but those that are will likely expand to make these longer and more in-depth events. 

There are more wineries offering food pairings, and not just cheese and salami, but bordering on a fancy restaurant type of meal with multiple courses and multiple wines. 

Napa has recently allowed wine tasting in vineyards. Not just vineyards that might be outside their facility, but somewhere you get bussed to where there's a full setup of tables, wines, and food. This won't be cheap so it's geared towards high-end clients, not Joe and Nancy from Missouri. That's okay, because it's the high-end wines that are still selling.

Many wineries have rental lodging on their property. Not everybody is aware of this, but I expect to see a push on getting more people to stay with them in the vineyards. 

Another busy day at Castello di Amorosa
They are here for the "castle experience,"
not so much for the wine
image from Napa Tourist Guide

 

Ecotourism will increase with tours geared towards sustainable, organic, and regenerative farming along with their solar panels, underground wine storage, and water recycling. The winery wants you to know how they're different and better.

Expect more elaborate vertical and horizontal wine tastings. Vertical is the same wine from different years. Horizontal is all the same year of the same varietal, but from different vineyards. A horizontal tasting can be newer wines from barrels. Sometimes you can get a vertical/horizontal with the current release and a barrel sample of different vineyards. Hey, nobody said this would be easy.  😁

During the harvest there are "crush camps" where you get to participate in the grueling work. Only you'll try something for a minute or two instead of the long days put in by the winery staff. There are a few wineries doing something similar. More will give it a try. The issue here is with staffing as the people that know about this are working 15-hour days in the cellar. Your day of this will probably include a lunch or dinner with the wine flowing.

You can see where this is going. More entertainment, a longer stay at a particular winery with more interaction with the people working there, all at a higher cost.  There will still be those standard tasting fees. 

You notice that wineries are gearing towards the higher income, serious wine person. You notice it's a lot more entertainment.

Grape stomp at harvest time
image from Airfield Estates, Prosser, WA