The New Age of the Wine Tourist and Wine
Tourism: Opportunities for Feudi del Pisciotto
Arda Boga
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Vini Italiani e Mercati Mondiali, 2019/2020
Tutor Aziendale: Marco Parisi
INDEX
INTRODUCTION 4
CHARACTERIZING THE WINE TOURISM AND ITS CONSTITUENTS 5
WHAT IS WINE TOURISM 5
WHO IS THE WINE TOURIST? 8
WHICH MOTIVATIONS DOES THE WINE TOURIST HAVE? 10
WHERE IS WINE TOURISM EVOLVING TOWARDS? 12
AIMING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 12
CREATING UNIQUE EXPERIENCES 13
VALORIZING THE LOCAL TERRITORY AS A WHOLE 14
USING THE WINERY SPACE FOR ALTERNATIVE SERVICES 15
BEING REAL,BEING CONNECTED 16
FEUDI DEL PISCIOTTO WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF SICILIAN WINE TOURISM 17
CURRENT OFFERINGS 17
OPPORTUNITIES 21
Introduction
Wine tourism has been a leading branch in the recent years for the Italian hospitality sector. Thanks to its unique nature, gastronomy and culture, Sicily has also captured a share from this sector and made attempts to blend its wine tradition with innovative tourism opportunities. Feudi del Pisciotto is a outsanding example of this blend: with its high-quality wine production activities and luxury segment-oriented Wine Relais, it positions itself into the intersection of the the dual sphere of agriculture and tourism. The whole premises assert itself as a unique point where tourists can firstly interact first hand with the wine as a product, and then explore additional services and activities, allowing for a total immersion in the world of Sicilian wine. The facilities that Feudi del Pisciotto possess have the potential to turn it to more than a wine-themed hotel. The group has made outstanding efforts to make tourists experience the wine’s production trajectory and enrich their experiences with wine-based events and some gastronomical plans. On the other hand, based on my experiences and observations in Feudi del Pisciotto, in the end of my internship, I came to the conclusion that there are more opportunities for the group to capture the latest trends in wine tourism and innovate its offerings.
The idea of this project is to firstly delve into the world of wine tourism with an analysis of the literature. Then, it will be attempted to characterize the wine tourist and reach at a plausible segmentation. Furthermore, the changing habits of these tourists, and the current trends in wine tourism will constitute an important part of the project and allow for better recommendations that Feudi del Pisciotto can employ to craft better its marketing and tourism strategies. Lastly, the current wine tourism-related activites will be listed based on observational experiences in the internship before proceeding to the final part of the project: strategies that can be adopted to innovated Feudi del Pisciotto according to the habits and trends of the new wine tourist.
Characterizing the Wine Tourism and its Constituents
What is Wine Tourism
Although it is clear that wine is in the center of the all wine-tourism related activities, it would be too simplistic to think that it merely involves visits to wineries, degustation sessions and commercial exchanges. Rather, wine tourism, which is also commonly referred to as enotourism should be seen as a solid ecosystem, a complex of mechanisms, that tries to target the needs, expectations and motivations of the wine tourist. Some researches in the past have attempted to give a definition to wine tourism and outlay its determining characteristics. In their attempt to find a definition for the wine tourism and characterize its implications, these researchers chose to adopt different perspectives; whereas some made more emphasis on the wine as a product and demand of tourists, other considered wine tourism to be a driver for the regional economy and development.
Hall argues that “enotourism has a travel purpose of visiting vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows, while the major motivating factors for visitors are wine tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of a wine region” (Vitale et al., 2019). Hall clearly put the main expectations and motivations of the wine tourist in the center of his paradigm, underlying that those motivations go beyond the simple activity of tasting and buying wine, and can be considered as a sum of wine-related experiences.
Shifting its focus from the demand side to supply side, Getz claims that “wine tourism has the potential to provide a competitive advantage to regions with a grape and wine industry as well as to generate business for wineries and other related products” (Vitale et al., 2019). According to the paradigm of Getz, wine tourism then can be considered as a sum of touristic activities that have the main goal of promoting and valorizing the wineries and wine producer’s output. However, Getz also prefers to incorporate a regional element to his definition: wine tourism is not only characterized as a mere tool that is favorable to individual wineries, but to the entire
definition supports straightly well with the assertion that wine tourism can be viewed as an ecosystem.
Furthermore, Asero and Patti also adopts a point of view similar to that of Getz, in the sense that they claim wine, as a product, and wine tourism, as a sum of all wine-related economic activities, to be great contributors to local economy, since they have the potential to give the region competitiveness. Hence, in this characterization, wine tourism is not only an economic driver, but also a differentiating factor for the region that has an advantageous position against competitors. On the other hand, they underline that this competitiveness can be sustainable if the region manages to establish some solid relationships with other relevant agents, such as wine organizations and local stakeholders, demonstrating once again that wine tourism can be thought of a functioning ecosystem in which different players strive to work harmoniously with each other (Asero et al., 2011).
Interestingly, although some researchers also chose to depart from the regional implications of wine tourism in their attempt to craft their characterization, they have not restricted themselves to economic implications, but also considered the overall social and cultural outputs of such activities on the region. For example, Cavaco & Fonseca believed in the “association of wine tourism with the promotion of the cultural heritage landscape, giving rise to a new logic of development of the territories, with multidimensional impacts (involving processes of structural geographical change, building a significant social production, creating more balanced redistribution of wealth, improving income, increasing living conditions and expectations especially of disadvantaged social groups” (Ramos et al., 2018). They have the conviction that with a correct mechanism of wine tourism, and a fair use of its output, such as wealth, rising recognition of the territory, .etc, it is possible to reduce the social problems of the region and thus pave the way for a regional development that is not just centered on economic growth. An original development for the regional paradigms for wine tourism comes from Hall & Mitchell who uses for the first time the concept of “touristic terroir” (Vitale et al., 2019). According to this thought, the region in which wine tourism takes place has a unique appeal and position thanks
to a combination of its physical, cultural and natural resources. This paradigm emerges as the successor for the following research that considers the importance of locality not just for generating regional economic development, but for crafting tourist experiences that are inspired by the complexities of unique local dynamics.
Turning back to demand and tourist-oriented definitions for the wine tourism, some researchers developed the idea presented in the earlier essay of Hall and emphasize the importance of considering wine tourism as an amalgam of experiences. For example, Williams & Kelly very directly states that “enotourism involves more than visiting wineries and buy wine. It is the culmination of a number of unique experiences: environmental atmosphere, the surrounding environment, regional culture and gastronomy, the styles and varieties of local wines” (Colombini, 2015). These researchers believe that wine tourism should encompass some activities, strategies and most importantly experiences, that are somehow linked to the territory. Similar to the paradigm above, one of the most modern and innovative definitions for wine tourism comes from Charters & Ali-Knight, who presents the following characterization for wine tourism: “wine tourism experience encompasses many characteristics including a lifestyle experience, education, linkages to art, wine and food, tasting and cellar door sales, winery tours, incorporation with the tourism destination image and a marketing opportunity which enhances the economic, social and cultural values of a territory” (Haecker, 2019). According to this paradigm, with the correct marketing and tourism strategy, wine tourism can be even linked to art and some educational activities, if they align with the motivations of the tourists. This definition remains as a very broad, innovative and pertinent interpretation of wine tourism, especially given the rising attempts of wineries to differentiate themselves with unique experiences that depart always from the product of wine, but can also limitlessly reach other related fields and sectors.
As seen in this summary of literature review, it hard to come to a consensus about what exactly is implied by wine tourism; the interpretations vary based on the perspective adopted by researchers. Some of them prefer to analyze the issue with a tourist-centric approach, whereas
others make more emphasis on local development and regional dynamics. However, the common point of all characterizations is that wine tourism remains as a complex ecosystem that creates experiences for the wine tourist, without ignoring the peculiarities of the unique territory in which such activities take place.
Who is the Wine Tourist?
Croce & Perri define the wine tourist as “independent travelers with a sophisticated cultural knowledge who are open to new experiences, and enjoy food and wine, and who wish to be educated about it” (Vitale et al., 2019). According to their statistics, there are approximately 4 to 6 million visitors to Italian wineries every year, with an annual rise of 3.6 %. Moreover, above 60% of these visitors are men, aged between 30-50 years old, from medium-high socio-economic level, and tends not to travel solo.
Although these data are useful to have a quick overview of the wine tourist as a whole, it is clear that there is not one embracing category of wine tourists, and that every wine tourist behaves in a certain manner due to his/her background, interest and expectations from the touristic activity. Therefore, in order to be able to transform the wine tourism experience accordingly, it is first of all important to undertake the segmentation of the wine tourists.
The first, and the most evident group, is composed of dedicated oenophiles; in other terms, this is the group of people that are highly educated about wine. These individuals are likely to have a higher disposable income, have participated in a wine course or formation, visited many wineries in their lifetimes, read wine and gastronomy guidebooks and asserted themselves as regular wine drinkers. Moreover, it is likely to think that these individuals are in the search of quality over a reasonable price-tag in their wine search, and can be interested in more unique and prestigious wines. like Grand Cru and Riserva wines. All these characterizations also have implications on the level of wine experiences that they would expect in the context of wine tourism; for example, in a simple winery visit, these people are mostly in the search of more personal connection with oenologues, may have very specific questions about the production phases, and enjoy hearing personal stories that render the winery and its wines unique and rememberable. To concretize
the depiction, for this group, we can think of restaurant owners, sommeliers, importers, and merchants. Lastly, the individuals of this group do not consider wine tourism merely as recreational activities, but also seek to forge relationships with industry members and expand their network.
Being on the opposite extreme, the other group is that of spontaneous tourists: these are people that stop at a winery by chance, mostly by their adventure and experience-seeking nature. These people are not necessarily educated in terms of wine, and tend to be on a restricted budget. In general terms, their wine choices are highly affected by mainstream, popular recommendations and make quite often price-aware choices. Moreover, in the context of a winery visit for example, they prefer shorter and more generalistic tours that are deprived of heavy explanations and wine jargon. Lastly and quite interestingly, since these individuals show somewhat of a restricted interest for the wine, they tend to value more the gastronomic offerings during their experience: trying the local food, learning some quick tips for wine and food matching constitute an important part of their adventure and satisfaction.
As a bridge between these two realities, another group that has been proposed by Alebaki and Iakoniduou is the group of neophytes, or the novice wine-interested (Haecker, 2019). These people generally have a genuine interest for wine, and have just started a formation activity, like a course. They are curious and willing to inform themselves about the wine through guided degustations and winery visits. On the other hand, they have relatively lower disposable income in comparison to dedicated oenophiles, and thus make price-aware decisions when they buy wine.
Lastly, we can define the group of luxury wine traveler. The luxury tourists can definitely afford the wines, but are not always informed enough to be able to appreciate the subtleties. They are generally interested in wines in the higher end of the spectrum, and ready to make investments to create their cellar. Moreover, their expectations from wine tourism exceed the traditional formats, in the sense that they enjoy seeing some accompanying luxury services offered in the premises.
Although these categories have been presented with an attempt to do customer segmentation, it should be underlines that every wine tourist is unique and such categorization can sometimes be too simplistic. Therefore, a better segmentation can be carried out by taking into account the motivations of the wine tourist.
Which Motivations does the Wine Tourist Have?
In the context of tourism, motivations are the main reasons for which people want to travel or get engaged with a particular touristic activity. Generally, the motivations coexist for an individual; in other terms a tourist may have multiple drivers at the same for organizing a trip and “being a tourist”. The main question is then: what pushes a person to be a wine tourist?
Without a doubt, quite straightforwardly, the main driver for the wine tourist is to seek product-related experiences, as the primary motivation of visitors to wineries is wine tasting and buying (Asero et al., 2011). Although this is a helpful point of departure, the wine experience transcends the initial motivation of wine tasting and buying and is enriched with additional offerings. In other terms, an average wine tourist may have other motivations in his/her mind which can fall into the following categories: entertainment, educational, esthetics, and escapist, known also as the 4Es model (Afonso).
It is undeniable that the wine tourist before all is in the search of recreation and entertainment, firstly because wine is a product that is associated with joy and passing good time with others, but also because there are so many recreational opportunities that can take place in a winery or wine relais. By entertainment, we talk about events that take the form of some type of recreational performance. For example, cellar concerts or some special music nights can be organized. Alternatively, some wine making demonstrations, poetry events organized in the vineyards can take place in certain wine tourism sites, which can be categorized under the entertainment category.
The second category is the educational category, which encompasses the set of activities that the tourists get engaged with in order to acquire knowledge and enhance their skills. This motivation
is particularly important for the neophyte and oenophile segments who prioritize educational experiences before all and hope to leave a winery with new knowledge. The most common example for activities for this category is guided wine tastings and seminars, in which tourists explore the winery’s wines, learn about their unique characteristics, and have the opportunity to ask their questions. Such activities, though, do not necessarily be restricted to wine tastings; any educational seminar, from wine/food matching classes to cooking ateliers, can be grouped under this title.
Then comes the category of the escapist motivations. Such practices are especially common in the New World, and allow the tourist to wander, move, and explore a different time or place within the context of the wine tourism site. To simplify, these motivations are adopted by people that are driven by adventure and excitement. Some traditional examples are hot air ballooning over vineyards, special vineyard yours by horse or carriage, vineyard hiking, cycling tours, and grape harvesting sessions with workers.
The fourth motivation category is that of esthetics: it refers to events, and moments in which tourists are enriched by sensual means, and by sensual environment. Some examples of activities are driving in the rural/pastoral roads of the vineyard, enjoying a special lodging characterized by a unique design, art and craft fairs that take place in the wineries, etc. It has been shown that after a person gets involved with a wine tourism activity, these experiences remain as the most cherished and rememberable ones from a psychoanalysis point of view.
As explained above, although we have made an attempt to make certain generalizations about the wine tourist to categorize individuals under certain categories, it is a better strategy to analyze their motivations, underlying drivers for them to participate in wine tourism, in order to grasp better what they are looking for and how to shape the experience.
Having analyzed the most common motivations under the 4Es framework by Pine & Gilmore, the next step is to characterize the changing motivations of the wine tourist and the trends of the wine tourism industry overall.
Where is Wine Tourism Evolving Towards? Aiming for Sustainability
As people continue to consume the goods of nature with an unparalleled speed, worries about environment have reached its peak almost in every sector, including wine tourism. The consumers, and in the context of wine tourism, the wine tourist show a particular sensibility when it comes to eco-friendly products, services and offerings. Therefore, the notion of sustainability is more relevant than ever for the agents of wine tourism.
For the most part, environmental concerns for a sustainable wine tourism market include soil degradation, land use, and the amount of water used for irrigation. In their agricultural and hospitality services, wineries should strive to adopt sustainable practices and respect the eco-friendly norms. Some original examples can be promoting the use of recyclable materials, generating energy through natural resources such as geothermic sites, optimizing the use of resources through smart technological systems to avoid waste, and indirectly, participating in voluntary events on sustainability, environment protection and ecology.
The wine tourist choice for sustainable trends also account for the increasing sales of bio and natural wines. In recent times, the wine drinkers are increasingly investigating the agricultural story behind the bottles, and are willing to understand the entire lifecycle and journey of the wine. The wine drinker has been more informed than ever in these times on topics like the amount of sulfite levels in wine, the choice of yeasts, protective chemicals used in the vineyard, artificial watering techniques, etc., and continue to show the same level of sensibility in their wine tourism endeavors (Karagiannis, 2020).
For a winery to embrace sustainable wine tourism practices, it doesn’t necessarily need to produce bio or natural wines. The important point is to identify the rising emphasis and expectations of the wine tourist on the topic, and reorganize the infrastructure and mechanisms
of the wine tourism and hospitality sites to render them more environment friendly, self-sufficient, and thus sustainable.
Creating Unique Experiences
One of the most significant trends that the tourism industry has seen in the recent years is the prioritization of experiences over tangible products. Especially, this is a very common philosophy among millennials, who value a lot diversifying their experiences and are ready to more easily pay for unique opportunities. This phenomenon requires wineries to incorporate certain original and innovative activities in their tourism endeavors, in order to allow the tourists to experience another dimension of the wine’s journey and winery’s soul and style. Therefore, adopting to this trend, there is an increasing number of businesses that are seeking to offer additional experiences going beyond the product, and allowing the customers to live a transformative experience.
Following the 4Es framework presented in the previous section, these experiences can have different motivations behind. If the winery wants to target tourists that have mainly educational motivations, these experiences can be linked with wine directly, starting in the vineyard with pruning and harvesting experiences to making and bottling your own wine, or from learning how
to understand aromas and taste and pair wine with food to wine museums and education. A
rising trend is to organize very specific mini-courses on the viticultural field: How to do take care of the vines in winter? How to correctly do the harvest? How to render the viticultural activities more sustainable? With the same spirit, another alternative is to design similar courses in the field of oenology; it can be a great opportunity to target the more science-minded tourists to offer some mini-courses on wine production: How does fermentation work? What are the sustainable practices in bio wine production? What is the science behind wine ageing and refinement? Finally, it should be noted that, for such educational seminars, there is a better chance to create unique and memorable experiences if these mini-seminars are more targeted
and specific in nature, allowing the wine tourist to reach more easily a high level of intellectual satisfaction.
Furthermore, creating experiences for tourists do not need to always have educational implications. Many wineries choose to diversify their activity portfolio by offering some emotional and sensual experiences (esthetics component in the 4Es framework). The winery and vineyard space present such unique and creative elements that it is possible to work on so many interesting experiences to enrich the tourism offerings, in accordance with the customer segment. In the New World countries, a popular trend is to organize adventure-packed tours on horses or bicycles in the rural sites of the winery. More art-minded winery owners choose to organize poetry and music events in the vineyard, in which some songs, or pieces of art can be even matched with wines in degustation.
In the new age of wine tourism, it is fundamental to create such wine-oriented experiences for the tourist. This wealth of activities and experiences extend the value proposition and the value curve of a winery and offers them the possibility to diversify from the competition (Colombini, 2015).
Valorizing the Local Territory as a Whole
The recent trend of “live and explore like a local” in the general tourism industry and the emphasis on promoting local elements have also influenced the wine tourism sector. When the wine tourist visits a winery or participates in a wine tourism activity, he/she no longer wants to restrict its experience within the borders of the winery, but wants to have a broader appreciation of the region as a whole. Still placing the wine in the center of his experience, he wants to explore the social, cultural and gastronomical dynamics of the community in which the winery is located at.
This rising trend of locality and regionality is actually closely linked with the abovementioned idea of sustainability. For wine tourism activities to be sustainable, they need to take their true
sources from local actors and resources, and make use of the local networks as much as possible. Moreover, wine regions are typically located in rural areas, and in order for wineries to be successful in attracting wine tourists, they must have the support of the local community where they operate. Wine tourism markets have to rely on the members of that local community to provide supplementary services to wine tourists visiting the wine region, if they want to promote the local economy and assure long-term sustainability (Nemethy et al., 2016).
A very simple strategy can be to provide the food supply of the winery from the local shops. For instance, if the winery chooses to offer some appetizers in the case of a wine tasting event, it can buy some cheese and charcuterie products directly from local producers, which will not only boost the local economy but also will align with the expectations of the wine tourist in this new period of tourism. Similarly, some design objects used in a wine relais can be acquired directly from local artists, which will support the local art community and yield a unique authenticity to the space.
Using the Winery Space for Alternative Services
So far, the elements that have been discussed are directly linked to wine. In the context of wine tourism, it is reasonable to think that the abovementioned strategies to need to be focused towards valorizing the product of wine, and concepts related to it.
On the other hand, the facilities, spaces and infrastructure present in a winery can be also feasible for the integration of other secondary services and activities. In this case, these services will increase the popularity of the winery, and contribute thus positively to its brand image. One important factor to consider before offering such secondary services is to assure that they are compatible with the interests and motivations of the tourist segment (Colombini, 2015).
Given the beautiful landscape the wineries offer, and the elegant interior and exteriors that they seek provide, these places have recently become also important hubs for the organization of
weddings. It is known that many destination-wedding planners have some partner wineries on their list in order to offer a unique experience to their customers for this special occasion. If food is part of the wedding ceremony, the winery also has a chance to showcase its wines in these events, creating a natural marketing opportunity and allowing the guests to enjoy wines in an authentic context.
Another trend that is on the rise is the wellness trends which can present very interesting secondary services. Guided hikes in nature, regular yoga sessions, spa and message treatments are common examples of this trend. An interesting practice that is becoming more popular is vinotherapy which consists of utilizing the antioxidant effects of some wine/grape materials to provide health and psychological benefits.
Considering the tight link between the world of oenology and gastronomy, establishing a cooking school within the winery can create a great synergy from the perspective of wine tourism. In cooperation with chefs or certain cooking institutions, seasonal and themed cooking classes can be offered in the wine tourism institution. Moreover, the curriculum of these cooking courses can be specially designed to include a section on wine education and tastings. This strategy can be a great driver to attract more wine tourists to the winery, and also create additional revenue for the institution.
Being Real, Being Connected
When a wine is bottled and branded, its value proposition often goes beyond its functional value (e.g. quality, variety, sensory analysis), and suggests greater value for the customer by creating links with elements such as heritage, culture, land, people, wellness, entertainment, thoughtful production procedure, design/aesthetics, the affiliation and contribution to the local society, sensible appreciation, etc. (Filopoulos, 2019).
Therefore, when a winery crafts its image, it has to take into consideration this macroworld of elements to come up with a unique brand ad storytelling. Moreover, its wine tourism strategy
equally has to be shaped in such a way that the guests will have a chance to live the story that was promised when visiting the winery. Depending on how well this authentic portrayal is undertaken, the tourism endeavors will either be considered as the moment of “truth”, or destroy the relationship with the customers. All these points indicate that the wine tourist really appreciates authenticity and unicity of the winery, and want to see a solid, continuous and homogenous brand image also in wine tourism activities.
Wine companies that want to develop organised wine tourism activities should carefully consider if tourism fits their organisation’s culture, values and strategic objectives. “Therefore, the organisation should identify its client portfolio and proceed to a reality check to understand if and how (both organisation and its ecosystem) can address needs and expectations. This will
allow it to make a value proposition that will not only create value but also capture it” (Colombini,
2015).
Once a strong brand image and storytelling has been established by the winery, the next step is then to assure the loyalty of the wine tourist, for which the key is the “connectedness”. In order to continue to engage the wine tourist to the culture of the winery and pave the way for future potential sales and visits, the winery should find a way to remind itself to the wine tourist. There are various strategies that can be used in order to reach this objective. For example, the marketing department of wineries periodically prepare some newspapers in which they talk about the changes in their wine portfolio, share future events that will take place, and give place to some informative pieces on wine. Moreover, one popular method these days is to make active use of social media to create more engaging, and easy-to-update content.
Feudi del Pisciotto within the Context of Sicilian Wine Tourism
Feudi del Pisciotto is an example of a unique concept in the world of wine tourism, in the sense that it successfully merges the viti-vinicultural activities with luxury and accommodation-based tourism services. In other terms, the area in which the premises of Feudi del Pisciotto are located host two distinct type of activities: wine production (the cantina), and the high-segment boutique hotel (the relais). Moreover, these two sites, the cantina and the relais, are just connected by an elevator, such that the level floor is used for all wine production related activities, whereas the level above is dedicated to all tourism activities. To these entities is added another important factor that distinguishes Feudi del Pisciotto from other similar places: the Palmento di Feudi, the independent restaurant of the group. This diversity means that Feudi del Pisciotto has at its disposable many tools and mechanisms to offer potentially interesting experiences to wine tourists. Before, we delve into suggestions that aim to modernize these offerings in accordance with the current wine tourism trends described above, we will first of all have a look at the current offerings of Feudi del Pisciotto for the wine tourist.
As common among most of the wine producers, Feudi del Pisciotto also offers winery visits followed by degustations to the wine tourists. The winery visit puts a special emphasis on the history of Feudi del Pisciotto, attempts to valorize the antique wine making structures, such as the palmento, available on the premises, guide the tourist through the production of wine from grape to the final product, and involves a detailed explanation of the entire product line. Although the guests are not given a chance to visit the vineyards to explore the viticulture practices, it can be argued that the winery visit does a good job at familiarizing the guest with the processes of wine production, as the guests have the chance to interact directly with steel tanks, barriques, and other tools of the winery. After this guided visit, the guests of the hotel can take place in a winery visit free of charge, however are required to pay an extra fee for the wine tasting event. The wine tasting event comes with two packages: one with local food, and one without. For the package , the administration makes a special emphasis on serving local delicacies from pecorino with pistachio to Sicilian sun-dried tomatoes, allowing them to make an emphasis on locality. It should be noted that the wine tastings are not only open to hotel guests and can be reserved also by day-tourists that want to learn more about the wines of Feudi del Pisciotto.
Apart from these regular tastings, Feudi del Pisciotto also offers some specialized wine tastings: these sessions are accompanied by the oenologue and generally involves the tasting of the entire product line, from sparkling rosés to the more expensive red wines of the group.
Wine tasting with the oenologue are offered at a higher price point, and are generally preferred by importers that have commercial interests, or wine tourists that have a significant sectoral experience and knowledge. Finally, those that have participated in the tastings have the opportunity to buy some bottles either directly in the wine shop, or through shipping to their European address.
Fuedi del Pisciotto can be categorized under the group of high-segment tourism services; therefore the quality of the services should match this identity. The group incorporates several secondary luxury services and activities, all based on appointment, in order to enrich the experiences of the wine tourist. These experiences are not necessarily related to wine, however make use of the beautiful landscape and facilities that Feudi del Pisciotto already has at its disposal. One example is massage services; the guests can choose among a variety of packages (Thai, herbal, etc.) to enjoy such a relaxation session. Another important secondary service that is very important for Feudi del Pisciotto is the pool which has a very nice view on the vineyards. The guests also have a chance to enjoy some drinks and light snacks by the pool for additional costs.
Without a doubt, a point at which Feudi del Pisciotto excels and really manages to differentiate itself from its counterparts is the incorporation of Palmento di Feudi to the site. In accordance with the spirit of the entire relais, this is a high-segment restaurant that strictly uses Sicilian ingredients to give birth to local and interpreted Sicilian dishes. Here, the wine guests have two options for their lunch or dinner: they can order à la carte, or they can choose one of the degustation options on the menu. The menu is seasonally updated, and the chef strives to continually add some interesting and elements to the menu. In terms of the wine choices, Feudi del Pisiciotto naturally tries to valorize its wines by offering the entire product line; however the
choice is not restricted to the wines of the group – the guests also have a chance to order other pre-selected wines, mostly from the friend branches of Feudi del Pisciotto, like Castellare di Castellina. Sometimes, the restaurant offers some special dinners that have a unique theme, and a particular focus on valorizing the wines of Feudi del Pisciotto. An interesting example is the dinner dedicated to different vintages of Cerasuolo di Vittoria, in which vintages of this wine from 2014 to 2019 were matched with different Sicilian courses. Sometimes, these dinners are organized based on a Sicilian ingredient, like pistachio, after which all of the courses are designed, and corresponding wine matching choices are made accordingly.
The gastronomical offerings and inventions of Feudi del Pisciotto are not restricted to the special events of Palmento di Feudi. Having understood the synergy between wine and local food, the group is willing to organize periodic gastronomical events also outside of the restaurant. For instance, the pique-nique on the vineyards is a very successful project that Feudi del Pisciotto has been organizing for the past years: it involves the combination of gourmet summer snacks with selected wines in a truly authentic pique-nique setting of Feudi del Piscitto, where all is accompanied with live music. Another example of such an event is Calice di Stelle, which is based on the idea of opening the relais and winery to outside guests once a year to familiarize themselves with the wines of Feudi del Pisciotto, and wine making in general. This night is concluded with a more organized dinner, where wines are matched once again with the selected food. To conclude, Feudi del Pisciotto makes use of numerous food-based events, which are used as interesting vehicles to valorize their wines.
Since the relais of Feudi del Pisciotto has a seasonal business model, it is important to generate loyalty and online recognizability to attract more visitors for the upcoming seasons. The group has found the solution in activating a periodic newspaper which is sent to the past visitor and all those that want to be in the mailing list: the newspaper has a concise and elegant form, and mainly informs the readers about the upcoming events in Feudi del Pisciotto, and contains some information about the wine.
As seen, Feudi del Pisciotto hosts many activities, most of which can also be considered classical. One factor that accounts for this reality may be the fact that the client profile of the group tends to be within the high segment. On the other hand, it is important for Feudi del Pisciotto to capture the trends that are dominant in the field of wine tourism in order to secure a sustainable and profitable business model.
Opportunities
As explained above, Feudi del Pisciotto offers a classic wine tasting experience for the wine tourist, and guests can opt to attend a session with the oenologue. Having said that, there is no reason for Feudi del Pisciotto not to make use of the vineyards in order to craft some educational seminars. There are two practical motivations behind this suggestion: firstly, the important vineyards of the winery are located just in front of the relais, meaning that there are no logistical obstacles to reach the vineyard space, and secondly, my experience showed me that many guests have a particular interest in understanding the viticultural practices and their effect on the final wine. This observation of mine coincides with the abovementioned trends: the wine tourist increasingly wants to be present in the vineyard, understand biomechanical intricacies that play an important role during grape cultivation, and observe the sustainable and eco-friendly practices. Specifying this trend within the context of Feudi del Pisciotto, one interesting seminar can be on different Sicilian grape varietals and the different processes and cultivation techniques that they require. Another seminar that can trigger interest can be on the theme of eco-friendly practices in vineyard activities and how they can be adapted to the Sicilian territory. Once again, connecting these seminars to local themes and emphasizing the Sicilian identity remains as an important factor to consider when designing activities of such type.
The next practical steps should emphasize the idea of sustainability – in fact, considering its location and micro-geography Feudi del Pisciotto is at a very lucky position, since there is a lot of land and natural elements that are at its disposal. One idea can be to valorize the olive trees that are surrounding the place. Some short, entertaining and educational activities on olive oil
production and olive harvest can be a nice activity that can be of interest to wine tourist. This actually makes a lot of sense, given the fact that the family branch of Feudi del Pisciotto, Gurra di Mare, actually procudes olive oil from the olive trees located nearby the vineyard. Moreover, selling these bottles of olive oil under this activity can generate a supplementary income channel. Following on the idea of sustainability, an important and creative step that Feudi del Pisciotto has put in place is the small garden of aromatic herbs. In this garden, several parcels are dedicated to the cultivation of herbs like parsley, basil, thyme, etc., and these plants are labels accordingly. During my internship, I observed that many tourists found this central garden very interesting and actually interacted with the plants. On the other hand, this part of the relais has more potential to be used and improved. For instance, a quick seminar on different type of herbs and their role in Sicilian cuisine, or a cooking atelier that makes emphasis on the use of these herbs can be offered as supplementary leisure sessions of the relais.
Further developing on this point, Feudi del Pisciotto can craft and offer high-class cooking classes, with the cooperation of Palmento del Feudi. The restaurant is equipped with amazing facilities and space, as well as a known Sicilian chef, which allows the organization of such classes. Many guests that chose to stay in Feudi del Pisciotto have a particular interest in discovering the local cuisine; therefore, these classes have the potential to be really popular among the tourists. Moreover, these cooking classes can also contain a wine-food pairing section and try to valorize from another dimension the wines of Feudi del Pisciotto. At this point, it is important to highlight my anecdotal experiences that many tourists ask very specific questions about the wine-food pairing during wine tasting sessions, proving the potential demand for such wine-focused cooking classes.
Another practical opportunity is to valorize local products and benefit from the local networks. In the relais, from breakfast buffet to food offered in wine tasting the guests taste and enjoy many local dishes and Sicilian delicacies, most of which are directly acquired from local merchants, butchers, cheese-makers etc. On the other hand, this aspect is not sufficiently
accentuated in the relais: the guests do not have a clue about the origin of the food they enjoy. Capturing the trend of establishing local networks and emphasizing the local identity, Feudi del Pisciotto can try to make more evident the local shops and merchants with whom they interact. A simple, but useful, practice can be to indicate with labels the local shop from which the food item has been obtained. This will not only reinforce the identity of Feudi del Pisciotto as a pioneering institution that follows the “km0” trend, but also will allow the local community to market itself and develop.
The cooperation with local organization does not have to be restricted on a gastronomical level. Asserting itself as a high-segment relais that aims to offer a unique and premium experience to its guests, Feudi del Pisciotto makes a lot of emphasis on design: from the small decoration items of the common places, to the more intimate items of the individual rooms, the relais overall is an embodiment of elegance, simplicity, and Sicilian authenticity. Evidently, the administrators have worked hard to craft such captivating aesthetics. Moreover, it should be mentioned that Feudi del Pisciotto has already concretely proved its emphasis on design and art: in order to design the etiquettes of their premium bottles, they worked with famous Italian designers, like Versace, and used some portion of profits to restore a famous local sculpture in Palermo. Despite these attempts, one aspect that is missing from these projects is the idea of blending this aesthetics-driven identity with local dynamics. Sicily is a land of colors, diversity and creation, meaning that there is a plethora of local designers and artists in any corner of the island. Therefore, Feudi del Pisciotto can opt to buy some of its decoration items directly from these designers, further fostering the importance they give to locality and community.
When we analyzed the communication tools that Feudi del Pisciotto makes use of to stay connected with its guests, we saw that the main choice is the newsletter. The main goal of the newsletter is to inform the potential readers about the latest development of the relais, some events, and the new vintages. Within this context, the main point to consider is how efficient can the newsletter be in this age. Another accompanying issue has to do with the new, potential clients that it can reach, as the newsletter is primarily sent to people that have interacted with Feudi del Pisciotto either as a guest, or as a buyer of wine. This all leads us to the conclusion that
alternative media tools are necessary to engage more dynamically and effectively the Feudi del Pisciotto community, among which one can immediately and rightly think of the social media. Although the group sometimes advertises some of its events on Facebook and other platforms, their posts are far from being engaging and captivating. For instance, some photos from the harvest time, short video clips from wine tastings, special moments of some events can all be shared on social media to create a more interesting platform, which has then the potential to foster curiosity and attract new customers. Finally, the tone that is adopted in these social media endeavors is of great importance to the group: each choice has to be made carefully, considering the target client who is of high-segment, and of luxury-oriented travel experience mentality.
The micro-geography can also be exploited by Feudi del Pisciotto to engage the wine tourist, especially the adventurous one, from another aspect: offering unique travel experiences. For example, there are some wine routes in the island, among which the most noteworthy one is around Mount Etna. Many tourists organize wine-tours around the wineries of the Etna, and consider this experience as an alternative way to explore Sicily. Whether on bike or in car, such tourists really have a chance to discover undermined and neglected parts of the island and even reach some interesting wines that they would otherwise not be able to know of. Feudi del Pisciotto is not located around a wine route; however, this does not indicate that the group cannot craft such experiences. With an analysis of the major touristic points and towns around the premises (e.g. Ragusa and Modica), Feudi del Piscitto can suggest its own route to the guests that want to get into more adventure-oriented activities. These routes can even be themed and diversified (e.g. nature route, gastro route), considering the varied typologies of guests that chose to stay in Feudi del Pisciotto.
Finally, it is clear that thanks to the vast land that it occupies and its unique atmosphere, Feudi del Pisciotto has the possibility to incorporate numerous activities into its portfolio: both to its guests, and outsiders that want to live a unique experience. As explained in previous sections, one rising trend and notion is the multi-dimensionality of the winery and vineyard, meaning that the medium can be used for many accompanying activities. For instance, some yoga classes or
vinotherapy sessions can be interesting ideas that can be offered to the relais guests. Alternatively, organizing some weddings or design events can be other ways to exploit the premises as a way to increase the recognition of Feudi del Pisciotto, generate another revenue stream, and overall modernize the group in alignment with the rising trends in the wine tourism sector.
Conclusion
As analyzed in detail, Feudi del Pisciotto occupies a unique position in the wine sector: it is before all a winery which produces wines from local Sicilian and international varietals, but also a relais that hosts tourists in its premises. This means that there are two major economic activities that one can identify in Feudi del Pisciotto: that of wine production and wine tourism.
In this project, we focused on the latter, on wine tourism and identified the concept, established the general landscape, and outlined the rising trends, which allowed us to make targeted suggestions for Feudi del Pisciotto to make use of the opportunities in the sector. I hope this analysis to be useful for all wineries, which have understood the importance of wine marketing, and realized that tradional marketing approaches do not apply directly to this age.
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