Wine tourism, future is unanimous narration of territories to make them grow together

Among the most significant phenomena of the last half-century, wine tourism has become inseparable not only from food and wine tourism, since wine is the most faithful companion to the table and the finest products of the land, but also from every other form of tourism. So much so that, paradoxically, its strength lies precisely in being a tourism not only about wine (with forecasts from Futur Market Insights predicting a +13.2% growth in the wine tourism business over the next 10 years, surpassing that of wine itself). If wine is indeed the “medium” for showcasing the beauty of our regions to the world thanks to its ties with landscapes, history, culture, and local communities, it follows that experiences such as a nature walk or a museum visit allow for a deeper understanding and appreciation of what is in the glass. Today, however, wine tourism has an added value: it is a strategic asset for both national and local economies and for business, accounting for up to half of some companies turnover. The future of wine tourism was discussed at “Benvenuto Brunello” No. 34 in Montalcino (November 20th - 24th) during the talk “Dalla vigna al mondo: enoturismo ed esperienze per il vino del futuro” - “From vineyard to the world: wine tourism and experiences for the wine of the future”, carried out by Luciano Ferraro, vicedirector of “Corriere della Sera”, who, mentioning data from “Rapporto sul Turismo Enogastronomico Italiano” - the “Italian Food and Wine Tourism Report” 2025 by Roberta Garibaldi, Ferraro highlighted its potential: 15 million people in Europe alone engage in wine tourism, generating 15 million euros in revenue, and more than one in two tourists associate Italy with food and wine. Tuscany, Sicily, Sardinia, and Puglia are the most desired destinations, while Chianti, Etna, Montepulciano, Montalcino, and Cinque Terre are the favorite spots, but “where wineries must be ready to welcome visitors, offering authentic experiences and communication which conveys the cultural value of wine”.
The choice of Montalcino as a backdrop for discussing the sector future is no coincidence because wine tourism arose here (with Movimento Turismo del Vino - the Wine Tourism Movement founded by Donatella Cinelli Colombini) when, over 30 years ago, wineries opened their doors to wine enthusiasts. From here, it spread and grew across other Italian wine regions. Today, according to president of the Brunello Consortium Giacomo Bartolommei, it is “a multiplier of wealth”, which positively impacts the entire local economy as well as wine businesses, which are “grappling with a challenging agenda between U.S. tariffs and declining consumption”. Bartolommei stressed the need to “launch a promotional program for the denomination, with collective participation in the main and historic export market - the United States, which is also the leading source of foreign tourists -  as well as in other markets, aiming to diversify business opportunities for our wines”. The latest vintages previewed (Brunello 2021 and Riserva 2020), according to WineNews best tastings, paint an encouraging picture.
Italian wine territories where wine tourism has flourished include the Langhe of Barolo, where Ceretto is the only Italian winery featured in “The World’s 50 Best Vineyards”, the ranking of the world most beautiful wineries (revealed recently in Margaret River, Australia, where there was also WineNews). This recognition is thanks to a family that has shaped the region history by combining wine with haute cuisine, such as the three-Michelin-starred Piazza Duomo in Alba by chef Enrico Crippa (among the 15 three-star restaurants confirmed by the “Michelin Guide Italy” 2026), and hospitality, starting with the Bricco Rocca and Tenuta Monsordo Bernardina estates, featuring the iconic Acino. Ceretto has also been a pioneer in investing in contemporary art, symbolized by the “Barolo Chapel” by Sol LeWitt and David Tremlett, in a region that was the first Italian wine area recognized as a Unesco World Heritage Site and that led to Alba being named “Italian Capital of Contemporary Art” for 2027. “We have been wine producers since 1937 and over the years have embarked on a journey to make our agriculture more environmentally sustainable - said Roberta Ceretto, president of Ceretto Aziende Vitivinicole - we are patrons of the arts, nougat producers, restaurateurs alongside chef Enrico Crippa, storytellers, and wine sellers. Today, I am amazed to be here, considering that in the Langhe we had nothing compared to Tuscany, not even a well-defined geographical position, and we only started when we opened our cellars in 2009, which for Piedmontese was extraordinary. Today, the “Barolo Chapel” is among the most visited sites in Piedmont, with 150,000 visitors annually to the surrounding vineyard, figures which even some museums can’t reach. This little chapel, in our eclecticism, made us realize we needed to return to the land to build something of which we are an integral part and which Langhe producers have shaped to the point of earning Unesco recognition. Tourism was driven by this collective narrative of the region, and today we receive 30,000 requests and accept 10,000 to offer experiences worthy of what visitors pay. The potential is enormous, and we have other culinary and artistic projects in the pipeline”.
Another Italian wine region vying for Unesco status lies between medieval Siena and Renaissance Florence, considered by many the most beautiful in the world, having served as the backdrop for Italy greatest painters: Chianti Classico, with its “Sistema delle Ville-Fattoria” - “System of Villa-Farm Estates,” many of which are now elegant resorts with Michelin-starred restaurants. Examples include Borgo San Felice Resort Relais & Châteaux and the “Due Chiavi Michelin” of the Allianz Group, featuring the one-star and Green Star restaurant Poggio Rosso (part of Enrico Bartolini universe, Italy’s most Michelin-starred chef). “Thinking that after World War II this small village was abandoned - said Danilo Guerrini, general manager of Borgo San Felice Resort - until the crucial turning point in the 1970s when the Italian government asked major insurance groups to invest in agriculture to preserve it. The Ras Group acquired San Felice, maintaining its main activity, viticulture, while envisioning hospitality for the other half of the village, which in the 1990s became one of Tuscany’s first examples of a “spread hotel” as it returned to being inhabited. In the 2000s, when we earned five stars, we realized the growing value of luxury hospitality in the Sienese countryside, where a network of high-profile establishments and prestigious dining was emerging, destined to attract global high-end tourism thanks to community efforts and investments. We will close 2025 with 22,000 guests and an average stay price of 780 euros. Today, comparing ourselves with other international destinations is essential to understand the opportunities ahead”. Chianti Classico remains an “evergreen” as we predicted long ago, and rightly so, given that its appeal goes hand in hand with the quality of its wines, which dominate Italy presence in Wine Spectator’s “Top 100” 2025, thanks also to the Gran Selezione, undoubtedly among the most significant “pyramidal revolutions” in Italian denominations in recent years.
Another increasingly more popular passion in Italy and worldwide is for wines from old vines, expressing the deepest connection to the land. To trace their rediscovery in Italy, one must visit the heart of Irpinia, where Feudi di San Gregorio preserves the so-called “vine patriarchs” and boasts a signature winery designed by Japanese architect Hikaru Mori. But that’s not all, because thanks to the Tenute Capaldo Group, of which it is part, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii will once again produce wine as in ancient Roman times. “First and foremost for cultural and educational reasons, tied to the extraordinary importance and fascination of caring for one hectare of vineyards within the domus, which will become educational vineyard-gardens where Pompeii nine million annual visitors can learn how wine was made in antiquity - underlined Antonio Capaldo, president of Feudi di San Gregorio -  but since the enlightened director of the Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, aims to recreate “Greater Pompeii”, where virtually only vines were cultivated and whose wine was exported worldwide, the 19-year project also includes planting five hectares outside the Park, with a winery partly inside and partly outside, offering two million additional visitors the chance to experience food and wine tourism while reducing overtourism in Pompeii. For us, it is a unique opportunity to bring our winery to one of the most visited places in the world, where we plan to produce around 30,000 bottles, white and red wines from native varieties such as Piedirosso, Aglianico, Falanghina, and Fiano, organically, with the first bottles arriving in 3-4 years. The public-private partnership will sell them through a co-managed portal with the Park. Overall, this is a 2 million euros investment with an invaluable return in support of Italy cultural heritage”.
Another growing passion, even among younger consumers, is for long-aged white wines, which draw wine tourists to the vineyards of Collio (featured in our upcoming online video), where Silvio Jermann was a key figure in Friuli wine renaissance with the iconic Vintage Tunina (and today the winery belongs to Marchesi Antinori, which also produces Brunello in Montalcino with Pian delle Vigne). “Creativity, emotions, and staying young at heart are the highlights for communicating with new generations through digital channels and bringing them to wineries  - explained Alojz Felix Jermann, digital marketing consultant and sixth-generation family member -  we young people are not loyal to brands, but we remember the emotions a product makes us feel, and for wine, that includes its authentic story, based on human relationships and transparency, because new generations value truthful information. That is why the web and social media must be used to our advantage, to inform and spark curiosity so people come and experience our wineries firsthand”.
The new “Brunello Montalcino Welcome” project by the Brunello Consortium also targets young people, promoting “regenerative and sustainable tourism through seasonality adjustments, leveraging other local products such as extra virgin olive oil and white truffles from the Crete Senesi, decentralizing experiences among large and small wineries, qualifying supply and demand, and focusing on mid-range accommodations between luxury and family hospitality-all while safeguarding local identity, as illustrated by Violante Gardini Cinelli Colombini, the Consortium wine tourism delegate and president of the Wine Tourism Movement.
And, while WineNews is collecting producers voices (in a video coming soon) to tell the story of Brunello and Montalcino future through tourism, for now, the figures of wine sector data from the Consortium (based on Tuscany Regional Statistics Office/Istat and Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory), every time a bottle of Brunello is opened, it generates a positive impact of 117 euros on the territory-four times the bottle’s value-for a direct and indirect benefit of over 150 million euros; 3,150 tourist beds for just 5,100 residents (six times Rome’s ratio), which can be seen as a challenge or an opportunity; 12 hotels - ranging from three to five stars-pioneeringly developed alongside wine tourism growth-by brands such as Castello Banfi, Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco, and Casanova di Neri, among the world most beautiful wineries, alongside Renaissance Argiano, home to Brunello di Montalcino that topped Wine Spectator’s “Top 100” in 2023 with its 2018 vintage. These are true case studies for the region - plus 180 extra-hotel accommodations, starting with farmhouses, and dozens of restaurants - including two Michelin-starred: Campo del Drago at Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco and Sala dei Grappoli Poggio alle Mura at Castello Banfi-Il Borgo, one star, plus wine bars and shops. In 2024, Montalcino nearly hit a record with 233,000 visitors (+6.3% over 2023 and +30% compared to pre-Covid 2019), while provisional estimates for the first eight months of 2025 indicate another +0.6%, with 130,000 visitors between May and August and strong demand growth from France, Eastern Europe, China, and the UK. The typical wine tourist stays an average of 2.4 days in non-hotel accommodations (74%), is foreign (71%), and in two out of three cases, non-European. Over the past five years, growth has been driven by the U.S. (+47%, reaching 50,000 visitors in 2024), by far the leading foreign market, as well as by Eastern EU countries (+87%), the Far East, and Oceania, with Australia, South Korea, and China posting increases of 61% to 115% since 2019. Spain (+108%), Poland (+89%), and France (+43%) also exceeded the average growth (+27.4%). The ranking by continent shows Italians leading (29% of overnight stays), followed by Americans (21%), Germans (9%), Brazilians (5.3%), Britons, and Canadians.
Finally, figures again highlight the potential of tourism that is not only about wine as a key to the sector future: a Censis/WineNews study conducted for the Brunello Consortium for “Benvenuto Brunello” in 2000 estimated one million annual visitors to Montalcino, drawn by the motto “chi dice Brunello, dice Montalcino”, - “who says Brunello says Montalcino,” but also by its nature, culture, and art. According to Censis, this could generate an economic impact of 100 billion lire per year at the time.