Travel Reference
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'I don't know of anything like that,' said the pretty young lady. 'We have the Wine Associ-
ation wine course and we offer wine weekends through this tourist office.' The wine course
was the one I had taken a few months before; their wine weekends were two nights' accom-
modation and a visit to a vineyard but no wine education. Both were different from what I
was planning.
'So could you promote my classes to English tourists when I have the brochures printed?'
'We can't market your offerings through our tourist office since you are not a member. We
only market accommodations and visits on behalf of members. Wine producers can't be
members because there are too many of you.'
'But this is something different to our wines. I'll be offering wine courses and wine tours
where I'll be the educator and translator, not the vigneron.'
'Wait a minute. You can't give tours unless you are a qualified tour guide. You can't be
paid to drive people around unless you are a qualified chauffeur.'
No wonder there was little entrepreneurial activity in France compared to other parts of
Europe. Thinking on my feet and swallowing my frustration I replied:
'I translate and I educate, I don't offer transport. They can walk, drive themselves or get a
taxi. It's their choice, transport and "guiding" is not part of my fee.'
'OK.' She continued to scrutinise the briefing document I had given her.
'You can't offer your prices inclusive of accommodation or lunch unless you are a travel
agent.'
It was becoming clear that it wasn't only wine that was smothered with red tape in France.
'OK, so let's assume I'm offering the wine classes, can you market them for me?'
'No, if we market that for you then we have to market all the other activities offered by
winemakers and there won't be enough room for everyone.'
'But you told me no one else is doing what I am doing.'
'I know. But others are doing things like cheese and wine tastings and tours of their winer-
ies. We can't promote one and not the other. Come and see me again when the class is run-
ning and I'll see what I can do. If it's a one-off event, we can take the brochures.'
There was going to be no free ride via the local tourist office. Undeterred, I continued the
development ofmy ideas forFrench Wine Adventures. By Christmas the website was com-
plete. I sent the link to Kerry asking him for comments. His reply came back within hours
with ten useful points. He was an invaluable advisor; his comments got to the heart and he
always had practical solutions. He placed a link to my website from his own wine tourism
website.
Sean's family arrived for Christmas. It was the first time that Neal, Sean's youngest broth-
er, and his wife Gillian had visited. They were entranced by the property and our wines.
WithinhourstheywereplanningthespotforbuildingtheirownhouseatGarrigue.Ioffered
to test my wine course on them. For weeks I had been working like a person possessed get-
ting the website and then the course content together. Everything got neglected, especially
