In the refrigerator of the lodging, Françoise and Philippe Thivolle slipped a bottle of apricot nectar. A sweet, easy-drinking fruit, and a nice but surprising gift from a couple who, in Mercurol-Veaunes, a small town in Drôme located some 5 kilometers from Tain-l’Hermitage, owns 10 hectares of vines.
A 30-year-old plot of Syrah borders, with the woods, the couple’s pretty gîtes, four in number and of varying capacities (2, 4, 6 or 10 people). But, like many of his colleagues, the winegrower leads the two crops, grapes and apricots, the two agricultural udders in the area, bringing the fruit of his vines to the Tain cooperative.
It is the latter which, in addition to the vinification of the harvest of 260 members, for 1,050 hectares spread over a radius of 15 kilometers around the village, offers accommodation with the winegrower. “We act a bit like a tourism agency, we can book, for our visitors [environ 130 000 chaque année], accommodation and restaurants, it is a complementary request to the visit of the cellar ”, explains Xavier Gomart, its managing director.
Installed at the top of the hill, offering a nice view of the Rhône and the Mercurol tower, Philippe Thivolle does not have too much trouble filling his lodgings (from 50 to 120 euros per night) and welcomes the investment: 500,000 euros that he has not finished repaying. “Tourists are there six months of the year, but also families who take advantage of the number of beds possible to get together. They always ask me if I sell wine and I explain to them that I am a cooperative, how the cooperative works ”, says the 52-year-old winegrower, who sees in his hotel business, which started in 2015, “Additional income”. Philippe Thivolle adds: “It’s nice, customers come from far away, take us on a journey, and it is no coincidence that they choose to sleep with a winemaker. “
The cooperative spirit
This wine tourism choice, accessible and popular – we are far from the palaces costing several hundred euros a night offered by houses in Bordeaux or Provence – corresponds well to the cooperative spirit. According to Marie-Josée Faure, responsible for this sector for the Cave de Tain, under the “Terres de Syrah” label, the tourist activities of the winegrowers are developing at the same rate as the quality of the wines. “I was a wine merchant before arriving at the cooperative, in 2016, and already I wanted to pass on to people the knowledge and pleasure of the vineyard”, explains this 52-year-old Tainoise.
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