French wine tourism firm secures €1m in funding
Winalist, a Champagne-based oenotourism business, has secured €1 million in funding to fuel its international expansion plans.
The wine and spirits tourism firm has announced the completion of a €1m funding round to open a second outpost in Porto. The additional funding will also go towards increasing operational support for its local partners and driving the international visibility of Portuguese wine tourism.
Nicolas Manfredini, Winalist‘s CEO, said the firm had pinpointed Portugal as “one of Europe’s most promising wine destinations”. He said of the new backing: “This funding round not only accelerates our growth, it reinforces our commitment to building sustainable and authentic wine tourism in collaboration with local producers.”
Winalist launched in Aÿ, Champagne in 2019 offering winery and distillery visits, wine-pairing dinners, vineyard day tours and tastings. The company works with 1,700 partners across 10 countries in Europe.
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The company is already well-established in Portugal, working with more than 200 wineries including Soalheiro, Quinta do Vallado, Graham’s Port Lodge, Taylor’s, Fonseca Port Wine Cellar, Adega de Borba, Casa Relvas, and Quinta do Noval, as well as the WOW Cultural District.
Established shareholders including Vessoa Private Equity supported the funding round alongside new strategic investors Plug and Play Ventures and Portugal Ventures.
Portugal was named the best country for wine tourism in 2023 by travel company Bounce. The company produced a Wine Lover’s Index, which ranked the best countries for oenotourism based on five factors — wine consumption in the country, wine production in the country, vineyard area (as a percent of the country), number of tours and tastings, and average cost of a bottle.
Portugal topped the list in 2023 as the world’s best location for wine tourism with a score of 8.83/10. In second place was Moldova, followed by Italy and Spain. France ranked sixth after Georgia, which has a long history of orange wine production.
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