You may think wine is the natural starting point and main attraction for your cellar door - but you may be wrong. For visitors touring a region, wine may be secondary to food, events, gifts or other attractions and natural attributes.

The range of products and services you offer at cellar door will be dependent upon many things and needs to be articulated clearly in your business plan. A tourism-oriented winery may add services such as winery tours, food facilities, accommodation, events, passive and interactive interpretation centres, merchandise and even health facilities.

f your capital, or desire, just doesn't stretch that far, there are still plenty of options that focus on the core activity of any winery - tasting and selling wine. Consider the following when reviewing or creating your cellar door experiences:

• Range of wines - Styles, varieties, suitability for range of visitors, cellar door only products, short-run bottlings, museum releases
• Tasting options - Review the benefits of private, structured, masterclass, vertical tastings, barrel tastings, regional comparative tastings, matching wine with food
• Local Produce - Tastings and sales of local condiments, exclusive access to products, products from your own kitchen
• Tours - Winery and vineyard, guided or self-guided format, walking trails
• Interpretative Centre - Storyboards reflecting winemaking/viticulture/history, interactive technological displays, aroma stations
• Exhibitions/Galleries - Static or changeable, local artists, sales or viewing only, historical artifacts, sculpture
• Merchandise - Branded wine accessories and clothing, books, souvenirs, gifts, lifestyle related items
• Wine Clubs - Simple mailing list, benefits-oriented club, tiers of membership

The ability to sell ancillary products and services not only provides an additional income stream, it can also go a long way towards covering overheads, thus making the primary business of selling wine more profitable.

According to tourism research, those wineries able to offer an authentic visitor experience that reflects the lifestyle and even culture of the region are enjoying success.

The key word here is "experience". For visitors to cellar door, the type of experience you offer will ultimately reflect your brand personality and if delivered correctly, result in sales and loyal customers.

Recent research conducted overseas reveals that the very best winery tourism experiences have a number of things in common:

• Authenticity - The experience is authentic, not contrived
• Hospitality - The hospitality is absolutely first class
• Research - Extensive consumer and tourism research has been conducted
• Culture - Local culture and heritage has been incorporated in the experience
• Total Tourism Experience - The experience is multi-dimensional
• Point of Difference - A distinctive point of difference is articulated clearly and consistently.

Wherever possible, these elements should be considered when constructing your cellar door experiences.

In this Section:

• Examine the possible 'product mix'
• Develop an appropriate merchandising plan,
• Decide whether tours, interpretation and other activities are relevant for you
• Create a tasting program to suit your visitors
• Learn how to develop an effective wine club, and
• Consider your wine delivery options.

The good news is that a little thought can sometimes go further than a lot of dollars.