Medical students at Lyon 1 University have all the luck! One of their tutors, Patrick Martin, gives his lessons at Lacenas, right in the middle of the Beaujolais area. He invites them to his own place of work, the Gîte-o-Vinum which has been created within the walls of a 15^th C farm built out of the local honey-coloured stone and which opened for business in mid-2003.

Gîte-o-Vinum was able to position itself within the business meetings market once it had built a 70 m² room with capacity for 50 people theatre-style or 25 boardroom-style. The conference room is well equipped to handle top-flight meetings (ADSL internet access, video-projector, sound system etc). Gîte-o-Vinum also has 12 rooms available, offering accommodation for 28 people, which is ideal for seminars lasting several days.

We organise about 30 events a year, with a client-base which comes largely from the Rhône-Alpes or surrounding areas, notes Patrick Martin. Our clients include the Hospices Civils de Lyon, Renault Trucks, CAT, Bayer Cropscience, Carrefour andt Intermarchè. We also organise cocktail dinners, cocktail parties, professional events, symposia and themed evenings…

Obviously wine is very much in evidence. Gîte-o-Vinum’s unique selling point is its link with the study of wine, continues Patrick Martin. I am a wine expert as is Valentina Dimova, my assistant. We can offer wine tastings on site, with the chance to discover the 12 Beaujolais appellations as well as other French wines, plus cellar visits and tastings elsewhere or a conference about the health benefits of wine which is especially popular .

Gîte-o-Vinum proposes wine-based or themed meals in its beautiful vaulted cellar in order to highlight the best choice of wines to compliment the menu. We also work with other partners such as Esprit Libre and Promenade en France, as we like to offer companies a range of different packages, explains Patrick Martin. These offer a selection of activities including quad biking, mountain biking, paintballing or a special package known as The Beaujolais Olympics with a trail through the vineyards .

Prices at the Gîte-o-Vinum start at 120 € (ex VAT) per person for a residential seminar, inclusive of one night’s accommodation, two meals, room hire, refreshment break and an evening’s wine tasting. A simple day-long meeting, inclusive of room hire, refreshment break and lunch, costs 50 € (ex VAT) per participant.

The wine theme seems to please companies, so Patrick Martin is in the process of putting together another venture selling seminars in the wine areas of Beaune and the Côtes Rôties as well as in Lyon where meetings will take place on board a barge. My aim is to emphasise the links between wine and health so that I can attract companies to places that seem rather more prestigious than the Beaujolais, concludes Patrick Martin.