Wine tourism and its relationship with the landscape in Serra Gaucha, Brazil

Viticulture landscapes combine nature and culture attracting tourists in search of new experiences. The present article aims to analyse the perception of the viticulture landscape of Serra Gaucha and how it influences the wine tourist experience. Furthermore, using the visitors' observations, we attempt to identify the tangible and intangible elements that represent the Serra Gaucha landscape, relevant attractions to the wine tourism experiences and tthe awareness of the need for landscape preservation. For data generation we used an online survey built around 22 questions sent to the 210 tourists who visited a family winery located in the Historical Winery route in Bento Goncalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, with a final total of 52 participants. The city is part of a region known as Serra Gaucha, the main Brazilian wine tourism destination. The results showed the importance of tangible and intangible elements in the perception of the landscape by visitors, especially for the vineyards, the architecture of the wooden and stone houses, the local gastronomy and the wine tasting itself. Such elements immerse and involve the tourists,and contribute directly to the tourist experience. The main ways to register the moments were photos and videos, and wine purchases. Visitors recognised the need to preserve the landscape, a condition for the sustainability of this activity.