La Bulle Verte retrospective

The creation of La Bulle Verte - Tranquil Exploration

Born in 2020, La Bulle Verte embodies the alliance of passion and expertise between Cyrielle, Frédéric and Olivier, all 3 coming from different sectors. This initiative has given rise to eco-tourist resorts, revolutionising low-carbon mobility. From the beginnings at Château des Tourtes to a community of 32 estates in 5 French regions today, immerse yourself in this captivating retrospective that highlights our successes, our partnerships and our future ambitions.

Cyrielle, who has a degree in finance, spent nearly 10 years living abroad in Canada, Sweden and Asia, before returning to her native France. A foodie with a passion for gastronomy and immersed in the world of (good) wine from an early age, she is always on the lookout for the latest trends and new experiences combining authenticity and originality. A WSET Level 3 graduate, she loves discovering new wines from near and far. She is now in charge of the incoming agency MP Voyages Privés, founded by her father Frédéric.

Frédéric, an oenologist by training, has spent a large part of his career in industry and real estate. In 2017, he wanted to return to his roots, so he founded MP Voyages Privés with a friend, with the aim of sharing and passing on their passion for Bordeaux, its terroir and its wines. At the same time, he met Olivier and joined forces with him on GreenSpot.

Olivier has a career in visual presentation and design. He set up his first merchandising company for high-end and luxury windows and boutiques, where he spent almost 40 years. At the same time, in 2016, he and a group of friends founded GreenSpot, a company that integrates recharging solutions for electric vehicles in local areas.

The combination of their know-how and experience gave rise to a desire to promote the regions, their heritage, local characteristics and local players, while developing the low-carbon mobility network. They then launched La Bulle Verte - Exploration Tranquille, with the mission of making our regions and landscapes accessible to low-carbon mobility. La Bulle Verte is a genuine user innovation, offering services and activities that bring inclusivity, responsibility and meaning to visitors.

The first Bulle Verte

La Bulle Verte is launching its first modular, tailor-made eco-stations for tourists, designed around the theme of "soft mobility":

- Promote the host site and local produce through tailor-made experiential itineraries,

- Generate new economic resources by extending the time visitors spend on site,

- Make our regions accessible to electric vehicles.

The first Bulle Verte will be created in July 2020 at Château des Tourtes in Blaye by Vignobles Raguenot. Founded in 1967 by pioneers and visionaries Lise and Philippe Raguenot, Vignobles Raguenot has prospered over the years. This fine family history continues with the two daughters who have taken over the reins of the vineyard, now representing over 100 hectares of Bordeaux vineyards. Together with their husbands, they continue to produce the Château des Tourtes vineyard in the Blaye-Côtes de Bordeaux appellation. Later, the family also acquired the vineyards of Château Haut Beyzac in the Haut-Médoc appellation. Vignobles Raguenot is actively committed to an eco-responsible approach, placing biodiversity, phytosanitary strategy, fertilisation management and water resource management at the heart of its concerns. The vineyard has now achieved level 3 of High Environmental Value, illustrating their commitment to sustainability.

Located right in the heart of the Blaye vineyards, Château des Tourtes is launching its Bulle Verte electric bike tour over a 9km route. 10 points of interest are identified along the route with audio content to discover the treasures of their vineyards. The Raguenot vineyards are full of secrets and offer 4 programmes for exploring the estate: electric bike, tasting, guided tour, picnic, blending workshop... Their aim is to let visitors choose the one that suits them best, and let themselves travel through this moment of escape.

The start of a young community

In 2021, La Bulle Verte joined several start-up accelerators: Le Village by CA, OTL Occitanie, Tourisme Lab Nouvelle Aquitaine and Alpes Tourisme Lab. Joining these start-up ecosystems has enabled La Bulle Verte to grow, meet responsible tourism players, develop partnerships and share skills and experience between entrepreneurs. La Bulle Verte was also awarded 1st prize in the national Challenge Tourism'Innov by Atout France and 1st prize in the Startup contest at the national Etourisme meetings in Pau.

For the 2021 peak tourist season, five other wineries in the region have joined the Bulle Verte community: Château Guiraud, Château Réaut, Château Doisy Daëne and Château Prieuré Marquet. All located in the Bordeaux vineyards, they have joined the Bulle Verte community to showcase their expertise and production. In collaboration with each of them, we have co-created an electric bike route around their estate to offer their customers a unique and rejuvenating experience.

Discover the map of France with all our Bulles Vertes.

A desire to go further: into new regions

By the summer of 2022, 14 estates across France will have a Bulle Verte between the vineyards of Bordeaux, Cognac and the Rhône Valley. Whether you're a heritage enthusiast, a food lover, looking for a wine experience or simply need a breath of fresh air, there's a Bulle Verte for every customer. La Bulle Verte is a modular and personalised space: pretty electric bikes and cargo bikes for families or adapted bikes for people with reduced mobility, with or without an electric Mehari, everyone chooses the configuration that suits them. Anything is possible, as long as we're talking low-carbon mobility!

By the summer of 2023, 32 estates in 5 regions of France had their own Bulle Verte! We have opened new routes in Champagne and Limousin. As we expand across the country, we want to create and offer complete low-carbon itineraries alongside the producers. That's why we've launched the "Exploration Tranquille" experience packs with the incoming agency MP Voyages Privés, ideal for treating yourself to a holiday in the French vineyards. Meet local producers, discover resplendent estates and immerse yourself in lush greenery through these gentle, rejuvenating experiences. Book your getaway to one of these estates and enjoy a unique experience on an itinerary that will help you discover the riches of our regions.

To discover the experiences click here

Each of our Bulles Vertes is unique! Discover the vineyards, the surrounding landscapes, the historical heritage surrounding these places, or the exceptional natural heritage on the banks of the Dordogne or Garonne rivers, via Provence and the Petite Camargue... Let yourself be guided by the itineraries devised by the châteaux and discover places full of history and beauty, off the beaten track.

Key events

In September 2023, during the state visit of King Charles II and Queen Consort Camilla to Bordeaux, we were invited to attend a very special event. La Bulle Verte was able to set up a stand during the private event at Place de la Bourse. It was an opportunity for us to promote local and sustainable tourism, as well as low-carbon travel! It's a great honour for our Bulle Verte team and all our valued partners to be able to share our values and our mission in favour of the ecological transition with His Majesty. The event on 22 September in Bordeaux will go down in the history of La Bulle Verte.

On 9 October 2023, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the prestigious Best Of Wine Tourism competition - 2024 edition, La Bulle Verte is delighted to have been awarded a prize in the category "Wine tourism promotion of environmental practices". This is another fantastic accolade for our entire team.

That same week, Epernay en Champagne Tourist Office and I were very proud to announce that the 1st low-carbon route in Champagne and the Grand Est region had just won an award at the Trophées Champenois in the "Eco-responsible approach" category! Thanks to this Route de l'Exploration Tranquille, de Bulle en Bulle, we're giving local residents and French and international visitors the chance to enjoy immersive experiences in the region, bringing the Champagne Tourist Route to life!

Plans for the future

La Bulle Verte is also keen to pursue its mission of accelerating the transition to sustainable and inclusive tourism, as well as its objective of creating a network of slow tourism areas across the region via eco-stations that act as relays for mobility. That's why we're working on a larger-scale project to solve the problem of tourism's last mile. We want to offer soft mobility relays in rural and peri-urban areas to encourage low-carbon exploration of the regions.

At the same time, new Green Bubbles and low-carbon wine routes continue to be set up in France.