We cannot speak of the “Secret Rasteau” without speaking of Coco de Youpitours, dixit Corine Aujogues … Armed with her experience of the local tourist network, her cultural openness, her sense of organization and her character jovial as hell, one could not ask for better as a personalized guide than Corine! She knows Rasteau inside out, and tailor-made, improvisation and back roads are always possible. Let yourself be carried away for once with a completely free spirit. Forget your watches, your cellphones, your internet connection. Here we go, “YOUPI“!

Corine is French, but her career is international! She grew up with her nose in the Beaujolais vines, at the foot of Mont Brouilly, in a colorful family, full of life, imbued with a passion for wine.

Coming from a modest family and the first girl in the household to want to study, it was with a BTS in trilingual assistantship in her pocket at 19 that her experience began. Four years later, seized with a desire for change, she flew to the USA. She stayed there for a year, full of twists and turns: she combined an au-pair job, volunteer jobs for the Smithsonian Institution and started running.

When she returned to France, her daily life seemed a little dull and she returned to live in the USA for almost 4 years. There and in France, she experiences jobs, each one more incredible than the next (temporary translator for the Minister Plenipotentiary, Assistant to the Consul General of France, personal assistant to a start-up president in Marseille and then to a major boss at Rhodia Lyon…). However, it does not find its place in any of these positions and begins a skills assessment which confirms its lifelong impulses. So at 37, she enrolled in college, earning her Masters in English Literary Translation a year later.

Back in France, she armed herself with a great wine tourism experience in the southern Rhône Valley (at the Cave de Rasteau from 2009 to 2019, then three months at Chêne Bleu). Today, she wishes to bring her personal vision of the profession of tourist guide and wine tourism, between uncompromising requirement, professionalism and extreme friendliness.

What link to Rasteau ?

Almost 10 years at the Cave de Rasteau, and it is clear that it has forged many links with most of the cooperative members, and revealed a real enthusiasm for the terroir, the wines and the people. She retains from her experience in Rasteau the passion of the men and women of the cellar, a great energy, the desire to do something good together.

Coming from a family mainly of winegrowers in Beaujolais, with a grandfather and uncles still in the vineyards (one contributor to a cooperative cellar, the others as independent winegrowers) the wine-growing atmosphere in a village in Cru , she knows ! The love of wine-growing landscapes too. A taste for modest food and wine pairings, for the pleasure of sharing … And the open bottle, not for showing off, just to be together, to give, to please.

I have a very special and quite “intimate” bond with Rasteau, it must be said!

What else ?

Corine replies: “Nature in her skin, the vines throughout the seasons under the window, the worry for the whims of the sky, the songs to drink and the uncompromising helping hands. The slopes of Rasteau it was almost 10 years of walks with customers, bowls of air at noon, running outings to brainwash so many hours on the PC. This land is incredible! “.

Even today, the terroir of Rasteau has incredible surprises in store for me

Why “Youpi Tours”?

After more than thirty years of professional life, Corine listened to her little inner voice, and strong of all her experiences was able to follow what made her vibrate and what she was gifted for: organization, sense of contact, love people, and the desire to share! And see a project that is as clear and simple as a soap bubble come to the surface:

a form of tourism that is human by nature, and the creation of a tailor-made job: (oeno)tourist ambassador!

Then, thanks to a very dear friend, Olga … Coco was introduced to letting go with a vacation in Corsica in “van girly, comfort and cute like everything” mode, but with logistics all the same rudimentary and close to nature. “I experienced technological micro-cuts and it literally washed my head. Then she agreed to lend me her Dyane for as long as I needed to see if the business could take off. , that was happiness! “.

At the wheel of this car, no more stress, no more shows, no more socio-professional category, no more haste … And that’s what she gives to her customers too! A bubble of oxygen without time and without age. “It is at the same time banal, simple and magic”.

Future projects with Youpi Tours?

Corine always sees further: “When I work with partnerships, whether in the present or in the near future, I always have two or three other projects taking shape in my head. And then I have the chance after only two years of existence to be seen and recognized in the region. People have known me since 2009 and are beginning to understand where I am going. This role of link between the tourist or the one-day visitor and the heritage, the gourmet artisans , local winegrowers, artists and artisans “.

His own definition of wine tourism?

Wine tourism for Corine means opening your arms wide to anyone curious to taste wine, meet a winegrower, discover a terroir, learn to identify grape varieties / blends / appellations that she likes … friendly and uninhibited.

It is above all to give pride of place to people and to exchange, far from any snobbery and any technicality. Have fun, together!

A memory, an anecdote with Youpi Tours?

Corine tells us with a smile on her face: “Last year, for the evening of August 15, I had a stand at the party in my village of Mirabel-aux-Baronnies. I felt sad, certainly because of the terrible fire which had started to ravage the forest of Entrechaux / Faucon. And while I was immersed in my thoughts, a mother and her two little daughters came. I explained my activity and neither one nor two, they wanted to book for three days later: Aurélie, Maëlle and Éva Their first vacation every 3. The little ones seemed to be stamped with impatience and the mother too. We wrote to each other several times until D-Day. Aurélie to me explained to what extent the little ones could no longer hold in place. When the day came, they were waiting for me ready in front of their guest house in Villedieu. One of the two girls had even “tattooed” YOUPI TOURS on her arm. ballpoint pen So cute!

I thought we would finish early but I took some plaids just in case. We took a long tour, opened the roof wide, tucked the girls under the covers in the back, and stood staring at the stars for a long time. I don’t mean nonsense but I think I remember that I drove them home shortly before midnight! Another one of those sweet, tender, and banally incredible evenings! I keep them in my memory and I know they will come back one day “.

After several years of already working together for the collective, it was obvious to continue working together for Rasteau, and because we love our beautiful region, its secrets, the people who sometimes come from far away to discover them …

We would like to thank Corine dixit Coco for giving us this great opportunity to show us Rasteau in a different way and for all these moments already exchanged around this great project that are the “Rasteau Secret” evenings. For his beautiful Youpi Tours project which amply deserves its success, for his courage, his hard work and his desire to share! Thanks to you Corine!

To find out more about Youpi Tours, visit its website : www.youpitours.fr. Facebook profile @YOUPI TOURS and Instagram account @coco_youpitours.