Winning the awards and joining the company of some of the most iconic wine establishments throughout the world has proved a major boost for many of the past winners. There is also the additional benefit to the overall South African winner each year, which is entitled to nominate a member of staff to visit a wine-producing country within the network," he said.
In addition to Steenberg Vineyards, the 2010 winner, other former South African winners of the awards have included Vergelegen (three times), Nederburg, Waterford and Rust & Vrede.
According to Morgenthal, a group of respected specialists in their fields would be judging across the awards' seven categories of accommodation, architecture and landscapes, art and culture, innovative wine tourism experiences, sustainable wine tourism practices, winery restaurants and wine tourism services.
"Once the category shortlists have been confirmed, the organisers will arrange for wine and travel bloggers to visit the wineries concerned. They arrive unannounced so they don't receive any special treatment but it has proved to be very beneficial in raising publicity for participants amongst a very influential group of opinion-formers."
The category finalists will be announced in Spring and the overall winner will be identified at a gala event in Mainz in November, at which representatives from the international wine tourism industry will be present.
In addition to Cape Town/Cape Winelands, the other members of the global network are Bilbao-Rioja (Spain), Bordeaux (France), Florence (Italy), Mainz (Germany), Mendoza (Argentina), Porto (Portugal), San Francisco-Napa (United States) and Christchurch (New Zealand).
Entry forms can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/9NY1Ad and must be submitted to the Best Of Wine Tourism secretariat, Belinda Lamprecht at moc.acirfai@tlaiceps. For more details, go to www.greatwinecapitals.com
