The Great Wine Capitals (GWC) is a network of the world’s leading wine-producing countries that share international best practice to advance standards in wine tourism across the world.

Annual winners were announced on 8 November in Florence, Italy, at a gala dinner attended by leading wine tourism practitioners from around the world.

GWC’s members, in addition to Cape Town- Cape Winelands, include Mainz-Rheinhessen (Germany), Bilbao-Rioja (Spain), Bordeaux (France), Florence (Italy), Mendoza (Argentina), Porto (Portugal), San Francisco-Napa (United States) and New Zealand’s Christchurch.

André Morgenthal, spokesperson for the awards, said for the first time, the Hemel & Aarde area had been represented in the local GWC competition, with Creation taking top position in the Innovative Wine Tourism category.

Other category winners were Grand Dédale of Wellington (Accommodation), Grande Provence of Franschhoek (Arts & Culture), Tokara of Stellenbosch (Restaurants) and Waterford of Stellenbosch (Wine Tourism Services).

Winners and first and second runners-up in each category were:

ACCOMMODATION

Grand Dédale

Grande Provence

Mont Rochelle

ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPES

Waterkloof

Tokara

Grande Provence

ARTS & CULTURE

Grande Provence

La Motte

Delaire

INNOVATIVE WINE TOURISM EXPERIENCES

Creation

Vergelegen

Warwick

SUSTAINABLE WINE TOURISM PRACTICES

La Motte

Waterkloof

Avondale

WINE TOURISM RESTAURANTS

Tokara Restaurant

Waterkloof

Rust en Vrede

WINE TOURISM SERVICES

Waterford

La Motte

Delaire