La Motte for the second year in succession Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Winner
Monday, 12 November, 2012
La Motte
We are delighted to announce that La Motte Wine Estate has, for the
second year in succession, been awarded South Africa’s Best of Wine
Tourism champion.
The 2013 winners of the annual competition was announced last night in Florence, Italy by the Great Wine Capitals (GWC), a network of the world’s leading wine-producing countries that shares international best practice to advance standards in wine tourism across the world.
La Motte CEO, Hein Koegelenberg says: “We feel blessed and thankful and very excited about being recognised for our passionate efforts to enhance our tourism offering. Wine Tourism is so important for the social and economic well-being of our community and we are very proud to have a part to play.”
La Motte as South Africa's national winner joins the illustrious company of some of the world's most famous wine producers, including:
France's Maison des Vins de Cadillac, a leading Bordeaux winery run from an 18th century manor house near the canton of Cadillac; Wasems Kloster Engelthal, a former Cistercian monastery in Rheinhessen, Germany, dating back eight centuries; Quinta do Vallado Wine Hotel, one of the oldest estates in the Douro Valley of Portugal, run by the same family for almost 400 years; Spain's Hotel-Bodega Finca de los Arandinos, close to Bilbao; Italy's Fattoria Lavacchio run as an organic operation in Tuscany; Entre Cielos Luxury Wine Hotel & Spa in the foothills of the Andes Cordillera of Argentina; The organically farmed Long Meadow Ranch, nestled in the Mayacama Mountains of the Napa Valley, US; and Renowned Yealands Estate in the Awatere Valley of Marlborough, New Zealand, a carbon-zero winery that has been one of the world leaders in sustainable farming.
La Motte's win was based on its overall performance, taking first place in the Sustainable Wine Tourism category, and second position in both the Arts and Culture and in the Wine Tourism Services categories. Last year the estate earned the top score in the Arts and Culture category.
André Morgenthal, spokesperson for the awards, said, “It is very encouraging to see that since the inception of the competition over a decade ago, there has been a steady advance in the quality and sophistication of wine tourism experiences entered for consideration.”
Note to the editor:
Winners and first and second runners-up in each category were:
ACCOMMODATION
1 Grand Dédale
2 Grande Provence
3 Mont Rochelle
ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPES
1 Waterkloof
2 Tokara
3 Grande Provence
ARTS & CULTURE
1 Grande Provence
2 La Motte
3 Delaire
INNOVATIVE WINE TOURISM EXPERIENCES
1 Creation
2 Vergelegen
3 Warwick
SUSTAINABLE WINE TOURISM PRACTICES
1 La Motte
2 Waterkloof
3 Avondale
WINE TOURISM RESTAURANTS
1 Tokara Restaurant
2 Waterkloof
3 Rust en Vrede
WINE TOURISM SERVICES
1 Waterford
2 La Motte
3 Delaire