Applications for the Best Of Wine Tourism 2025 awards are open until 17 July

Another edition of the Best Of Wine Tourism Awards competition is taking place until 17 July, an initiative developed since 2003 by the Great Wine Capitals Global Network, in which the Municipality represents Porto and the Douro and Vinho Verde wine regions.

Entities promoting wine tourism activities in the Porto, Douro and Vinho Verde regions can compete for these awards in seven different categories: Accommodation, Architecture and Landscape, Art and Culture, Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences, Sustainable Wine Tourism, Culinary Experiences and Wine Tourism Services.

Wine tourism services that stand out for the excellence of their facilities, the quality of their welcome, the originality and innovation of their offer in each category will be awarded.

In the second phase, the winner of each category enters the international competition as a candidate for a global award, decided by a jury made up of representatives from the member cities/regions of this network: Adelaide-South Australia (Australia), Bilbao-Rioja (Spain), Bordeaux (France), Cape Town-Cape Winelands (South Africa), Hawke's Bay (New Zealand), Lausanne (Switzerland), Mainz-Rheinhessen (Germany), Mendoza (Argentina), Porto (Portugal), San Francisco-Napa Valley (USA), Valparaíso-Casablanca Valley (Chile) and Verona (Italy).

The international winner will be announced at the closing dinner of the Great Wine Capitals Annual General Meeting, which this year takes place from 20 to 24 October in Verona (Italy).

There will also be a People's Choice Award, so that the public can vote for their favourite via an online platform.

The official award ceremony will take place in Porto in February 2025.

Celebrating excellence

This competition is an opportunity for entities to promote and disseminate their brand in the tourism and wine sectors, thanks to the media attention given to the competition and its winners. The winners of the competition also have the chance to join this global wine tourism network and share experiences and best practices.

'Wine tourism is a privileged segment in our strategy for the development and sustainability of the destination, due to its relevance for the promotion of our wines and landscapes, but also for the economic and cultural development of the entire region', says the Councillor for Tourism and Internationalisation, Catarina Santos Cunha.

'I therefore consider these awards to be a unique opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the excellence and innovation of our wine tourism offer, and to position Porto and the region as a wine tourism destination of reference worldwide', she concludes.

The application form and the rules of the competition can be found here.