Appellation Central Wine Tours wins international wine tourism award
 and director Wendy Johnston (R) med res.JPG)
An award-winning Queenstown-based wine tour company has picked up an international wine tourism award in the face of stiff competition from established global wine regions.
Premier wine tour company Appellation Central Wine Tours has received an International Best of Wine Tourism Award in the Wine Tourism Services category.
Their win followed a jury meeting of the Great Wine Capitals (GWC) Global Network in Mainz, Germany last week.
GWC judges said Appellation Central Wine Tours won the award thanks to the excellent exposure and support it gave to wineries and other businesses in Central Otago, as well as the exceptional and memorable wine tourism experience offered to clients.
The award recognises excellence on a global level among the various wine tourism activities including the wineries, restaurants, museums and wine tours of a specific region.
Director Wendy Johnston said she and managing director and co-owner Philip Green were “absolutely thrilled” with the win.
“The GWC international awards serve as an industry benchmark for excellence in the field of wine tourism, and other award winners come from all around the world, including Rioja in Spain, Bordeaux in France, Cape Town in South Africa, Germany, Italy, the USA and Portugal,” she said.
“To be rated among the best of the best worldwide is the ultimate endorsement and says that we offer an unbeatable wine tourism experience.
“The four elements to a great wine tourism experience include world-class wine, awe-inspiring scenery, history and the people, and of course the guides who interpret and deliver the experience.
“Working with all these elements has enabled us to build a great wine tourism business which in turn helps promote the region and the wines. We couldn’t do it without our amazingly passionate and dedicated guides, and the huge support we get from vineyards, suppliers and activity booking agents locally and internationally.”
Appellation Central Wine Tours qualified for the international award by winning New Zealand’s Best of Wine Tourism Services award for the second year in a row.
New Zealand judges including a regional judge and chief judge Dr Joanna Fountain of Lincoln University, said the standard of entries in each category was “extremely high” this year.
New Zealand awards trophies will be presented during the New World Wine and Food Festival in Christchurch on Saturday December 3.
About Appellation Central Wine Tours
Appellation Central Wine Tours is one of New Zealand’s leading boutique wine touring companies. Operating all through the year it takes clients on a discovery to taste, smell, see, hear and feel Central Otago vineyards in Queenstown, Gibbston, Bannockburn and Cromwell. The company first opened in 1999 under the name of Central Otago Wine Tours and later re-branded in 2005 as Appellation Central Wine Tours to reflect the development and growing recognition of the wine region and their wine tours. Appellation Central Wine Tours is the only wine tour company in Queenstown to keep tour group sizes to a maximum of 11 adults per guide in order to ensure plenty of time to interact with guides, vineyard staff, others in the group as well as ample opportunity to taste the great wines. The company has a Qualmark Enviro-Silver Status to its name and was recently ranked # 7 of 86 tours in Queenstown by customers on the independent customer feedback website tripadvisor.com.
About the Best of the Wine Tourism Awards
The Best of the Wine Tourism Awards celebrates the great wine capitals from around the world, including Cape Town, Bordeaux, Bilbao/Rioja, Firenze, Mainz/Rheinhessen, San Francisco/Nape Valley, Mendoza, Porto and Christchurch/South Island.
The Best of Wine Tourism Awards, created by Great Wine Capitals Global Network in 2004, recognises excellence and encourages wider participation in wine tourism initiatives in the cities and wine regions of the network.
Awards are given to categories in Accommodation, Architecture, Parks and Gardens, Arts and Culture, Innovative Experiences in Wine Tourism, Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices and Wine Tourism Services.
A local contest takes place in each member city and region, with winners on the national level competing on international level and being awarded during the annual general meeting of the network.