Best Of Wine Tourism 2027: Rioja names its seven winners
Seven winners out of 31 candidates were announced in Laguardia on 8 October. It is one regional heat of eleven: the global result comes in New Zealand between 18 and 22 October.
The Best Of Wine Tourism 2027 awards for Bilbao-Rioja were presented on 8 October at Villa Lucía in Laguardia, in Rioja Alavesa: seven winners chosen from 31 candidates. They now go on to the global round of the Great Wine Capitals network, which is decided in New Zealand later this month.
What was handed out in Laguardia is a regional heat, not the final. Great Wine Capitals links eleven wine regions: Adelaide, Bilbao-Rioja, Bordeaux, Hawke's Bay, Lausanne, Mainz-Rheinhessen, Mendoza, Porto, San Francisco-Napa Valley, Valparaíso-Casablanca Valley and Verona. Each runs the same competition in the same seven categories, and each local winner competes for the international title.
Who won Best Of Wine Tourism 2027 in Rioja
Seventy-seven regional trophies a year; the list that travels is the short one.
Accommodation went to Hotel Palacio de Samaniego in Laguardia, an 18th-century palace, according to Gasteiz Hoy. Culinary experiences went to Ventilla Restaurante y Wine Bar, run by the Echapresto brothers in Haro. Hotel Palacio de los Ángeles, also in Haro, took architecture, parks and gardens.
Art and culture went to Fundación Vivanco for its work at the Centro de la Cultura del Rioja in Logroño, as Haro Digital lists it. Wine Bubble Experience, in Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón, won innovative experiences, and Bodegas Campo Viejo, in Logroño, wine tourism services. The sustainability prize went to Fundación MAGA, of Muriel Wines, which ties the winery to education and aid projects in Sierra Leone, Congo and Cambodia. SAVIA, a sommelier school, received a special mention.
The Bilbao-Rioja committee covers Bizkaia, Álava and La Rioja, but none of the seven is in Bilbao, and the Riojan press counts six of them on its side of the Ebro. More than 200 professionals attended, Haro Digital reports. The evening opened with a tribute to Juan Manuel Lavín, founder of Villa Lucía, who died in April.
Napa, Adelaide and Verona have already chosen
Napa Valley announced its list on 29 September: Robert Mondavi Winery for sustainable practices, Beaulieu Vineyard for architecture and landscapes, Okaeri Calistoga for accommodation and, for services, the Napa Valley Car Club. South Australia named seven winners from a shortlist of eleven in September, among them d'Arenberg, Jacob's Creek and Paulett Wines, which took two categories. In Verona the network's own site lists Monte del Frà and Villa del Brolo among the winners.
The global results will be announced at the network's annual conference in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, from 18 to 22 October, with a People's Choice vote afterwards. Spain, meanwhile, certifies wine tourism through a second system: Wine Routes of Spain has just reached 40 certified routes.
Seven categories in eleven regions make up to 77 regional trophies a year. The list that travels is the short one read out in Hawke's Bay.
