Mendoza's 2012 Best Of WineTourism awards ceremony took place on September 6 at the IndependenceTheatre. 50 nominees presented projects in the categories of Accommodation; Wine Tourism Restaurant; Architecture, Parks and Gardens; Art and Culture; Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences; Wine Tourism Services and Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices.
2012 Mendoza Awards winners
A jury, made up of designers, tourism experts, journalists, architects and other local professionals was in charge of evaluating the candidates and selecting the seven Gold award winners.
The winners are:
Accommodation: Villa Victoria Lodge www.victoriawinelodge.com
Villa Victoria is a cozy,century-old Victorian house in Maipú that has been turned into an inn with five bedrooms, offering comfort and a host of amenities to guests.
Wine Tourism Restaurant: Killka-Espacio Salentein www.bodegassalentein.com
The Killka restaurant is located at Bodegas Salentein in the Valle de Uco district. The restaurant seats 80, while the adjacent Pircas salon can accommodate a further 120 diners. An outdoor terrace seats 40.
Architecture, Parks & Gardens: Bodega O. Fournier www.ofournier.com
This spectacular winery, owned and managed by the Fournier family, is located on a 650 acre estate in the San Carlos district of the Uco Valley, 80 kms.from Mendoza.
Art and Culture: Finca La Anita www.fincalaanita.com
For over 20 years Finca La Anita in Luján de Cuyo has promoted a wide range of artistic activities, with an emphasis on local artists. An important feature of the winery is the permanent exhibition of the works of sculptor Lorenzo Domínguez.
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences: Bodega Atamisque www.atamisque.com
Atamisque, named after a native species of bush, is the only winery in the world with a slate roof. Visitors are invited to visit the lush 37 acre park, spectacular given the arid climate of the Mendoza region as well as the Rincón Atamisque restaurant, where trout raised on a farm on the premises and fruit from the winery’s orchards are featured.
Wine Tourism Services: Hon Travel www.hontravel.com
Hon Travel is an incoming agency that features packages and customized tours around the Mendoza area. One of the most popular programs is Wine Not?, specializing in wine tours.
Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices: Club Tapiz www.tapiz.com.ar
Among the projects developed by Club Tapiz are the recycling and production of compost from the waste from wine and olive oil production, the careful reconstruction of an historic estate and a walk through an area of native plants.
Luis Bohm, secretary of Tourism of the Mendoza region and president of GWC Mendoza, praised the high quality of the winners’ tourism offering, explaining that the significant increase in tourists to the region was a positive response to visitor satisfaction.
The seven Mendoza winners will compete with candidates from the other Great Wine Capitals regions for the International Best Of awards, which will take place at the Network’s Annual General Meeting in Mainz on October 27.
About the Great Wine Capitals Global Network
Founded in 1999, the Great Wine Capitals Global Network is an alliance of nine internationally renowned wine regions – Bordeaux, France; Cape Town, South Africa; Christchurch-South Island, New Zealand; Florence, Italy; Mainz-Rheinhessen, Germany; Mendoza, Argentina; Porto, Portugal; Bilbao-Rioja, Spain and San Francisco-Napa Valley, USA. The Best Of Wine Tourism awards serve as an industry benchmark for excellence and recognize leading wineries and wine-tourism related businesses within each Great Wine Capital that have distinguished themselves in areas such as innovation, service and sustainable practices. For more information visit http://www.greatwinecapitals.com.
Written by John Abbott
