The winners of the Best Of Wine Tourism 2024 competition, organised by Porto as part of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network, received their awards last week at Casa da Música. The ceremony was part of the programme for the ‘Wine & Travel Week‘, a leading wine tourism event that brought to the city intense networking activities and unique experiences throughout the week.
‘Wine undeniably unites us tonight’, said the Councillor for Tourism and Internationalisation. ‘We can romanticise a sector that requires knowledge, experience, time and hard work, but what is hard work without passion? Without a heart?’ Catarina Santos Cunha added.
The Councillor for Tourism and Internationalisation recalled that the most recent municipal programme for the sector was presented right there (at Casa da Música): ‘Yours Truly, Porto‘, a vision map for the sustainable future of this destination. ‘It brings together the many projects we are developing to make the city’s tourism truly qualified, diversified and sustainable’, she emphasised.
Love letter to the city
According to Catarina Santos Cunha, ‘it’s a strategic document, but it was thought up, written and designed as a love letter to our city’. ‘We believe that wine and wine tourism are fundamental to achieving the kind of tourism we want to see in Porto’, she concluded.
Also present at the Best Of Wine Tourism 2024 awards ceremony were the president of the Norte Portugal Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N), António Cunha, and the managing director of the Great Wine Capitals, Catherine Leparmentier, who recalled the launch of the ‘Best Of Club – Porto‘, as being of the utmost importance for affirming the region’s wine identity in the global context.
The Best Of Wine Tourism awards, which celebrated their 20th edition this year, honour the best wine tourism projects from around the world, inspiring the wine industry to reach new heights of innovation and visitor experience. The public also participated for the People’s Choice Award 2024.
The award winners from the Porto region in the different categories were:
– Accommodation: Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo;
– Architecture and Landscape: Quinta do Bomfim (Merenda na Vinha);
– Art and Culture: Caves Cockburn’s;
– Innovative Experiences in Wine Tourism: The Wine School (WOW);
– Sustainable Practices in Wine Tourism: Six Senses Douro Valley;
– Wine Restaurants: Restaurante Seixo by Vasco Coelho Santos;
– Wine Tourism Services: Quinta de Soalheiro and Caves Graham’s (ex aequo);
– Global: Quinta do Bomfim (Merenda na Vinha);
– People’s Choice Award 2024: Quinta de Soalheiro.
Text and photos by: Porto. | Porto City Council
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