Great Wine Capitals Names 11 Global Winners in 2027 Best Of Wine Tourism Awards

Eleven wine tourism businesses were named Global Winners of the 2027 Best Of Wine Tourism Awards at a gala dinner in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, on Oct. 22, according to an announcement from the Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

The ceremony was held at Toitoi: Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre and marked the close of the network’s 26th Annual Conference. The meeting was hosted this year in Hawke’s Bay under the theme “A World of New.” It was the first time the organization’s annual conference had been held in New Zealand.

The Great Wine Capitals Global Network said the 2027 awards attracted 597 entries. From that pool, 77 regional winners were selected across the network’s 11 member wine capitals. One business from each capital then went on to receive a global title, bringing the total number of global winners to 11.

The Best Of Wine Tourism Awards are one of the network’s main programs and are designed to recognize businesses in wine tourism across its member regions. The organization said entries are judged across 11 wine regions on four continents using a single set of criteria. That common judging framework is intended to allow comparison among businesses operating in different wine destinations while maintaining a shared standard across the network.

The announcement did not list the names of the 11 global winners in the material released after the event, but it framed the awards as one of the major moments of the annual gathering. The global recognition comes after businesses first compete at the regional level in their home capital, where regional winners are selected before advancing to the international stage.

The Great Wine Capitals network describes itself as a group of 11 major global cities located in both the northern and southern hemispheres. According to the organization, those cities share a common economic and cultural link through internationally known wine regions. The network’s work has long focused on promoting exchange among wine-producing regions, including tourism, business development and cultural ties tied to wine.

This year’s conference in Hawke’s Bay gave New Zealand a prominent role in that exchange. By hosting the event, Hawke’s Bay became the site of the network’s flagship annual meeting for the first time. That matters for the region because the conference brings together representatives of member capitals and wine tourism operators from several parts of the world at a time when destinations continue to compete for international travelers.

The email announcement presented the awards as a measure of both participation and competition within the sector. With 597 entries reduced to 77 regional winners and then 11 global winners, the figures show a layered selection process. Measured against total entries, the final group of global winners represents a small share of applicants, underscoring the selective nature of the recognition. The 77 regional winners account for about 12.9% of total entries, while the 11 global winners account for about 1.8%.

The conference theme, “A World of New,” suggested a forward-looking agenda for this year’s meeting, though the announcement did not provide a detailed policy program or conference resolutions. It did, however, place the awards at the center of the event by making them the closing feature of the annual conference. That positioning reflects the role wine tourism now plays in the wider wine economy, where visitor experiences, hospitality and destination branding are often treated as core parts of regional competitiveness.

The Best Of Wine Tourism Awards have become a visible part of that effort because they connect local recognition to an international platform. A business that wins first in its own wine capital can then be judged against peers from the network’s other member regions. The organization said all of those entries are assessed under the same criteria, which it uses to maintain consistency across countries and continents.

The Great Wine Capitals network did not provide further operational details in the announcement about the judging panel, award categories or the individual winning businesses. It also did not release the countries or capitals represented by each of the 11 global winners in the text of the message. Still, the figures and the setting made clear that the network continues to use its annual conference as a showcase for wine tourism performance across its international membership.

For Hawke’s Bay, the event was both a conference host role and a public stage. The gala dinner at Toitoi placed the region at the center of a program tied to one of the wine industry’s international tourism networks. The choice of venue and the timing at the close of the annual conference gave the awards a ceremonial ending after several days of meetings under the network’s banner.

The announcement was distributed by the Great Wine Capitals organization from Bordeaux, where the network’s communications are based. It described the awards and conference as part of its ongoing mission to link major wine cities and their surrounding regions through a shared focus on wine, tourism and international profile.