Landeshauptstadt Mainz Direkt zum Inhalt
Landeshauptstadt Mainz Direkt zum Inhalt
Great Wine Capitals: a world of excellence
The Great Wine Capitals is a network of eight major global cities in both the northern and southern hemispheres, which share a key economic and cultural asset: their internationally renowned wine regions.
It is the only such network to encompass the so-called ‘Old’ and ‘New’ world of wine, and exists to encourage travel, education and business exchange between the internationally-renowned centres of Bordeaux, Cape Town, Florence, Mainz, Mendoza, Porto, Bilbao-Rioja and San Francisco-Napa.
Since its creation in 1999, the Network has introduced:
• A prestigious annual competition; the ‘Best Of Wine Tourism’ awards.
This International competition is designed to reward the wineries in each member city that have distinguished themselves in terms of the excellence of their facilities in various categories from art and culture to sustainable wine tourism, and delivering quality experiences to the public. Since their inception, over 208 properties have received an award from 1388 nominees. 
• A business network with extensive training and information seminars, forums and tastings. Business facilities are also provided for visits between member cities.
• Symposiums of experts on investments in the wine sector and education initiatives in wine. These take place often at the annual general meetings, when conferences are held to debate and illuminate crucial issues that affect the wider world of wine.
• Technical and /or commercial exploratory trips to the member wine regions. Knowledge-sharing is a crucial part of the network, as is the idea that each city can benefit from the strengths of their neighbours in the network.
• A Great Wine Capitals Travel Network to facilitate travel between the regions, where travel agencies in each city develop custom-made food and wine itineraries. They are destination specialists in each city and are able to handle all travel requirements to and between the Great Wine Capitals.
The Great Wine Capitals aims to heighten the wine experience for everyone who visits these cities, and to help the cities themselves make the most of their extraordinary culture, heritage and geographical locations.
For more information, contact the Permanent Secretariat at gwc@greatwinecapitals.com