La Motte Wine Estate were placed in the spotlight by the announcement of the winners of the South African leg of the internationally respected Great Wine Capitals of the World (GWC) Best of Wine Tourism Awards last week.
The GWC is a network of the top wine producing regions in the world who share international best practice in wine tourism. South Africa is one of 10 top wine regions in the world judged annually by the GWC for its wine tourism offering.
Trophies were handed to the South African winners at the awards event held at La Motte Wine Estate in Franschhoek by André Morgenthal, marketing manager of Wines of South Africa (WOSA) who said that South Africa compared well with other top wine regions in the world and each category winner in this year’s competition made South Africa proud.
Minister Gerrit van Rensburg and Alderman Neels de Bruyn presenting the overall winner trophy to Hein and Hanneli Koegelenberg of La Motte Wine Estate
Robert Joseph, a top international wine tourism expert provided perspective on how well South Africa compared in terms of best practice with the rest of the world. Joseph was of the opinion that South African wine tourism compared well with more established markets, and for a long time did a much better job of wine tourism than even France.
Joseph is a wine writer and as author of international wine guides he has travelled to wine regions all over the world. He also consults to the wine tourism industries in various countries about offering world class wine tourism experiences.
Joseph said La Motte Wine Estate, overall winner of the Best of Wine Tourism Awards and winner in the Sustainable Wine Tourism category, was already getting a lot of things right in terms of what is considered international best practice in wine tourism.
If the South African wine industry as a whole can learn to deliver world class service and build long term relationships with their visitors – and make them wine ambassadors of South African wine tourism – the industry can only grow. And this is good news for job creation and the economy as a whole. South Africa can only benefit from a developing wine tourism industry.
