Great Wine Capitals

Quinta da Torre sits on nearly six centuries of continuous use, and Anselmo Mendes has built a visitor experience that treats that as the subject rather than the backdrop. The property in Monção holds 17th century granaries, ancient olive trees and the Alvarinho vineyards that surround them. Guests are walked through the history of the Monção and Melgaço sub-region before the tasting begins, so the wines land as the conclusion of a story rather than a standalone product. The estate offers accommodation, conference facilities and full accessibility, and works in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. #GreatWineCapitals #BOWT #WineTourism #Porto #Alvarinho Anselmo Mendes

What does it mean to put biodiversity at the centre of a winery? Terre di Pietra, a family-run winery and farm in Valpolicella near Verona, offers a compelling answer. Founded in 2007 and rooted in the region's traditions, the estate has built its work around permaculture and a natural, ethical approach to agriculture. Its varied tour routes invite guests to do more than taste, drawing them into the agricultural and social activities that define daily life on the land. Carried forward by Cristiano, Anna and Alice from Laura's original vision, it shows how wine tourism in Verona can be personal, purposeful and deeply connected to place. #GreatWineCapitals #WineTourism #BOWT #Verona #SustainableWineTourism

A winery can be built on a landscape or into it. Palacios Vinos de Finca chose the second, and used recovered quarry waste to do it. The result, in Nalda, is architecture that integrates with the surrounding vineyards rather than announcing itself against them. The wine bar and event venue inside are designed around the same intention: visitors are meant to experience and relive the Rioja territory, not just work through a flight of glasses. The winemaking runs in parallel, reviving the ancestral heritage of the area under a sustainability premise that starts with the building itself. #GreatWineCapitals #BOWT #WineTourism #BilbaoRioja #SustainableWineTourism Palacios Vinos de Finca Great Wine Capitals Bilbao-Rioja

Founded in Taradale in 1897, Church Road is among the oldest wineries in Hawke's Bay and in New Zealand, and it has spent the years since finding uses for its own history. Founder Tom McDonald's original concrete tanks sit beneath the site, repurposed as a wine museum tracing thousands of years of winemaking. Above ground the operation is thoroughly current: paperless tastings run on iPads, the flagship TOM experience anchors the premium offer, a restaurant works alongside the cellar door, and regenerative native planting across the grounds carries signage explaining the work. Chris Scott has taken Winestate's Winemaker of the Year five times. The business has held gold-level Qualmark certification for sustainable tourism for 15 years, alongside Responsible Hosting certification and the Tiaki Promise to care for people, place and culture. #GreatWineCapitals #BOWT #WineTourism #HawkesBayWines #NewZealandWine Church Road Hawke's Bay Airport Ltd Hawke's Bay Wine Hawke's Bay Tourism

We are proud to announce that the recipients of its 2026/2027 International Research Grant, chosen from a field of 31 applications spanning wine regions around the world has been announced. Two researchers, two very different questions about the future of wine tourism. #GreatWineCapitals #WineTourism #WineResearch #IndustryInsights #Collaboration Matt Coyne Rongrong (Renita) Huang

Congratulations to the Hawke's Bay regional winners of the 2027 Best Of Wine Tourism Awards. We can not wait to crown the Global Winners in your home region when the Annual Conference is held there in October! #GreatWineCapitals #BOWT #WineTourism #HawkesBayWine #AWorldOfNew #HawkesBayNZ #GWCHaweksBay26