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The Wine Travel Awards announced the Winners of public voting 

Ukraine

As the public voting came to its end on 1st April, the winners of this stage were announced by the WTA organizers.

The Wine Travel Awards (WTA) is a young and ambitious project launched by Drinks+ Communication Media Group in 2021 under the conditions of the pandemy and now the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine. However, the great capacity of the project and its mission to promote wine tourism and help businesses with this task thrilled audiences all around the world.

The first year’s edition managed to unite representatives of the new and old wine world into the international WTA community. The nominees have different profiles, such as wine personalities, educational institutions, wine estates and events, and they come from different countries – Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Romania, Poland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, UK, Netherlands, Armenia, Georgia, Israel, India, USA, Argentina, and Canada.

On 1st March, the public voting function was open for everyone who is passionate about the topic of wine and gastronomic tourism to support WTA nominees they like. The voting lasted for one month. After having summed up the results of public voting, the WTA Organizing Committee features the top five nominees from each category (some categories contain less than five nominees).

1.The Visiting Card of the Country

Must visit

#55 The Shumi Winery – 2763 (votes)

#124 Château Mukhrani – 2302

#4 Château Kurin – 1997

#135 Pago de Carraovejas – 1961

#146 SHABO’s wine culture center – 1657

 

Brand – the visiting card of the country

#153 The Shumi Winery  –  2811

#16 Erben – 2014

#54 Prince Trubetskoi Winery 1661

#120 Winexfood – 1643

#33 Vinaria Purcari 1571

 

Progressive approach

#155 The Shumi Winery – 2217

#121 Shukhrat Khakimov & Viticultores – 1476

#41 Soalheiro – 1351

#178 Incubateur Bernard Magrez Start-Up Win – 1319

#160 Frank John winery – 1077

 

Authentic location

#175 Areni -1 Cave –  5159

#143 Villa dei Misteri: the wine of Ancient Pompeii – 2137

#137 Momik Wine Cube  – 1810

#151 The Shumi Winery – 1474

#8 Domaine de l’Évêque – 1274

 

Objet d’Art

#165  Wine History Museum of Armenia – 3553

#162 Tourist complex Shumi – 2299

#76 Château Smith Haut Lafitte  – 1907

#164 Museo d’Impresa Mastroberardino Atripalda – 918

#73 Castel Mimi – 830

 

2.Education in Enotourism

Unique program 

#56 Shumi Wine School – 1538

#158 EVN Wine Academy’s Enology and Wine Business Program – 1164

#7 UmanWinery, Ukrainian winemaker Igor Maksimenko – 1007

#15 “Master Class”, the first sommelier school in Ukraine – 959

#168 Le Bistrot du Sommelier – 738

 

Cultural mission 

#154 The Shumi Winery – 2093

#57 La Cité du Vin – 1758

#179 MOOC “Story of a Wine: The Importance of Being Prosecco” – 942

#136 GuideMASTER Wine Tour Guide Program – 744

#101 Ways Travel – 617

 

3.Enogastronomic Events 

Magnet of the region 

#188 Franc & Franc Forum and Tasting Day – 1972

#78 The Worldwide œufs en meurette Championship – 1817

#2 The National Wine Day of Moldova – 1499

#152 The Shumi Winery – 1363

#88 Cricova Must Fest – 976

 

Effective event 

#156 The Shumi Winery – 1893

#89 Cricova Must Fest – 1769

#170 London Wine Fair – 1734

#71 “VinOPERA” Castel Mimi – 1201

#64 Italian Taste Summit – 579

 

Event of the year 

#116 Odessa Wine Week – 1544

#150 Yerevan Wine Days – 1242

#65 Italian Taste Summit – 889

#185 Budapest Wine Festival – 854

#26 “VinOPERA” Castel Mimi – 809

 

4.Ambassador 

Ambassador of the year

#157 Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia – 1590

#133 Wine Paths – 1515

#51 Solomiia Begun – 1338

#171 Sonal Holland  – 972

#11 Roberto Cipresso  – 926

 

Creative strategy 

#166 WineMasters.tv – 1746

#100 Moments & Travel – 984

#138 Wines of Armenia  – 951

#95 Visit Moldova – 868

#97 Vinuri de Comrat – 756

 

5.Wine & Food Influencer

Author of the year 

#130 Nello Gatti –  3935

#105 Masakatsu Ikeda – 1826

#122 Solomiia Begun – 1710

#34  Alder Yarrow – 1529

#110 Per Karlsson – 1174

 

Research of the year 

#66 Gergely Szolnoki – 1021

#108 WineStatistics – 807

#159 Wine consumption study –  656

#46 Andrei Cibotaru –  621

 

Expert opinion

#139  La La Wine – 3039

#63 Olimpia Pleșa Brandhuber – 2932

#38 Alder Yarrow – 1693

#81 Anghelina Taran –  1072

№62 Allison Levine – 1009

 

The brightest journey

#125 Sofia Nikabadze – 2439

#83 AdVINEtures –  1386

#43  Jeff Burrows – 1011

#148 Monique Soltani –  995

#79 Nataliia Burlachenko  – 992

 

6.Wine Guide

Guide of the year 

#123 Miguel Leal – 1989

#111 Britt Karlsson – 1448

#147 Vini Armenian Wine Guide – 1400

#149 Wines of Armenia – 1099

#29 Einat Klein – 1065

 

Unique route 

#70 SE QWC “Milestii Mici” – 1294

#30 Visit Moldova – 1030

#45 Tanisha Townsend – 828

#99 Moments & Travel – 781

 

Educational tour of the year

#109 WineStatistics  – 1455

#102 Ways Travel  – 792

 

The nominees enlisted the big support of their friends, loyal audience and caught wine lovers’ eye, so that it yielded the results. Being charismatic and active on social media plays a crucial role in public voting. And we can see these features among our winners – famous chateaux, renowned experts and wine schools, attractive wine events and interesting wine authors and ambassadors.

The top five nominees from each category move on to the professional jury round. Their businesses will be reviewed by twelve industry-leading experts from the fields of winemaking, gastronomic tourism, marketing, and journalism. The selection takes place within a 10-point system according to the unified Wine Travel Awards protocols.

The WTA winners will be announced in May on the official website and be presented at the WTA Ceremony on June 8th, 2022, at the London Wine Fair.