The Best of Wine Tourism Award of the Great Wine Capitals is an annual award presented by the Great Wine Capitals Global Network. Once a year, wine producers, companies from tourism, gastronomy and the hotel industry from the member regions take part in the competition. First, the best are determined in a preliminary decision at national level, after which the winners face an international comparison. In various categories - from „art and culture“ and „hosts“ to „sustainable wine tourism“ - committed players are recognized each year for their outstanding achievements.
In four episodes, we will introduce you to the establishments that stand out this year with their special wine tourism offers.
Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Award 2026 in the category „Accommodation“: Meyerhof Winery
Organic winery, modern vinotheque, unforgettable wine experiences and a charming guest house - Bam! This is what a complete package for wine tourists looks like today.
Typical of the hospitality on the Meyerhof is the popular Tarte flambée eveningAlina and Sebastian Engel welcome the visitors with a glass of Secco - then there's a tour of the cellar: „Guests from Cologne or the Ruhr region have never seen a wine cellar from the inside, we show them how wine is made, which increases their appreciation of our natural product. Many find the wine press fascinating,“ explains Alina.
After the cellar experience, guests taste eight selected wines - followed by a variety of freshly baked tarte flambée. Wine lovers are in for a real treat here.
Alina Engel studied viticulture and oenology at Hochschule Geisenheim University and, together with her husband Sebastian, they are the young generation in the typical Rhine-Hessian family business. The tasks are precisely distributed: Father Bernd takes care of the external operations, mother Daniela and Alina look after the wine shop and the guest house. Sebastian originally studied mechanical engineering - for Alina's sake, he also trained as a winemaker and is now the cellar master.
When the cuvées are put together, all four of them taste them together, of course. The family cultivates 16 hectares of vines - mainly white wines such as Riesling, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. Red wine varieties such as Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon account for 40 % of the area. But guests ask less about grape varieties and more about the type of taste. This is why the popular cuvées are named after moods: „Feierlaune“ is the name of the white wine made from Riesling, Scheurebe and Muskateller - „Sommermagie“ is the rosé version. „Kaminfeuer“ is the promising name of the red wine cuvée made from the local Pinot Noir variety and the international Merlot variety. In addition to the wine events, the family furnished eleven guest rooms in 2014 - all with the accent color purple that characterizes the winery.
The Overnight accommodation are an important building block for customer loyalty: It's easy to strike up a conversation over an extensive breakfast with products from the region. Homemade jams made from local fruit, cheese from a cheese dairy in Hunsrück, fresh eggs from the neighboring village of Wendelsheim and coffee from the Müller coffee roastery in Mainz - guests are spoiled with sustainable specialties. The individual service is also very popular with business travelers - they take a few bottles of Rheinhessen wine with them as a souvenir. The popular after-work evenings are also ideal for business guests.
Individual tourists traveling by bike, on foot or in a camper van will appreciate the Meyerhof: The winery also offers five self-catering pitches.
In terms of oenology, the organic winery is preparing for the future: the first „Piwi“ varieties will be bottled in 2026. The fungus-resistant red wine variety Cabernet Cortis and the white wine Souvignier Gris round off the wine range. Material for new winemaker stories at the next wine event at Meyerhof.
The Meyerhof was awarded the Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Award 2026 in the „Accommodation“ category for its „all-round package for wine tourism“ - according to the expert jury.
