Consumers and Travel Professionals Name Best Destinations & Wine Country Experiences
San Francisco, CA
CellarPass, the leading reservations and ticketing platform for the alcohol industry, has announced the CellarPass 2019 Destination Award Winners.
The annual awards competition was created by CellarPass to provide the public an opportunity recognize the CellarPass destinations that raise the bar when it comes to providing the best possible hospitality experience. More than 150,000 travelers and industry professionals were invited to vote between July 18th and September 4th, 2019. Over 75 U.S. and Canada-based destinations were nominated in nine categories: Best Unique Tasting Experience; Most Friendly & Knowledgeable Staff; Best Wine & Food Pairing; Best Wine Education Experience; Best Hidden Gem, Best Romantic Destination, Best Live Experience, Best Tour & Tasting, and new for 2019, Most Beautiful Destination. 2019 proved to be the most competitive year to date, with just a few votes making the difference between a win and runner up.
Once the voting ended and the results tallied, the unofficial competition between distinguished wineries across the U.S. resulted in five winners from the Napa Valley and four from Sonoma County. This is the sixth annual running of the awards that allows guests to award accolades for the excellent visitor experiences offered by wineries and tasting rooms that can be booked through CellarPass.
“Voting this year was more intense than any other year to date,” explained CellarPass co-founder Sarah Elliman. “It was actually down to the last few votes that determined the winner from the runner up in many of the categories. Write-in nominations also doubled from the previous year, challenging many of the well-known brands for the win.”
Overall, female voters weighed in for 56.1% of the votes; males cast 42.2% of the total. An unexpected shift in this year’s voting behavior was the majority age group–45.2%-- came in from the mature 55+ crowd. The next largest group, 35 - 54-year-olds cast 37.2% of votes and 15.4% came from those in the 25 – 34 age group.
“We’re so humbled, and honestly blown away, to win Most Friendly & Knowledgeable Staff for the fourth year in a row,” said A.J. Eisiminger, Director of Jessup Cellars. “Being a small, boutique winery in a market with hundreds of wineries, it’s clear that our company culture along with our loyal members and fans have made this four-peat possible.”
The 2019 CellarPass Destination Awards winners are:
BEST UNIQUE TASTING EXPERIENCE
WINNER- Sequoia Grove
Runners Up
Buena Vista Winery
Iron Horse Vineyards
MOST FRIENDLY & KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF
WINNER - Jessup Cellars
Runners Up
Raymond Vineyards
Frank Family Vineyards
BEST EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
WINNER - Robert Mondavi Winery
Runners Up
J Vineyards & Winery
Beringer Vineyards
BEST FOOD & WINE PAIRING EXPERIENCE
WINNER - J Vineyards & Winery
Runners Up
Jessup Cellars
DeLoach Vineyard
BEST HIDDEN GEM DESTINATION
WINNER - Mazzocco Sonoma
Runners Up
Stags' Leap Winery
Frank Family Vineyards
BEST ROMANTIC DESTINATION
WINNER - Chateau St. Jean
Runners Up
Gloria Ferrer Wine Caves
Lasseter Family Winery
BEST TOUR & TASTING
WINNER - Stags' Leap Winery
Runners Up
Robert Mondavi Winery
Gundlach Bundschu
BEST LIVE EXPERIENCE
WINNER - Buena Vista
Runners Up
Robert Mondavi Winery
Sterling Vineyards
MOST BEAUTIFUL DESTINATION
WINNER - Artesa Winery
Runners Up
Sterling Vineyards
Buena Vista Winery
About CellarPass
Celebrating 10 years, CellarPass is the leading real-time guest management platform designed for tasting rooms that offers visitors an easy way to buy tickets and book reservations, online or through a mobile-friendly website. Headquartered in San Francisco, with local offices in Paso Robles, Seattle and Napa Valley, CellarPass offers enterprise-level guest management platform for the alcohol industry that allows the leading wineries, breweries and distilleries a tool that enhances the visitor experience while building long-lasting relationships. For more information about CellarPass, visit www.cellarpass.com. Follow CellarPass on Facebook at facebook.com/cellarpass, on Twitter at twitter.com/cellarpass and on Instagram at instagram.com/cellarpass to get fresh updates.
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