Novi Sad and Dobravlje (November 29, 2024): Today, at the 55th International Tourism Fair in Novi Sad, Serbia, the Slovenian winery TILIA estate – House of Pinots received Prizma 2024 award for its contribution to the development of tourism. Since 1998, this regional award has been bestoved upon the companies that make a significant contribution to the development of tourism at the local, national or regional level.
In collaboration with tourism journalists, the Prizma Awards are given to companies from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Croatia for the new quality in tourism. TILIA estate convinced the jury with its offer of wine experiences: custom-made tastings of pinot noir, the most expensive wine in the world, masterclasses, festival Modri Les Noirs, and other events, like International Day of pinot noir. This has a significant impact on the recognition of the Vipava Valley and Slovenia at the regional level. Apart from TILIA estate, an award was also given to the top basketball spectacle I Feel Slovenia Night of the Dragon (Goran Dragić, celebrated for his remarkable NBA career), and Koča na Svetem Jakobu.
The international jury is composed of respectable tourism journalists, who search for “new quality in tourism”. From the very beginning in 1997, the guiding idea was to promote innovative projects in the field of tourism and thereby influence the quality of tourist services.
Director and enologist of TILIA estate, Matjaž Lemut, upon receiving the Prizma, pointed out that the award is proof of the coexistence of the wine industry with tourism.
“At TILIA estate, we pursue sustainable viticulture. About 1,000 people visit our cellar every year, of which at least 80 percent are from abroad, and almost all of them are individual visitors. We develop custom tastings for them, conducted by our trained team – tasting room manager, head cellarman, and oenologist/owner in five different languages. We offer boutique tourism, which means that we pay personal attention to each visitor. Apart from that, we organise two professional events – the Modri Les Noirs festival and the International Pinot Noir Day, gathering international network. It is our desire to make Slovenia shine on the tourist map of Europe.”
Đorđe Mihajlović, director of Prizma and editor-in-chief said: »Wine tourism is a formative part of gastronomic tourism, and many countries form the entire image of a tourist destination around the wine story. I wish TILIA estate winery to consolidate their status of leader in the region!”
TILIA estate from Vipava Valley is placed on the list of Lonely Planet top destinations in Europe to be visited in 2018. Their wines are sold in 11 countries and served in restaurants with Michelin stars, Gault&Millau and Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe JRE recommendations. TILIA estate wines are body-friendly wines, produced by following MyBio principles.