By Amy Looker
Jacob's Creek has leveraged its ongoing Australian Open tennis sponsorship with a visit from the trophies to its Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre in the Barossa Valley.
The Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup toured their way through Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan as part of a pre-promotion for the next Grand Slam tennis tournament.
As part of the journey back to Melbourne, the men's and women's trophies made their way to the Barossa where they were greeted by Tennis SA CEO Alistair MacDonald (pictured left) and Jacob's Creek chief winemaker, Bernard Hickin (pictured right).
Meanwhile, the Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre has again been recognised as one of South Australia's best tourism attractions, picking up two awards at the recent South Australian Tourism Awards for its restaurant and also for best tourism winery.
Elaine Ratcliffe, manager of the Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre, said the venue offered visitors more than just a cellar door experience.
"A huge part of what makes our place so special is our immersion in the natural environment and much time, effort and resources have been invested to ensure our 35 hectare property is sensitive to the pristine natural environment it's situated within."
The Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre was also awarded a bronze Qantas award for Excellence in Sustainable Tourism and will go on to compete at the Qantas National Tourism Awards in March 2012.