October 2026 (Santa Barbara, CA) — International wine travel speaker and global wine presenter Jamie Knee, founder of Petite Wine Traveler and Contributing Writer for Decanter, will deliver an international keynote at the 26th Great Wine Capitals Annual Conference in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
Knee will speak during the conference’s Knowledge Day, which brings together wine tourism leaders from around the world to examine the future of wine tourism through this year’s theme, “Social Terroir: Breaking New Ground.”
Through her signature Wine as a Passport™ philosophy, Knee explores how wine can become the starting point for a much larger destination experience. Her work focuses on the connections among wineries, hotels, restaurants, local food, culture, agriculture and hospitality, and how those relationships can encourage travelers to experience a region more deeply, stay longer and return.
“I have always loved the way wine gives us a reason to go somewhere,” said Knee. “A bottle can make us curious about where it was grown, but very quickly that curiosity expands. We want to know where to eat, where to stay, what the landscape looks like and who we might meet while we are there. For wine regions, that creates an extraordinary opportunity to connect the glass with the larger story of a destination.”
The Great Wine Capitals Annual Conference brings together representatives from leading wine regions around the world for discussions on wine tourism, sustainability, destination development, regional identity and hospitality.
Knee’s keynote continues a growing international speaking and presenting career centered on wine travel, tourism, hospitality and destination storytelling. Her work includes keynote speaking, conference presentations, panel moderation, television presenting, hosted wine experiences and destination programming for wine regions, tourism organizations, hospitality groups and culinary events.
Earlier this year, Knee presented her Wine as a Passport™ work at IWINETC in Poland and recently delivered a keynote for Sonoma County Tourism in California.
Her international work examines an increasingly important question for wine destinations: how can wine become an entry point into a region while also giving travelers compelling reasons to experience everything surrounding it?
“For me, successful wine tourism begins with understanding why someone will remember a place after they leave,” Knee said. “The wine matters, but so do the hotel they loved, the meal they are still talking about, the landscape they explored and the people they met. When those experiences connect, the destination becomes much more powerful.”
Based in Santa Barbara, California, Knee is an award winning wine travel writer, international wine travel speaker, global wine presenter and wine educator. She is a Contributing Writer for Decanter, a Forbes Travel Guide Speaker, a 2026 Wine Travel Awards winner and has been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Wine and Hospitality.
Through Petite Wine Traveler and Wine as a Passport™, Knee works with wine regions, tourism organizations, destination marketing organizations, hotels, hospitality groups, conferences, festivals and culinary partners around the world.
She is actively open to opportunities involving keynote speaking, presenting, moderating, hosting and destination ambassadorships in the United States and internationally.
