Hawke's Bay's Craggy Range Winery has been given the global thumbs up as one of the world's best vineyards to visit.

At a special event in London on Monday Craggy Range Winery was announced as having made the inaugural Top 50 list of the world's best vineyards to visit — being posted at a very creditable 11th on the list.

The news has delighted the winery team.

"We are thrilled to be recognised within the Top 50 World's Best Vineyards," Craggy Range director Mary-Jeanne Hutchinson said.

She said since her family set out on their winery creating journey back in 1998 they had been passionate about sharing their story and the sense of place that made it so unique.

"So the visitor experience has always been at the heart of what we do," she said.

General manager Aaron Drummond told Mike Yardley one of the highlights was that they came in ahead of neighbouring Australian wines.

He said that this is the first time the list has been released.

"It is a pretty amazing honour, and we're pretty humbled to sit alongside some of the greatest wineries in the world."

Drummond said that the winery is doing very well internationally, with US one of their biggest markets. 

He hopes that the award might bring people to the region rather than other international wineries. 

"For us, we really hope that it stimulates some international tourism for Hawke's Bay and choosing to come here." 

Hutchinson said the winery team were proud of the achievement as their inclusion on the list reflected "the uncompromising focus on quality that is the essence of everything we do."

The World's Best Vineyards list was founded by Andrew Reed and is voted on by a prestigious academy of about 500 wine and luxury travel experts from all round the world.

"Wine is produced in almost 60 countries around the world and is hugely important to many national economies," Reed said.

"The World's Best Vineyards to visit not only highlights these amazing destinations, but it also helps raise their profile amongst national and international tourists alike."

It was put together to raise the profile of wine tourism and encourage travellers to enjoy wine-related experiences all round the world, and reflects the diversity of that global wine landscape.

It is sponsored by the International Wine Challenge.