Nearly two dozen producers from Alentejo will present their wines on the 8th, 12th, 15th and 20th of September, in another edition of the annual wine tastings in Brazil, this time in the cities of Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Vitória and São Paulo.
The events will take place at Sheraton Porto Alegre Hotel, in Porto Alegre (September 8th), at Windsor Florida, in Rio de Janeiro (September 12th), Hotel Senac Ilha do Boi, in Vitória (September 15th), and at Intercontinental São Paulo Hotel, in São Paulo (September 20th).
The program includes a set of free tastings and another of commented tastings, which will feature the prestigious Brazilian wine critic Alexandre Lalas.
In parallel, the Alentejo Regional Wine Commission (CVRA) will take advantage of these four great tastings to start the first stage of the 3rd edition of the Contest “The Best Sommelier Wines from Alentejo in Brazil”, aimed at bringing the Brazilian market closer to the production of Wines from Alentejo.
Based on a workshop led by the Brazilian wine critic Alexandre Lalas, this 1st stage will present some of the key concepts of the Alentejo region, such as its history, terroir and wine profile.
Then, competitors will participate in a wine tasting where they will be invited to assess the unique characteristics and will finish by answering a written exam.
This stage will result in the selection of two representatives from each city, making a total of eight finalists who will travel to Portugal in early 2017, where they will get to know the reality and specifics of the Alentejo region up close, and will finish with the completion of a race final that will determine the winner.
These tastings, as well as the competition “The Best Sommelier Wines from Alentejo in Brazil”, are part of CVRA's initiatives for the external promotion of Alentejo Wines in one of the priority markets.
Brazil, along with the US, is one of the main export markets for Alentejo wine outside the EU, although there was a 27% decrease in the first six months of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.
According to Francisco Mateus, president of CVRA, the initiatives with the Brazilian market "intend to promote the approach to new consumers but, essentially, to foster relationships with consumers who are already familiar with our region and with Alentejo wines".
Alentejo is the leading region in the national market – both in terms of volume (47%) and value (46%), according to Nielsen data for 2015, in the category of quality bottled wines with DOC and IG classification.
Alentejo Wines brings together 1900 grape producers and 235 companies that sell wines with the guarantee of origin and quality attested by CVRA.
The vineyard area approved for the production of DOC Alentejo and Regional Alentejano wines totals 22.315 hectares, in which the area of DOC Alentejo is 15.445 hectares (CVRA, 2015).
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