“7 Maravilhas à Mesa” is the new election of the “7 Wonders of Portugal”, which will take place in 2018. Applications are now open and wines, dishes, snacks, events and wine and gastronomic experiences will make the “tables” in the competition.
According to Luis Segadães, president of the “7 Maravilhas”, “the time has come for us to choose some of the most appreciated heritages by the Portuguese: gastronomy associated with wines and tourist routes. Let's vote on the pleasure of being at the table and also the pleasure of going there, getting there, being there».
«It is, therefore, about eating, drinking and walking through tourist routes, enjoying the best that life has to offer. We want to harmonize gastronomy with wines, but also with the pleasure of traveling the country, discovering the charms of wine tourism», he explained, at the official launch of the project, in São Lourenço do Barrocal, overlooking Monsaraz, a village elected as one of the “ 7 Wonders of Portugal”.
At the table, at the table, for example, there was marinated partridge (snack), a white wine “São Lourenço do Barrocal” and single varietal olive oil from Galician olives “São Lourenço do Barrocal”.
After being elected the Wonder Villages this year, where various cultural, historical and gastronomic heritages have already been explored, the “7 Wonders” «now move towards a territory that creates a link with what comes out of our land, with the experience we draw from when visiting the Portuguese wine regions and with what we present to the table», says the organization.
"This election will promote the true experience of eating and drinking at a Portuguese table, which is why we are increasingly a reference tourist destination," he adds.
The process follows the path of previous years, with the vote of a panel of experts in the long list of candidacies, which will result in a list of 49 pre-finalists: seven from each region. The entire process is monitored and supervised by a Scientific Council and voting is audited by PwC.
These are 49 pre-finalist tables that will be voted on by the public to elect the “7 Wonders at the Table”, one table for each of the seven major regions of Portugal.
Applications for the competition will be the "tables", but in a broad concept, which includes the best that a region has to offer: its dishes, wines, bread, olive oil or cheeses, but also what can be experienced, such as an event, a winery, an oil mill, a museum or a walking path.
Then, each region will choose seven heritages, which include food, wine and a choice in the area of tourism. This choice will be called “Mesa de (name of the place, village, town, city, restaurant or hotel)” and will compete, with tables from all regions of Portugal, for the title of Wonder.
Each application will be made up of seven heritages to choose from, and must include one heritage from each category: gastronomy, wines and oils and tourist route.
This is a project with the High Sponsorship of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development, the Secretary of State for Tourism, and the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education, developed in partnership with the Association of Portuguese Municipalities of Wine.
Applications can be submitted by any entity, public or private (including restaurants and hotels), as long as they respect the regulations in force. For more information, just send an email to [email protected]
In seven galas with television broadcast, two finalist tables will be elected, in a total of 14. The winners will be the most voted in each of the seven regions of Portugal, obtaining a national gastronomic itinerary.
«It was inevitable that the “7 Wonders” would eventually enter the territory of wines, which are an unavoidable differentiating factor in the promotion of Portugal across borders, and return to the universe of gastronomy, which we chose in 2011 and which now opens up a whole new range of opportunities for promotion by being allied to wines and the itineraries and experiences that make our table unique in the world», concludes Luis Segadães.
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