#Winelover Week at the Adegga Wine Market 2012 (Part 1)

By Lotte Karolina Gabrovits and Luiz Alberto, #winelovers

 View of Oporto from Vila Nova de Gaia

The first stop of an iconic Portuguese adventure was in Oporto for our “#Winelover Week at the Adegga Wine Market 2012″. But, before we talk about that, just a quick introduction to one of the most important Portuguese events for consumers and winemakers: the Adegga Wine Market. This fascinating event was held on 01.12.2012. It’s been organized for the past 4 years by fellow #winelover and great friend André Ribeirinho. To promote the event and to create a much bigger impact, André invited a small group of #winelovers to participate. And, since we were going to Portugal, why not spend an entire week enjoying the great things that the country has to offer? And the first Adegga Week for the #winelover was created…

We were invited by important wineries/companies to do something wine-related during that week. One of them was Sogrape. They are simply the largest wine producer in Portugal… and they were so kind that they offered to host our #winelover’s hangout in Vila Nova de Gaia at the Sandeman Lodge. They also hosted us on a visit to Quinta do Seixo (also Sandeman). We visited a couple of wine regions (Douro, Alentejo, and Lisbon), had many tastings and, of course, our wonderful hangouts… But you can see it all below, as we would love to share these precious moments we spent all together. We don’t want to miss the opportunity to say thanks again to André Ribeirinho and to all the sponsors who made it possible to organize such an amazing week in Portugal… but this will be covered in our next postings. This one is about our first day in Portugal and our fantastic hangout hosted by Sogrape.

#winelover hangout Oporto @ Sandeman – 11.26.2012

The first day of our journey in Portugal. And one of the most famous Port producers in the world – Sandeman* – received us, invited us for having a BYOB at their place, but even before the official hangout we got the pleasure to visit some of the top secret parts of their cellar … you can see some of us enjoying some of their delicious old tawny wines.

* Sandeman was the first company to brand a cask with an iron brand in1805, making it one of the oldest in the world.

Picture by Daniel Matos, #winelover

Having tasted some of truly delicious Ports, the evening ended with a dinner hosted by Sandeman. At their place many #winelovers got the opportunity to join the dinner (delicious food by the way!) and bring their one own bottle of wine. One bottle (or more) that each one of us wanted to present and tell a story about it. The result? Many, many nice stories and as many delicious wines…

With “old friend” Stéphane (Quinta Do Pôpa) 

and on the back ground “new friend” Jorge Luís Veiga Torres -
Picture by Daniel Matos, #winelover

It was great to see some old friends and to make new ones!

Above you can get a little idea of the amount of fun we had… and, of course, you will find a lot of pictures of this hangout (and of anything that we do as community) online. Being a #winelover means not only loving wine, but also our willingness to share all these beautiful experiences with as many people as possible. And that can happen either in “real life” during our hangouts, visits to wineries and vineyards… or, via the use digital communication: social media and blogs. Just like this one…

A very brief introduction to our hosts:

Luís Sottomayor – Luís is the chief Douro winemaker for Sogrape and he was elected winemaker of the year 2012 at the International Wine Challenge (fortified category)

Joana Pais (in the picture above with “The Don”) – Joana is the Manager of Press Relations for Sogrape Vinhos, S.A. She has a degree in journalism and she joined Sogrape in 2004.

Catatina Soares (in the picture with “The Other Don” Andre Ribeirinho) – Catarina studied economics at Oporto Univeristy and she is the brand manager at Sogrape.

Near future:


So, here we are again looking forward to many #winelover weeks like this one all over the world. Our next stop is in Brussels for #WBIS.

Church of St.Valentine – Terni, Italy

Then, our following meeting will be the most important event in the history of our community… And it will be in February in Umbria: The 1st anniversary of the #winelover’s community. Thanks to the city of Terni who will be the sponsor for this big event with some many activities such as Masterclasses with an MW (Patrick Farrell) tastings, visits, and the first ever #winelover’s wine competition! You can check the entire program here: Umbria is for #winelovers – Our first anniversary celebration on Valentine’s day!

Picture by Pal Gabrovits, #winelover

If you still haven’t joined our community… after this post you know what you have already missed and for sure you will miss many more amazing events like this #winelover week in Portugal… as we are also planning to have such a week in Hungary in the week before Vince. We’ll keep you posted…

Cheers!

Lotte Karolina Gabrovits & Luiz Alberto, #winelovers