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.
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!
