The 18th edition of Essência do Vinho – Porto wine festival took place at Palácio da Bolsa for 4 days last week.
In tasting, 4,000 wines were represented by 400 producers, national and foreign.
In addition to the open tasting with producers, visitors to Essência do Vinho – Porto were able to sign up for a set of actions that include thematic tastings, conversations about wine and wine/gastronomy pairings.
Among the highlights of the weekend program, noted for the public presentation of the social project “Cabriz – Fome de Tudo”, for the “La Bella Italia”, which will bring together some of the most famous names in Tuscany, popularly recognized by “ Super Tuscans”, for the journey through Kopke’s Age Indicated Ports, for a session that highlighted the remarkable aging capacity of Portuguese wines through examples from the ’90s and for wine/gastronomy pairings.
“10-Year-Old Tawny Ports: the truth that prevails!”, “Good Shopping by TOP Revista de Vinhos”, “Pool rosés, gastronomic rosés and palhete wines”, “What are Orange Wines” are just some of the themes of the always didactic “Conversations About Wine”.
The event attracted thousands of people, as it was the main wine experience in Portugal.
First, let’s see the event by the profile of visitors to the 18th edition of the event.
Driven by curiosity, interest and acquisition of knowledge about wine, visitors to the event attributed an average level of global satisfaction of 4.54 (from 1 to 5), with participants giving very high levels of satisfaction (above 4) to the most determining aspects of organization and programming: the number of activities available, parallel actions and also the waiting time for entry.
The study of audiences also revealed that 71 .7% of visitors came to Porto for the purpose of the event and the average overnight stay in the city was 4.75 nights.
Curiosity (33.8%) and professional reasons (30.6%) were the main reasons given by visitors, as well as wine tasting (27.7%). The unique experience (25.2%) of meeting some of the 400 producers and 4,000 wines being tasted was also a reason to visit.
As for the profile of the visitor, there was a predominance of males (58.9%), an average age of 37.49 and a high level of education (74.3% of visitors had at least a bachelor’s degree). The presence of several nationalities was also highlighted, namely, English (16.8%), Spanish (16.3%), Brazilian (12.6%), French (12.1%) and German (6.3% ), among others, underlining the international nature of the event.
When classifying the connection to wines, the public showed interest or a lot of interest (86.3%), being knowledgeable or highly knowledgeable (59.0%) and regular consumers (45.5% indicated consuming wine at least two to three times per week), with an average monthly cost of wine to consume at the home of €113.80.
Asked about the places where they buy wine, 48.9% said they were in specialized stores, 27.9% directly from the producer, 23.9% in traditional commerce and 10.4% online.
The new TOP 10 Portuguese Wines was awarded, after a tasting with an international jury that since 2006 has been part of the official program of the event Essência do Vinho – Porto.
The panel of judges evaluated a pre-selection of more than 60 samples, carried out by the Panel of Tasters of Revista de Vinhos, which over the last year tasted thousands of references. Opinion leaders, journalists, critics and sommeliers from countries such as Portugal, Spain, Denmark, England, Italy, Switzerland, the United States and Brazil, in a total of 40 experts, made the ultimate selection of the TOP 10 Portuguese Wines.
This time, two white wines, six red wines and two fortified wines are the highlights of the competition.
Quinta dos Carvalhais Branco Especial, Estremus 2017 and Real Companhia Velha Very Old Tawny 1927 are the big winners of the event. The trio of big winners have very different terroirs: Alentejo, Dão and Porto.
The highest-ranked red wine was Estremus 2017, made by João Portugal Ramos in Estremoz. The Estremus is a blend, in equal parts, of the Alicante Bouschet and Trincadeira varieties, with 1,953 bottles being bottled.
Among the white wines, the highlight was Quinta dos Carvalhais Branco Especial, produced by Sogrape in Dão. This fifth edition is a blend that combines wines from seven harvests: 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020, and has varieties such as Encruzado (48%), Gouveio ( 24%), Sémillon (9%) and other varieties (19%).
In the fortified wines, the jury evaluated Port, Madeira, Carcavelos, Moscatel de Setúbal and even an Azorean fortified wine, with the best classified being Real Companhia Velha Very Old Tawny 1927, a very old Port wine from the estate of Quinta das Carvalhas, which is part of a special collection to celebrate the company’s 265th anniversary.
The remaining TOP 10 Portuguese Wines are made up of:
– Rosa Santos Família 2017 (2nd red wine, Regional Alentejano, Jorge Rosa Santos & Filhos),
– Quinta da Boavista Vinha do Ujo 2017 (3rd red wine, Douro, Sogevinus Fine Wines),
– Jupiter Code 01 2015 (4th red wine, Regional Alentejano, Rocim),
– Uivo Cronológico 2011 (5th red wine, IVV, Folias de Baco),
– Pape 2018 (6th red wine, Dão, Quinta da Pellada);
– Quinta do Regueiro Alvarinho Jurássico II (2nd white wine, Vinhos Verdes – Monção and Melgaço, Quinta do Regueiro);
– Barbeito Famílias Meio Sweet 50 Years (2nd fortified wine, Madeira Wine, Barbeito Wines).
Essência do Vinho – Porto will return in 2023 on which the international wine tourism fair ‘Wine & Travel Week’ will debut.
Source and photos: Revista de Vinhos
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