Fanfare at the Guildhall, and bringing home a Trophy to Portugal

Now that our teenage children have left the winery to attend boarding school outside of Portugal, we seize any chance to arrange impromptu family gatherings, with all of us flying in from our different abodes, sic., wine fairs in Germany, tastings in Stockholm, winemaker’s dinners in Denmark. Last weekend was just such an opportunity, as we had been asked to attend the International Wine and Spirit Competition Awards Presentation and Banquet dinner at the Guildhall, City of London, being shortlisted to receive the IWSC Trophy for Portuguese Producer.

Incidentally, this is the first time the IWSC has decided to award a Trophy to Portugal, and the decision to create the category, was largely due to our outstanding results in this year’s competition, which most certainly merited a Trophy! We swept the 2008 IWSC with 3 Gold Medals (Best in Class) – Cortes de Cima, Incógnito and Touriga Nacional all from the 2005 vintage, and 3 Silver Medals – Reserva 2004, Syrah 2005, and Aragonez 2004 (also Best in Class). The IWSC competition has been awarding Producer Trophies to all other wine producing countries except Portugal for many years, i.e. Spain, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand even Canada- so it was about high time for Portugal to have a chance to share in the fanfare!

Yes, we did bring home the Trophy to Portugal, and also some good memories of a long weekend with friends and family in rainy, wintery London, visiting the British Museum, sitting on double decker red buses driving through Hyde Park, admiring the Christmas lights on Regent and Oxford street (yes, Christmas lights already in mid November!).