The “Cities of Wine 2020” contest will take place in Lagoa from 26 to 29 November. It is subsequently included in the European Competition Città del Vino, to be held in May 2021 in Italy.
“Cities of Wine 2020” was presented last Friday, October 16th, at Quinta dos Vales in Lagoa, Algarve. On the same day it was announced the extension of the registration deadline until October 30th due to the large number of registrations and the number of producers who still intend to register their wines in the competition.
The joint participation of municipalities and producers in the promotion and dissemination of wines from the various regions of Portugal, is one of the characteristics that defines the Cities of Wine contest. Associating quality wine production to what is best produced in each territory is its main purpose.
Among the participants in the presentation session of the “Cities of Wine” contest were the Mayor of Lagoa, Luís Encarnação, the President of the Association of Portuguese Municipalities of Wine (AMPV), Pedro Ribeiro, the President of Recevin - European Network of Cities do Vinho, José Calixto, the president of the Algarve Wine Commission, Sara Silva, AMPV's secretary general, José Arruda. Other entities such as RTA, CCDR, the Regional Directorate for Agriculture, were also represented.
As the host of the competition, Luís Encarnação stressed that the realization of this initiative "is an opportunity for the Algarve and for Algarve wines of excellent quality". Calling attention to the evidence of vitality given by Algarve wine tourism, the mayor believes that this sector may constitute a huge contribution to mitigate the consequences of seasonality so present in the Algarve region. In the same session Luís Encarnação also announced that the municipalities of Lagoa, Albufeira, Silves and Lagos are preparing to submit a joint application to the European City of Wine 2022.
The “Cities of Wine 2020” competition has the High Sponsorship of the President of the Republic and the institutional support of the Ministry of Agriculture.
