The 4th edition of the contest "Best Wines of Alentejo Sommelier from Brazil" entered yesterday on the final phase, and the winner will be decided in the practical test to be held at the end of the week.
 
In a first phase, the wine critic Alexandre Lalas directed training sessions where he explained some of the key concepts of the Alentejo region, including history, terroir, producers and wine profile. The competitors then participated in an Alentejo wine tasting, culminating in a written test of a classificatory nature.
 
List of finalists of the 4th edition of the contest:
Porto Alegre - Samuel Oliveira (Ostradamus Restaurant, Florianópolis) and Maurício Roloff (Sheraton Hotel , Porto Alegre)
Rio de Janeiro - Wallace Neves (Sheraton Hotel , Rio de Janeiro), Pedro Santos (Senac, Rio de Janeiro) and Raphael Zanon (Satyricon Restaurant)
Vitória - Márcia Lopes (Porto a Porto, Importer) and Mónica Aquino (Student, University Novo Milénio)
São Paulo - Ademir Alves Junior (Box 41 Vinhos, Curitiba) and Pedro Senna (Toque de Vinho, Curitiba)
 
The finalists were awarded with a trip to the Alentejo, where they will have the opportunity to know the region and to contact the producers. At the end of the visit, a practical test  with the aim of ascertaining the sommelier with more knowledge about the Alentejo wine region, the grape varieties and the wines will decide this year’s winner.
 
In the previous edition of the contest, Cláudio Moreira Alves, sommelier at the Hotel dos Bretons, Rio de Janeiro was declared as the winner. This competition is organized by the CVRA - Alentejo Regional Winegrowing Commission.