Gustavo Giacchero, is the new Wines of Alentejo ambassador in Brazil, a title received when he won, representing Belo Horizonte, the Contest "The Best Wines of Alentejo Sommelier in Brazil 2020" - an initiative of the Alentejo Regional Winegrowing Commission (CVRA).

The annual competition, which had its first edition in 2014, aims to bring the relationship between Alentejo and Brazil even closer, a country to which Wines of Alentejo exported the most in 2019. The Belo Horizonte specialist surpassed seven other finalists in the last contest phase just concluded this month in the city of Évora.

This 7th edition, which had its final held at the Mar D’Ar Muralhas hotel, brought together specialists from all over Brazil. This year, the jury included Francisco Mateus, president of CVRA; Alexandre Lalas, journalist and Brazilian wine critic; and Rodolfo Tristão, director of wine for the José Avillez group. The tasting included a written test on the Alentejo region and its wines and a practical simulation exam of Alentejo wine service in a restaurant context.

According to Maria Amélia Vaz da Silva, from CVRA's Marketing department, "the objective is to provide sommeliers in Brazil with the experience of the Alentejo wine identity, within our strategy of reinforcing the presence of Alentejo wines in the Brazilian market".

The seventh edition of "The Best Wines of Alentejo Sommelier in Brazil - 2020" involved more than 120 sommeliers from all over the country, who participated in the regional qualifiers held in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Vitória and Florianópolis. At each stage, key concepts from the Alentejo wine region were presented, such as its history, terroir and wine profile.

In the qualifiers by city, made up of workshops, the participants had access to a series of information about wines and the Alentejo region, in addition to testing their knowledge in a theoretical test. With that, two best sommeliers from each city were selected for the second phase.

 In Portugal, the eight finalists had the opportunity to get to know the Alentejo, taking a closer look at the reality of Alentejo wines, their variety of grape varieties and the different terroirs.

For a week, Brazilians exchanged experiences with local producers and winemakers to deepen their knowledge of the region's wines. The final was played by Renato Vinhal, Gustavo Giacchero, Carolina Correa, Ettore Amendola, Caliandra Belniowski, Robson Venâncio, Mario Filaretti and Vinícius Mezadri.

The big winner, in addition to being appointed ambassador of the Alentejo Wines during the year 2020, received a special trophy from CVRA, symbolized by a crystal decanter engraved with the title "Best Wines of Alentejo Sommelier in Brazil 2020", followed by his name.