Wallace Gonçalves Neves, sommelier at the Sheraton Rio de Janeiro Hotel, is the winner of the 4th edition of the "The Best Sommelier Wines of Alentejo in Brazil", promoted by CVRA - Alentejao Regional Winegrowing Commission. The finale was held this Friday in Convento do Espinheiro hotel in Evora.

In Portugal, after a theoretical test, the nine finalists of the competition carried out a practical examination by simulating the service of Alentejo wines in a restaurant context, at which time they had to answer directly to the questions of "clients" and jurors Francisco Mateus (president of the CVRA) , Célia Lourenço (collaborator of WINE magazine - Essência do Vinho) and Duarte Calvão (gastronomer, director of "Peixe em Lisboa").


             (Wallace Neves)

The first stage of the competition took place in the Brazilian cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Vitória and Porto Alegre. In workshop format, different participants had access to a set of information about the wines and the Alentejo region, and then verified their knowledge in a first theoretical test. This resulted in two winners per city, with the exception of Rio, where three sommeliers were found. Already in Portugal, the nine finalists had the opportunity to meet different regions of Alentejo wines in loco, having completed a tour of a week for the region. The course culminated in the finale, played by Maurício Roloff and Samuel Dias de Oliveira (Porto Alegre), Pedro Barradas Daltro-Santos, Raphael Zanon and Wallace Gonçalves Neves (Rio de Janeiro), Ademir Alves Fernandes Junior and Pedro Henrique Sproesser Menezes Senna (São Paulo), Mónica da Silva de Aquino and Márcia Lopes (Vitória).

Brazil is one of the main export markets for Alentejo wines. From 2012 to 2016, exports increased more than 20%. This initiative aims to increase the awareness and knowledge of Alentejo wines in the Brazilian restaurant sector.