The Brazilian market continues to be extremely important for the promotion of Portuguese wines and the two annual tastings that are taking place in the 25th and 27th of June in S. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, are evidence of ViniPortugal's bet in Brazil, included in a one million euros annual investment. In these two Annual Tastings Dirceu Viana Júnior will lead the seminar on "Appreciating the Diversity of Wines of Portugal". The Master of Wine was chosen to head this lecture, which takes center stage in the tastings, for this year he was assigned the task of selecting the 50 greatest wines for the Brazilian market. He is the only Master of Wine in South America and the only Portuguese-speaking one and is deeply knowledgeable of Portuguese wines, having taken advantage of his stay in Portugal this month to learn more about domestic wines, the various wine regions and the differentiating features of our grape varieties. In each of the Annual Tastings the invited audience - including journalists, distributors, importers and the general public - will have the possibility to taste around 400 wines present in the tasting. This event is divided into two schedules according to the type of audience: professionals from 4pm to 9pm and consumers from 6pm to 9pm. According to Jorge Monteiro, ViniPortugal's CEO "the Annual Tastings in the most important cities of the strategic markets where we are present correspond to the event profile that has the largest support of producers or importers. São Paulo is, annually, the stage of these tastings, alternating with Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. This year, in São Paulo, the event will take place in the former embassy of Portugal in Brazil, an emblematic building that lends its beauty to this event. Also Rio de Janeiro was chosen as it is the headquarters of the World Cup preparation". "Together with France and Italy Portugal is one of the major wine suppliers of the Brazilian market, being therefore very important to maintain a strong presence, competing not only with its European rivals but also with Chile and Argentina, countries that benefit from customs tax exemption (about 27%) in that market. We intend to consolidate, but especially to gain share in this market, without loss of positioning", advocates Viniportugal’s CEO.