International and national wine experts will evaluate the excellence of Portuguese during the 2018 edition of Wines of Portugal Challenge. Producers who want to compete for a place among the best have until April 20 to submit their application. The winners will be known at a gala that will be held on May 18 at the Beato Convent in Lisbon. To apply for the wine competition, producers should access the website http://www.concursovinhosdeportugal.pt/ and register the samples. The rules of Wines of Portugal Challenge are available on the website. The first phase of the Wines of Portugal Challenge will be held between 14 and 16 May at the CNEMA in Santarém, where each wine will be judged by a jury composed of specialists in national and international wines, among winemakers, journalists, sommeliers and other entities linked to wine. It is based on the choices made in the first phase of the Competition that the Grand Jury will meet on May 17 and 18 in the IVV to award the Great Gold Medals and the Best of the Year. The big winners of the Wines of Portugal Challenge will be known in the gala that will be held at the Convento do Beato in Lisbon, starting at 7:30 p.m. The Grand Jury of the Wines of Portugal Challenge is composed by international renowned specialists. Canadian John Szabo MS, US Evan Goldstein, Dirceu Vianna Junior MW and ASI President Andrés Rosberg will join Luís Lopes, president of the Competition, and Bento Amaral in the arduous task of deciding the winners of the 2018 edition. Last year were the competition 1387 wines that collected 350 medals, 31 with Great Gold medals, 109 Gold and 210 Silver. The Wines of Portugal Challenge is a ViniPortugal’s initiative that aims to be a meeting point and exchange of experiences between producers and specialists from all over the world reaffirming the commitment to the national production of quality wine with the intention of assert themselves as products of excellence in export markets. The wines awarded with the Gold and Grand Gold Medals in Wines of Portugal Challenge will have a guaranteed presence in international events of excellence in 2018, such as ProWine Shanghai, Japan's Romantic Encounter, Hamburg Campus and the Warsaw Trials , Luanda, Zurich, New York and Oslo, as well as tasting times throughout the year at the La Cité du Vin Museum.