The quality of the Portuguese wines has once again been recognized in another edition of the Wines of Portugal Challenge. A total of 369 medals, of which 36 in the category Great Gold, 126 in Gold and 207 in Silver attest to the excellence of the national wine. Douro was the region that received the highest gold medals from the jury, collecting 7 medals, followed by Dão wine region with 6 medals and Alentejo with 5 medals. The winners were known this Friday evening at the awards ceremony of the Wines of Portugal Challenge, which was held in the Convento do Beato, and attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Capoulas Santos, and the Secretary of State Agriculture and Alimentation, Luís Medeiros Vieira. The best prizes in competition, distinguish the best among the 369 award-winning wines, were distributed through the regions of Porto and Douro, Alentejo, Vinhos Verdes, Tejo, Beira Atlântico and Minho: "The Best of the Year" Touriga Nacional Tinto (2015) | Dop Douro | Producer: Quinta do Crasto, S.A "The Best Fortified" DR Porto 30 Years | DOP Licoroso Porto | Producer: Agri-Roncão Vinícola Lda. "The Best Red Varietal" Touriga Nacional Tinto (2015) | Dop Douro | Producer: Quinta do Crasto, S.A. "The Best Special White" Falcoaria Late Harvest (2014) | Dop of the Tagus | Producer: Casal Branco Sociedade de Vinhos S.A. "The Best White Varietal" Alvarinho Deu La Deu Premium (2015) | DOP Vinhos Verdes | Producer: Adega Cooperativa e Regional de Monção, CRL "The Best White Varietal" Aveleda Alvarinho Family Reserve (2016) | IGP Minho | Producer: Aveleda, S.A. "The Best Blend Red Wine" Passadouro Reserva Tinto (2015) | Dop Douro | Producer: Quinta do Passadouro Sociedade Agrícola Lda "The Best Blend White Wine" Private Selection White (2016) | IGP Alentejano | Producer: Esporão Sales & Marketing "The Best Sparkling Wine" Flutt White Sparkling (2015) | IGP Beira Atlântico | Producer: PositiveWine Lda. More than 160 national and international judges evaluated the 1307 wines, produced by 372 producers, who were in competition. All Portuguese wine regions were awarded with medals. The complete list of winners is available on the Wines of Portugal Challenge website. Jorge Monteiro, ViniPortugal CEO, makes a positive assessment of the 2018 edition of the Wines of Portugal Challenge. "The Wines of Portugal Challenge is an excellent opportunity to promote the Vinhos de Portugal / Wines of Portugal brand. Over the course of a week, opportunities are created to make known to international experts the diversity of quality wines that Portugal produces, not only through the evaluation moments of the Competition but also through direct contact with the economic agents, in wine dinners and visits to producers, as well as the realization of master classes dedicated to Portuguese wine ". "The Competition is one of the great bets of the Promotion Plan that ViniPortugal develops throughout the year. To encourage national producers to bet on the continuous improvement of the quality and differentiation of their wines, to encourage them to strengthen communication and negotiation skills and to continue to raise the awareness of Portuguese wines among influential foreign decision-makers and decision-makers to our country are the objectives of this initiative. We believe that this is the way for Portugal to continue to affirm itself as the next hotspot of the international panorama of wine, "concludes Jorge Monteiro.