Association of Portuguese Wine Municipalities celebrates 17 years

The Association of Portuguese Wine Municipalities (AMPV) celebrated its 17th anniversary on Tuesday, April 30th, at Casa do Campino, in Santarém.

The ceremony was marked by the inauguration of the National Headquarters, the presentation of the Prestige Awards, the election of the City of Wine 2025 and the delivery of membership plaques to 25 new associated municipalities.

The new AMPV National Headquarters is located at Casa do Campino, in Santarém, in a space provided by the Santarém City Council, which consists of an office, meeting room and atrium.

The facilities were inaugurated by the Mayor of Santarém, Ricardo Gonçalves, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, João Moura, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Pedro Machado and the president of AMVP, Luís Encarnação.

Celebrating 17 years since its establishment, AMPV registers the admission of over 20 new associated municipalities. In the association’s history, there is no memory of such a significant number of municipalities joining in the short space of a quarter

At the moment, the association has c142 associated municipalities, making it the second largest association of municipalities in Portugal, after the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities itself.

The Association of Portuguese Wine Municipalities (AMVP) admitted the entry of 18 new members, at the ceremony held in Santarém.

In the association’s journey, there is no record of such a significant number of municipalities joining in a short space of time and it is another firm step towards the objective set by the organization of reaching, by the end of the mandate, 50% of the total number of Portuguese municipalities.

“By the end of the mandate we want to reach 50% of Portuguese municipalities. We have 142 but we have a series of municipalities that are about to join and that have already demonstrated their interest in being part of this association, although the accession process is, at times, slow and bureaucratic”, said AMVP general secretary José Rue.

The association is currently represented by municipalities from all regions, from Alentejo, through Ribatejo, to the islands, being the second largest association of municipalities in Portugal, after the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities.

The association currently has a series of initiatives that are carried out throughout the year, from the “wine city”, which involves the development of an annual program of cultural actions linked to wine, to the “National Rural Song Festival”, which aims to encourage the composition of musical works related to the rural world, up to the “wine cities” competition, which aims to promote wines from different parts of the country.

This association has grown, in the words of José Arruda, “slowly and steadily” and offers municipalities “the advantage” of working in a network that aims to “defend, promote and value the country’s territories with a wine-growing tradition”.

José Arruda reveals that the association still hopes to achieve a series of objectives for the coming years, including creating a ‘website’ where people can consult all the initiatives organized by the municipalities that make up the association and creating a working group, made up of the ministries of Agriculture, Tourism, Economy and Culture, for the vineyard to be considered cultural and intangible heritage.

In addition to the inauguration of the new headquarters, the election of the City of Wine 2025 was also held, which will be held in the Serra d’Ossa region, in a joint initiative between five municipalities: Borba, Estremoz, Redondo, Vila viçosa and Alandroal.

The ceremony was also marked by the prestigious AMPV awards, which distinguish entities and personalities for their work in the areas of wine, wine tourism and the rural world.

The entities and personalities distinguished this year were Leonor Freitas (Personality of the Year Award), CNOIV – National Commission of the International Organization of Vine and Wine, within the scope of the 100 years of the OIV (Entity of the Year Award), Museu do Pico (Museum Award of Wine), and Essência do Vinho (Wine Tourism Award).