On April 26th, in Santarém, the General Assembly of the Association of Portuguese Wine Municipalities (AMPV) voted in favor of the Serra d’Ossa region as “Wine City 2025”.
An award shared among five municipalities, which came together to carry out the candidacy. Estremoz, Borba, Vila Viçosa, Alandroal and Redondo are responsible for its success and for bringing this “award” to Alentejo.
As President of the Alentejo Regional Tourism Entity, José Santos, to journalists, congratulates the local authorities “for the initiative they took and for their ability to realize that if the candidacy were joint it would have a greater chance of being successful”.
“I believe it is excellent news for this area of Central Alentejo and excellent news for Alentejo”, reinforced the president, adding that it is “a very important opportunity for us, to continue consolidating this territory as an attraction”.
He also mentioned that the main motivations for visiting the region are, “undoubtedly”, those that “revolve around the culture of vineyards, wine and wine tourism”.
However, José Santos did not fail to highlight the importance of “a diverse program” that “adds value to the events that are already taking place”. “We have the ability to create a communication dynamic that gives visibility, that gives notoriety to these municipalities in Serra da Ossa as a whole”, he concluded.
Inácio Esperança – Vila Viçosa
For us it was very good because it effectively falls on the day before Évora, the European Capital of Culture, where we obviously have a lot of visibility and we will try to have more each year. And these five municipalities are trying to build a brand around Serra d’Ossa, which is something that unites them.
It is an extremely important and excellent product. We have two demarcated regions around Serra d’Ossa. Redondo and Borba, one of which was the first demarcated region in the country.
At the level of this type of wine, of course. We had the support of the Alentejo Regional Wine Commission (CVRA) and the Technical Association of Alentejo Winegrowers (ATEVA), to whom I also thank.
We are already preparing the activities that are in the plan planned for next year, to be able to give visibility not only to this territory, but also to the product that is wine and try to help in this way.
The wine effectively has to be sold and exported and has to create wealth not only in the restaurant where it is sold, but also in the land from which it is extracted.
At the moment, producers have a problem on their hands with the flow of wine and some difficulties that arise due to legislative issues.
Alcohol consumption was demonized. Obviously, alcohol consumption is not good when consumed in excess, but it is excellent when consumed in moderation and that is what we should focus on.
We must not demonize wine, burdening its production with taxes and not allowing farmers to withdraw a sufficient margin to maintain production, so that they can make some profit in the sense of being able to promote, explore and sell this wine.
I also appealed to the Secretary of State for Tourism to renew the issue of the wine route and to give it strength and allow people to travel along this route, which is a bit stopped. It is also necessary to revive it.
João Grilo – Alandroal
It is a very important aspect for these five municipalities and the region. It is a sign of recognition also on the part of all the other municipalities that make the election that the region has great significance in wine production and in the entire history linked to them and that it also deserves this projection
It is important to understand that we are talking about the geographic territory of five municipalities that share the mountain as an identity and that within that territory there are large and historic producers.
If it is true that there are municipalities with more historical affirmation, there are also those that are growing, where vineyards are taking on a new role and wine tourism is taking on a new role.
It is a very important engine for the promotion of the region, above all. Promotion of an activity that is structural from an economic point of view. All activity associated with wine tourism is structuring for the region, deserves to be promoted and the region deserves to be better known for this too. I believe that it will be another factor of attractiveness, to make these five municipalities known to a part of the country that does not yet know them, and that this will translate into future dynamics from an economic point of view, in terms of visits to the headquarters, the creation of new economic dynamics. Therefore, these events naturally have a cultural and entertainment component, but they also have an important economic dynamic component that should not be neglected.
António Anselmo – Borba
We made an application together which is the only thing, in my opinion, that has any idea of being. Borba is wine, Estremoz has wine, Redondo has wine, Vila Viçosa heritage, Alandroal heritage. That’s what counts.
Each land has its own identity, but what counts is the promotion of wine from this area, which is fabulous. I am convinced that we will have great success.
Working together is the best thing there can be. If we think that in isolation we are something, that’s all talk. What matters is that these five municipalities will promote this brutal region of Alentejo. Together we are much stronger
The important thing is good goals for everyone. Producers, restaurants, gastronomy, in short, we have so many good things. We have cheeses, we have olive oils. That’s what we’re going to promote. Mainly wine and associated products linked to wine.
David Galego – Round
What is important in this context is once again our ability to jointly achieve projects that we are going to carry out for the benefit of our region and which, naturally, when carried out in partnership, will then have much more impact, because they cover a wider population.
In terms of wines, obviously, we are talking about Redondo, Borba and Estremoz, recognized for their wines in Portugal and beyond its borders, but also the municipalities of Alandroal and Vila Viçosa, both of which also have wineries in their territories, even smaller in size, but with a lot of heritage, gastronomy and everything that wine brings.
Wine is linked to many areas. There is a series of cultural and tourist diversity here in which wine is present.
Then there is also the economic aspect. In the municipality of Redondo, we are talking about 13 wine producers with one producing wine. We are talking about around 20 to 25 million bottles of wine produced with almost 3000 hectares of vineyards, with more than 200 products from small grape producers and many, many jobs that are associated with this activity, which is central to the territory.
This Capital of Wine brings even greater recognition of the quality of wine from this region, but also the wine tourism projects that have been developed and we ended up, with this award from the City of Wine in 2025, promoting still much stronger than the quality we have in this offer.
The economic aspect is the one that is most relevant. We know that tourism already represents a significant part of the turnover of our wineries that have this value and will naturally bring many more people to visit the territory.
The wine sales market is extremely competitive. Back to talking much more frequently and with much more emphasis on the quality of the wines that are produced in Redondo, Estremoz, Borba, Vila Viçosa, Alandroal. This also means that the demand for wines from this region will naturally increase as publicity increases and these activities are carried out.
José Sádio – Estremoz
An application that included strong collaboration and I want to congratulate and thank all of them. I would also like to thank the trust of many Chambers in Alentejo.
A victory for more than Serra d’Ossa. It’s a victory for Alentejo and our region
It was a source of pride, the work that was done together with these five municipalities, with the Tourism Region entity, with CVRA, with ATEVA.
I think that more than one city, I think the whole of Alentejo won.
We will have the opportunity to show not only the richness and excellence of our wine, which is the essence of the candidacy, but also our tourist, cultural and architectural potential.
