Portuguese Olive Oil awarded at Ovibeja

11 brands of Portuguese olive oil were distinguished at the 4th International Competition of Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Ovibeja Award - held on 20 and 21 March by Ovibeja House and Olive Oil - Olive Oil Association of Portugal.

Amongst the participants there were the countries with higher rates of olive oil exports, Portugal participated with 41 samples, Spain took 44 samples, Italy that participated with 5 samples, Chile with 4 samples and countries such as Greece, Slovenia, Uruguay and Germany. There were 100 samples in the contest in total and 11 bottles of Portuguese olive oil were distinguished along with 9 from Spain, 3 from Italy and one from Chile.

11 brands of portuguese olive oil distinguished in Ovibeja
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In the jury - recognized by the International Olive Council – there were 19 experts representing Portuguese producing regions, 10 Spanish specialists and a representative from the major producing countries. This contest has gained notoriety due to the quality and diversity of samples of oil that gathers, which put him the 2nd place in the ranking of the "Top 50 Oils of the World".

The 4th International Competition of Extra Virgin Olive Oil prizes will be delivered on the 3rd of May at a ceremony in the Ovibeja, in Alentejo Taste Pavilion. Visitors can taste the competing oils and participate in events in order to better understand the different characteristics of olive oil.

The “Smart Wine Glass”: the revolution in wine tasting is here

Smart Wine Glass - a portuguese innovation
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Technology advances continue to amaze us every day. This time the innovation is connected to the wine business, where two Portuguese entrepreneurs raise above the competition and won the prestigious WBIS Business award for their project: The “Smart Wine Glass”. The ceremony was held on the second day of the “Wine Business Innovation” summit which main objective is to propel creativity and entrepreneurship in the area.

The concept behind this intelligent glass promises to improve any wine tasting experience: it will remember a wine’s name even if you don’t. As a wine professional attending a wine event, you taste several wines, interact with many of the producers and sometimes you can have difficulty remembering every single name. “We implemented a prototype of a “Smart Wine Glass” that would help people easily collect information on tasted wines and visited tables at any wine event” explained André Ribeirinho at Wine Business Innovation.

But how will this “Smart Wine Glass” actually work?

Every glass at a wine event will have a small electronic chip applied to it and every table of the wine event will have a sensor. The consumer swipes their wine glass on the sensor and it is recorded. Later on, the consumer will receive an email with all the key information: which wines they tasted, the brands they visited and where to buy them.

The Portuguese team believes that this concept will improve the lives of wine professionals: “We’re very happy with the reaction to our project. We’ve been getting excellent feedback!” said André Ribeirinho.

See it to believe it.

The “Smart Wine Glass” will be implemented for the first time at Rios Vinhos Portugal, a wine eventheld by two media giants: the Brazilian newspaper O Globo and the Portuguese newspaper Público, over the 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th of May in Rio de Janeiro.