Vidigal Wines - Who are the 3 Figures?
One of our most loyal customers was intrigued by the three figures featuring on one of his new favourite wine finds. So he got in touch with Vidigal Wines directly to find out more.
Vidigal were kind enough to share their interesting story. Our customer shared this with us, and we wanted to share it with you.
A request from a new fan...
"I've been sampling your excellent wines from my good friends at Calais Wine Superstore & I LOVE them. They are a complete revelation to me, since I knew nothing about Portuguese wines before - except for Port of course.
Can I ask you: WHO are the "3 Autores" shown on the label of my favourite Douro??? I'd be very pleased to hear from you!"
And this is the response from our new favourite Portuguese wine producer -
"It's a pleasure to know that you love our wine.
On the left side, António Ventura, chief winemaker. One of the most renowned winemakers in Portugal, has won the Portugal Winemaker of the Year Award in 2006 and 2013. He has over 35 years of experience and several PhDs in different countries such as Germany and Australia. Both his father and grandfather before him were winemakers. Through his winemaker consulting services, he is said to be the man behind the biggest amount of wine bottles in Portugal.
In the middle, António Mendes Lopes, winery owner and also part of the winemaking team. António Mendes Lopes has a double citizenship (Portuguese-Danish). With over 30 years experience in the wine business, A. M. Lopes has created and developed an international wines importing company in Denmark. Through his work as an importer, he has acquired a vast knowledge about different origin wines. António Mendes Lopes participates actively in the preparation of the wines and he is the first big idealist behind the label designs and wine style concepts at Vidigal.
On the right side, Rafael Neuparth, resident winemaker has been with the Vidigal Wines team since 2003. Both families from his parents were related to the wine business, through vineyards and wine production. He has been a part of our successes, contributing with his expertise and born qualities as a winemaker, namely in terms of tasting skills. He has been a judge in many national and international wine competitions."
The email, from Luis at Vidigal wines, continues:
"Our purpose when we created this wine was to show that unlike the general idea that consumers have, a good wine is never the result of the geniality of a single person - a special gifted winemaker, with a transcendent talent, superior to all others. Perhaps, this would be what the majority prefers to hear because everybody seems to love “heroes”, but the truth is much more prosaic and earthy.
Wine quality is the result of the harmony and cooperation in a long chain of tasks: from the management of the soil in the vineyards to the management of the company, without forgetting the cleaning personnel, the bottling processes and the transport conditions – just to mention a few - until it reaches the final consumer table. In this endless chain of tasks, the key sentence is “no chain is stronger than its weaker link”. We always try not to have any weak link. Everybody gives its best. This wine collection is a homage to this idea."
Thank you Luis, for giving such an interesting and honest insight into the people behind your amazing wine collections. To anyone who hasn't yet sampled some of our new Portuguese wines, they are a must try in the tasting room on your next visit!
