The ceremony took place on Saturday night at FATACIL, in Lagoa.

Awards for excellence were attributed to the Marquês dos Vales Grace – Viognier, 2010 white wine, the Onda Nova – Alicante Bouschet, 2009 red wine, and the Alvor – Selection 2010 rosé wine.

Four red wines (including Adega do Cantor), three whites (Adega do Cantor, Quinta do Morgado da Torre and Quinta dos Vales) and two rosé wines were awarded gold medals, with a further four reds, one white and one rosé being awarded silver medals.

Organised by the Algarve Regional Board for Agriculture and Fishing (DRAP Algarve), 43 regional wines from 12 Algarvian producers were put forward in the competition.

Lino Camacho of DRAP Algarve congratulated the regional producers and said: “The Vinhos dos Algarve competition is a stimulus for quality wine production and the consumption of Algarvian wines, reaffirming the importance of wine and vines within the region’s cultural heritage.”

The awarded wines were sampled and selected by judges wearing blindfolds, following international rules set by the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV).

The judging panel was presided over by acclaimed wine critic, oenologist and international judge Aníbal Coutinho.

“I applaud the producers’ endeavours, their creativity and the continuous improvement in the quality of Algarve wines”, he said, adding: “The result couldn’t be more encouraging, an attribution of prizes spread among the majority of the producers which reveals a noticeable rise in the average quality of wines.”