Minas gains space in wine production

Uberlândia will be the first city in Minas Gerais to host the Brazil in the Cup event, in May, aimed at valuing the diversity and quality of national production

Coffee, cheese, sweets, cachaça, beer… and why not wine. In the last decade, the lands of Minas Gerais that enchant so much with their flavors and delights have gained space in national gastronomy as well as the new productive terroir for fine wines. The state currently has at least 48 wineries in operation or in the structuring phase and is considered the seventh largest national wine producer.

A favorable scenario that has increasingly attracted the attention of investors, consumers and wine lovers, especially those who encourage harvests made in Brazil. This is the case of Brazil’s organizers in the Cup, who chose Minas Gerais as a reference point to expand one of the events that most values ​​national production. “Brazil in the Cup was born with the aim of showing the diversity of Brazilian wines and also putting the end consumer in direct contact with the producers”, says the sommelier and one of the event organizers, Emerson Rodrigo Greggio.

Uberlândia will be the first city in Minas Gerais to host a Brazilian edition of the Cup, which has been held since 2018 in Campinas (SP) and focuses on showcasing the diversity and quality of Brazilian wines. Brazil in the Cup will take place on May 18th at Diamond Place Eventos, from 5pm to 10pm, in a tasting and product sale format. In this first edition in Minas Gerais, Brasil na Taça will feature up to 20 wine exhibitors, in addition to an area dedicated to local artisanal gastronomy. There will be more than 150 labels for tasting. The program also includes a business round, two master classes with winemakers and a visit to a winery in the region (these last activities will be on different days).

“Brazil at the Cup is a great opportunity for the public to have contact with wines from other Brazilian regions and to share their sensory perceptions with producers, winemakers, sommeliers, resellers and many other wine professionals”, points out Emerson Greggio. “For the producer, the event is interesting because it allows them to have the support of what the consumer is feeling about their product”, adds sommelier Rodrigo Raniero, owner of the Uainecave store and who formed a partnership with Greggio to bring the event to Uberlândia .

Tickets for the event are now available on the Sympla website (see address below). The audience is limited. Each participant will receive a R$30 voucher that can be redeemed towards a purchase, in addition to a personalized event cup.

According to the organizers, the choice of Uberlândia to host the first edition of the event outside the State of São Paulo is due to its strategic location, audience profile and the diversity of the local economy. The intention is to expand Brazil in the Cup to regions far from the metropolises and which have potential and interest in wine growing. “Wine tourism is a market that has gained a lot of space in Brazil. And we have a great advantage, in most wineries it is still the producer who receives the customer”, says Emerson Greggio.

The Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba region already has wineries in the municipalities of Araxá, Cruzeiro da Fortaleza, Patos de Minas, Patrocínio, Serra do Salitre, Sacramento and Uberaba. Some of them are already a hit with the most demanding palates. Sabina Syrah, from the Sacramentos Vinífer winery, for example, was chosen as the best Brazilian red wine in 2023 by Guia Descorchados. The brand had already reached first place the previous year.

And the success of wine production in this region attracts more and more investors. In Uberlândia, the main city in the region, there is already a large local businessman starting his activity.

Mines
Wine production in Minas Gerais occupies a relevant position in the Brazilian winemaking scenario, especially due to a peculiar factor that revolutionized the sector. Minas was the first state in Brazil where the double pruning or inverted pruning technique was applied to the production of wine grapes. The method was prescribed by Epamig. Thus, the inversion of the vine cycle allowed the harvest to be carried out in winter, as happens in wineries in the Northern Hemisphere.

This mechanism allowed Uberaba, in the middle of the Cerrado, to have its first winery, Arpuro. Other regions of the state and Brazil where temperatures were a barrier to viticulture have adopted double pruning. With investment in technology and geographic diversity – soil, climate and altitude – Brazil is able to produce grapes all year round. “We are the only one in the world that produces grapes all year round. This makes Brazil a new world within the new world of wine”, says Greggio.

Service
Event: Brazil in the Cup
When: May 18
Time: from 5pm to 10pm
Where: Diamond Place Events – Rua Diamante, 477, Jardim Patrícia
Tickets: https://www.sympla.com.br/evento/brasil-na-taca-uberlandia-2024/2308378