Madeira Promotion Bureau plans to prolong the summer festivities as it gears up for the iconic Madeira Wine Festival, due to take place this year between 25th August and 15th September.
A highly symbolic ethnographic and cultural event, the Wine Festival takes place on the island at the end of the summer during the grape harvest season and celebrates the internationally acclaimed great quality wine Madeira is famed for producing.
Madeira’s wine is celebrated all over the island and events take place during the festival both in the streets of the island’s capital, Funchal, as well as in the vineyards and wine cellars of its rural regions. Attracting both tourists and locals, the festival honours a sector which is of extreme importance to the people of Madeira, who are very proud of the island’s 400-year wine heritage.
The festival will see the establishment of the Madeira Wine Lounge at Praça do Povo, where guests will be welcomed in a more cosmopolitan and contemporary environment to sample some of Madeira’s finest wines as well as thematic dinners inspired by the flavours and wines of each wine-producing municipality.
This area will also have a stage where guests are entertained with a host of musical performances and entertainment from regional music groups of different genres.
The lounge is set up to present the Madeira Wine Region to tourists and locals alike, enabling them to deepen their knowledge of Madeira wine and PDO “Madeirense” and PGI “Terras Madeirenses” wines (Madeiran whites, reds, rosés and sparkling wines) from cultivation to bottling.
The Madeira Wine Lounge is split into five specific areas: Madeira Wine Producers, with an emphasis on tasting Madeira’s wines and liqueurs; an area dedicated to gastronomy, where guests can sample the delicious delicacies of chef Júlio Pereira; an area dedicated to live music and DJ’s; an area dedicated to the “Madeira Wine Cycle”, organised by the Madeira Wine, Embroidery and Handicrafts Institute; and another new prime location area which is dedicated to the Celebration of Madeira Wines and will include wine masterclasses and talks with the producers in attendance.
Other highlights of the Madeiran Wine Festival include the 19th European Folklore Week, taking place between 25 and 29 August and organised by the Boa Nova Folklore and Ethnographic Group, which promotes intercultural coexistence and, on 7th September, visitors to Estreito will be treated to the Wine Harvest Festival, which recreates the hard but joyful work of the wine harvest and also includes a gastronomic element and great musical entertainment by various regional and national bands.
But if visitors are not able to make the visit to Estreito, the Madeira Wine Festival period hosts a series of musical concerts that take place across the region in stunning winery and sunset settings when the heat has died down, and the aromas intensify and guests can relax as they taste fortified wines whilst listening to invigorating live performances.