These awards appeared for the first time this year, as part of the sixth edition of Port Wine Day, an event run by the Institute of Douro and Port Wines (IVDP) that began on Saturday with a great tasting of 2017 vintages and ended on Tuesday with the Douro + Sustainable dinner at the Lamego Museum.

Real Companhia Velha won the Viticulture category award, winemaker Luísa Borges won the Revelation category, Mateus Nicoulau de Almeida the Winemaking category and Quinta do Vallado the Wine Tourism category.

The IVDP said out that "Real Companhia Velha has more than two decades of experience in the recovery of native Douro grape varieties, some of which are unknown, others little researched and many of which are heading towards extinction". The award is a tribute to the "research and development work carried out by the company's viticulture and winemaking team".

Winemaker Luísa Borges, who was awarded the Revelation Prize, came to the Douro region at the age of 23 to lead the Vieira de Sousa company, a "family project" that began producing Port Wine in 2008 and five years later shone with a 2011 vintage at an IVDP tasting.

Mateus Nicolau de Almeida distinguished himself with "several projects from scratch, which include an underground winery, sustainable winemaking and less conventional agricultural practices" and his Trans Douro Express (red) and Eremita (white) wines "reveal a Douro that is full of potential in the field of viticulture and terroirs".

The winemaker explains that the Trans Douro Express seeks to reflect "the climatic characteristics" of the sub-regions of the Douro, Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior, while the Eremitas, white wines from distinct parcels and a single grape variety, ‘rabigato’, expresses "different characteristics of the soil of origin".

Quinta do Vallado was distinguished in the Wine Tourism category due to the "transformation of the manor house dating from 1733 into a wine hotel" located in Baixo Corgo, and the subsequent opening of the Casa do Rio Hotel in Vila Nova de Foz Côa.

The two hotel units "offer a wine tourism project of the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira and have a common denominator in the "respect for nature, preserving the integrated biological processes essential to ecosystems".

The IVDP said that this year's edition of Port Wine Day aimed to "celebrate the 263 years of the Douro Demarcated Region which, in addition to the terraces, vineyards and river, also encompasses the vast architectural and monumental heritage".