It’s been a couple of months since the first #IWS – international winelover symposium. A great bunch of #winelover met up in Porto and went into the Douro. It’s taken me months to process this trip and the wines we got to taste. From the buzz online, in the Facebook group, on Instagram and on Twitter I see that others also have taken their time as well. Those wine, OMG, I still feel blessed!
The discussions held at #IWS were important and very good. They have led to a lot of work within the community. This work will result in a number of things for the community in a near future and in the long run. For this, I would like to thank all who could take part in the #IWS and all who followed our endeavors and have given input in other ways.
Right here and now though I would like to thank the wine producers that took us in, that made tastings possible and that completely spoiled us rotten.
![Pedro Silva Reis of Quinta das Carvalhas](https://www.winelover.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20160925_103446-700x527-300x226.jpg)
An extra big hand goes to out to Sogevinus who opened up the IWS with a fab tasting in Gaia – Tania you are a star 😀
Another extra big hand goes out to the great Dirk Niepoort that opened up his winery for us – not only to taste great wine but also to hold a big chunk of out symposium. Dirk, you are a fabulous host.
We would of course also like to give big thanks to Quinta das Carvalhas who presented a space for our last part of the symposium and for letting us go footloose on grapes.
![Dirk Niepoort](https://www.winelover.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Dirk-Niepoort-Demi-portvin-1948-700x391.jpg)
We also bow our heads to all producers that presented us with wines for tastings and at lunches and dinners – the #winelover community truly loves the Douro.
![Luiz Alberto & Sofia Prazeres of Quinta de S. José](https://www.winelover.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Luiz-1024x576.jpg)
I’ve been fortunate enough to taste many great port wines, many of them through Andre Ribeirinho (who also deserves big thanks for making this possible), but the tasting during #IWS will stand out as a beaker of light for a long time. The sum of these wines is pure pleasure and evidence of a fantastic winemaking tradition. I believe these tastings will live on forever in all our minds. Looking down on the page you find a few of the port wines we tasted.
A big cheer and thank you Douro!
Magnus Reuterdahl, king of the #winelover