Seventy happy wine lovers packed the garrafeira of Restaurant Veneza on Saturday, 14th November, to learn about the wines of Herdade da Maroteira, enjoy Veneza’s delightful food and raise funds to help autistic Portuguese children have a very special summer break next year.
Organised by the Rotarian Wine Appreciation Fellowship and Lions International, there were Rotarians from clubs in Porches, Silves, Almancil and Estoi present, together with members of the Loulé Lions Club and many other friends.
Producer Philip Mollet presented his delicious wines, together with assistance from Anthony Doody. It was an amazing group effort, with Philip and his distributor Ruí de Morais from Aviworld each donating €25 for every bottle of wine purchased. Two others present matched that offer, bringing the total per bottle to €1.00. Following a rousing raffle for bottles of premium wine, Philip then offered a weekend for 4 at one of his tourist cottages near Redondo as an additional raffle prize, setting off another raffle ticket buying frenzy. Jan Edjeback was the lucky winner.
As the final proceeds were being counted, the owner of Restaurant Veneza, Manuel Janeiro, stepped forward and made a sizable cash contribution. This brought the total raised to just over €2000, an amount that will sponsor 6 or 7 children for summer camp. What a great result!
Many thanks to all who participated and contributed so generously. Watch for photos next year of the happy campers.
