by Felicity Carter
British wine writer Charles Metcalfe has won the Louis Roederer International Wine Book of the Year 2008 award for his self-published Wine & Food Lover’s Guide to Portugal, which he wrote with his wife, Kathryn McWhirter.
Metcalfe, a regular contributor to Meininger’s Wine Business International, created the book’s concept after being approached by ViniPortugal. More than a wine guide, the book is also a food and travel guide to Portugal, lavishly illustrated with photographs. Researching the book took 11 separate trips and involved considerable personal sacrifice: "I put on about seven kilos eating at all the restaurants we tried,” admits Metcalfe.
The hardback book, designed by Sarah Moysey, was launched at Harrods in October 2007 and has so far sold more than 8,000 copies. "Winning this prize has been a wonderful acknowledgement of all our hard work,” says Metcalfe, adding that it was done with financial help from ViniPortugal.
The prestigious Louis Roederer Awards, announced on 8 September 2008, are given annually to wine writers in a range of categories. This year, the UK Regional Wine Writer of the Year 2008 was won by Will Lyons for articles in Scotland on Sunday; Online Wine Writer was won by Tom Cannavan; and Anthony Rose won International Wine Columnist of the Year. International Champagne Writer/Presenter was won by Tom Stevenson, while International Wine Feature Writer was won by Andrew Jefford: both writers have appeared in Meininger’s Wine Business International. The panel of judges was headed by Steven Spurrier.
