José Bento dos Santos awarded Medal of Cultural Merit

At the ceremony to award the Lisbon Medal of Cultural Merit, in the Salão Nobre of the Paços do Concelho, the mayor of Lisbon (CML) praised Bento dos Santos' "respect" for nature, the land and time: "His passion for growing vines, for producing wine, more than a business, is truly a philosophy of life."

José Manuel Bento dos Santos graduated in Chemical-Industrial Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico in 1970.

In 1990, he started a wine-growing project at Quinta do Monte d'Oiro, in Alenquer, producing wines of "great quality and international prestige", winning several prizes and awards. His wines are sold in 17 countries and are on the wine lists of some of the best restaurants in the world.

He is president of the Portuguese Academy of Gastronomy, founding president of the European Community of Gastronomic Culture and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Gastronomy (which he has already chaired). He was awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Merit by the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic (in 2006), and promoted to the rank of Commandeur of the "Ordre du Mérite Agricole" in France in 2007.

Since the 1980s, José Bento dos Santos has worked with the Lisbon City Council to promote gastronomy and was part of the team that launched and drew up the regulations for the "Lisboa à Prova" competition, serving as a jury member for several years. He was awarded "Most influential gastronome" at the "Peixe em Lisboa" gastronomy festival.

For Bento dos Santos, the Lisbon City Council "is concerned, as a whole, that there is something to be done about food". The awarding of this medal, he added, "has this meaning, it has much more meaning than the personal aspect", in the sense that "there is a public entity that is concerned" with "publicizing and, eventually, rewarding something that is done in the area of food".