The high point of the festival was the awards ceremony, which was compèred by Ms Katja Pišot and took place at the Kempinski Palace Portorož hotel on 28 December, attracting numerous visitors.

The evening programme, which was arranged by the Portorož Tourist Association, included a concert of arias from the famous operettas which were sung by the Gruppo di Belcanto musicians from Bologna. A pleasant atmosphere was also created by dance couples, and members of the Rosa Klementina Association, who were dressed in colourful costumes dating back to the beginning of the previous century. The sky was lit up by lanterns.

At the second Sparkling Wine Festival, the Slovenian order of the knights of wine assessed samples of 20 sparkling wines under the leadership of Mr Mojmir Wondra, Phd, from the Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty.

Nine major Slovene wine producers took part in the event: Vinakras (Marmorna/Marble and Kraška/Karst sparkling wines), Istenič (N°1 – the 2008 vintage, N°1, Prestige extra brut – the 2008 vintage, and Gourmet rosé – the 2006 vintage), Vinakoper (Capris and Capris sec), Rebula (Malvazija and Vitovska sparkling wines), Agroind Vipava (Zelen and Theodosius sparkling wines), P&F Jeruzalem (Muškatna/Mustard, Sauvignon and Rosé sparkling wines), Štanfel (Lucija sparkling wine), Radgonske gorice (Zlata radgonska/Radgona Gold sec and brut sparkling wines) and Marinič (Gisela and Gisela rosé sparkling wines).

As the event came to an end, the order of the knights of wine and the mayor of the Municipality of Piran Mr Peter Bossman announced the winner of the year 2013 – the N°1 sparkling wine (the 2008 vintage), produced by the Istenič family.

K. S., translated by D. M.