Born in a family with strong roots in the Douro, Tiago studied Agricultural Engineering in the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), being distinguished with the awards “Foundation António de Almeida” and the “Merit Scholarship” given to the best student of the degree. After some periods of vintage training and a passage at the Institute of Viticulture of the Università Cattolica de Piacenza (Italy) he joins officially his family’s winery in 2002. In January 2011 Tiago concluded a PhD in Viticulture and Oenology at UTAD. Today he’s responsible for the production of all the Alves de Sousa family’s Douro & Port wines, with a key contribution to the “Producer of the Year” award won in 2006, for over 300 medals in International Wine Competitions and for some of the highest classifications of Portuguese wines in the main international publications. Along with his work in the wine production, his passion for science brought him back to the academic world as a Professor at the “International Vintage Master” (involving 8 Countries) and since 2020 as an Invited Professor of Oenology at UTAD. He’s also a judge in some of the most important international wine competitions (in the UK, China, Germany, Belgium, etc.). In 2017 Tiago’s work was distinguished with the “National Winemaker Award” (by the Honorary Order of Santa Maria de Ossónoba) and got a double nomination for the awards “Winemaker of the Year” (by mag. “Wine – A Essência do Vinho”) and “Winemaker Generation XXI” (by mag. “Paixão pelo Vinho” ). In 2020 he was distinguished with the “Oenology Award 2020 – Douro + Sustainable” by the Port & Douro Wine Institute.
