1973 - Born in Luanda, Angola, to a Portuguese mother and Angolan father.

1975 - Moved to Loivos, where my mother and all her family were born. Loivos is a small village in the north of Portugal, Trás-Os-Montes region. The years that followed were my first between grapevines and barrels of wine.

1984 - Moved to Ericeira, a fishing town one hour north of Lisbon, Portugal. My first contact with the Ocean. Lived there with my parents who were responsible for watching over two factories that had been closed. We lived in one of the factories.

1985 - Moved to Queluz, a "dormitory" city in the outskirts of Lisbon.

1987 - Moved back to Luanda, Angola. My father had become disappointed with life in Portugal and the lack of opportunity there at the time.  Enrolled in Escola Portuguesa de Luanda where I made great friends. For the next three years experienced the best and the worst that communism has to offer.

1990 - Moved to New Bedford, state of Massachusetts, USA. Learned to speak English... still working on it.

1991 - Graduated from New Bedford High School with highest honors.  Enrolled at University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Suddenly the highest honors weren't much of help... it was difficult to adjust to the college pace with full-blown classes in English.

1994 - Got my first paying jobs... secretary at the Luzo American Soccer Association in Fall River, MA and technician at the UMASS Dartmouth auditorium. Along with one of my best friends, started the first ever radio show dedicated to non-traditional Portuguese music in the Boston area.

1996 - Graduated from UMASS Dartmouth with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. Hired by a telecommunications company as their first test engineer. My American dream begins to take shape.

1998 - Married Claudia Montez, my beautiful wife. Bought my first house. (All I need now is the dog and the dream will be complete)

2000 - Several work trips to Costa Rica.

2003 - Became an American Citizen. My first attempt at skiing... did not graduate from the bunny slopes up in Quebec.  My first daughter Sofia Isabelle was born.

2004 - Visited Tokyo, Japan, incredibly enough... my second time working in Tokyo in less than 5 years.

2005 - After a 20 year hiatus, got my hands dirty again and made wine. Great to be a kid again.

2007 - My daughter Gabriella Grace was born. My perspective on the meaning of life and what I'm doing with it begins to change.  Work trip to India... Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai. Started working part-time as cellar rat/winemaker at Running Brook Vineyards in North Dartmouth.

2008 - Launched Travessia, my own micro-winery, in downtown New Bedford, Massachusetts.

2011 - Family re-plants old vineyard in Loivos (Portugal), about 6.4ha (~16 acres).

2012 - Still here... still dreaming.

e: marco at travessiawine dot com