The Booklovers' Guide to Wine by Patrick Alexander

Author:Patrick Alexander [Alexander, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633536074
Publisher: Mango Media
Published: 2017-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

Portugal

Vines have been cultivated in Portugal for four thousand years, originally by the Tartessians (the original, possibly Celtic, inhabitants of Andalusia), followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, and, of course, the Romans. Most of the early wine production during classical times was concentrated in Southern Portugal, but in modern times, the wines of Northern Portugal have proved more important.

Portugal is England’s oldest ally, and the two countries have enjoyed a close relationship, cemented by wine, since the Treaty of Windsor, signed on May 9, 1386, and still valid in the twenty-first century. This Aliança Luso-Britânica, between England and Portugal, is the oldest alliance in the world that is still in force. Portugal has always been England’s Plan B, and whenever, because of war or trade disputes, the English have been unable to import wine from France, they have traditionally turned to Portugal, and as a result Portuguese wines have always enjoyed favorable tariffs in England compared to the French.

The English market was so important to the Portuguese economy that when local wine fraud threatened to destroy that market in 1756, the Marquis of Pombal created the Douro Wine Company to control and regulate the wine trade with what was in effect the world’s oldest wine appellation. In many respects, the controls introduced by the Marquis are still being enforced by the English, even today, as is discussed below in the section on Port wine.

Napoleon’s invasion of Spain made strategic and economic sense, but the reasons for his invasion of Portugal in 1807 are less obvious. Since the British were unable to get wine from France because of the war, they had reverted to their usual Plan B and were shipping wine out of Porto. The reason that Napoleon wasted troops and energy to invade a relatively remote and unimportant country was simply to deprive the English of their source of wine. The invasion, however, had the unforeseen consequence of making the Portuguese royal family flee Lisbon and move the court to Rio de Janeiro. As a result, their hitherto ignored colony of Brazil subsequently became the preferred market for Portuguese wines. Nonetheless, the English market for Port wine from the Douro remains extremely important, even today.

As part of the European Community, Portuguese wines have the following classifications which are displayed on their labels:

IPR – merely indicates the source of the wine

DOC – much like the French AOC appellation for superior wines

VQPRD - Vinhos de Qualidad Produzides em Regiao Determinada, which is the highest-level possible and usually indicates Vinho Verde, Dao, or Port wines

Vinho Verde: Vinho Verde is a wine region in the northwest corner of Portugal between the Douro river and the Spanish border of Rias Baixas in Galicia. Vinho Verde is the name of the wine produced in this region from a variety of local grapes. The name translates as “green wine” but actually means “young” wine, as it is bottled for immediate consumption. The most common varietal for making Vinho Verde is the Loueiro grape, but the best Vinho Verdes are made from the Alvarinho grapes, which are grown on both sides of the frontier.

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