Portuguese wine history

The 1703 Methuen Treaty furthered advanced English economic interest in Portugal by reducing tariffs and giving Portuguese wines preferential treatment in the British wine market over French wines. Around this time, the fortified wine known as Port was increasing in popularity in Britain. With that rising popularity also came an increase in wine fraud and adulteration. Less than scrupulous producers were adding sugar and elderberry juice to the wine to increase alcohol content and enhance colour more cheaply. Various spices such as black pepper, cinnamon and ginger were added to give the wine additional flavours. Grapes grown in other regions of Portugal and even Spain were trucked into Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia to be misrepresented as authentic Port from the Douro. As news of the scandal spread, sales and imports of Port wine in England dropped dramatically. Imports halved from a high 116,000 hectolitres in 1728 to 54,900 hectolitres in 1756. Worse still for the Port producers was the incredible drop in value from the wine markets of London.

In an attempt to provide evidence of quality for the once lucrative trade in Port prompted the Portuguese authorities to establish one of the world’s first protected designation of origin when Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal established boundaries and regulations for the production of authentic Port from the Douro in 1756. The efforts of the Portuguese government and the General Company helped restore the Port market and sales quickly rebounded. In 1799, 440000 hectolitres of port were imported by the English-an equivalent of five litres for every man, woman and child in England.

In the late 19th century the Phylloxera epidemic that devastated vineyards across Europe reached Portugal with similar devastation. Only vines planted in the sandy terrain of Colares, in the southern Algarve, escaped the destructive louse. Many wine regions never recovered and shifted their attention to other agricultural endeavours. Among the industries that took root was the raising and harvesting of cork material, with Portugal today being the world’s biggest producer. After WW2, Portugal remained poor and a largely agricultural economy. Portuguese wine makers were encouraged to join cooperatives in an attempt to keep the industry going but lack of knowledge created rustic wines that would only sell in the domestic market. One of the few success stories was the creation of wine brands like Mateus Rosé that were medium sweet wines with a slight fizz and the dry white wines from the north that proved popular for export markets across the world. Port sales have struggled ever since but after Portugal joined the EU, investment has increased and 34 years later, the transition to quality wines has finally given Portugal positive growth and new export markets.