Most of the studies done indicate that the vine is likely to have been introduced in Iberia's Peninsula by the “Tartésios”, about 2000 years b.C., in what is now the Portuguese regions of Tejo's valley and Sado. This civilization was one the most ancient inhabitants of the Peninsula, and is believe to have been well developed. Among the most important products present in their commercial trades was undoubtedly the wine, being used occasionally as currency. These were the seeds for the development of a world wide unique wine culture and tradition, that has grown and regressed, deteriorated and evolved, in parallel with the country itself. In fact, the wine culture is so attached to the national identity, that the simplest glance through the wine history in Portugal will necessarily mean a glance over the country's own history, victories and losses, troubled politics, battles, etc.
What is today the Portuguese territory, was inhabited in ancient times by many different civilizations, and all of them, with no exception, had a determinant influence on the course of evolution of wine making in Portugal . The fall of Tatésios was followed by (around 10 th century b.C.) the raise of the Fenícios in Iberia's Peninsula , having the former taken over the Tartésios' trades. Due to its commercial potential, the wine production was not only maintained but also developed, having some vine species been brought from the Orient to be farmed in the western Atlantic coast of the Peninsula. With the Greeks (in the Peninsula since the 7th century b.C.), not only the vine culture was developed but also the art of wine making. In Alcácer do Sal (150km south of Lisbon), at the necropolis still present today, it is possible to see a greek “bell crater”, where the wine was deluded with water before being drank. Around the 6th century b.C., it is believed that the several vine species were brought to the Peninsula by the Celts, especially in the northwest. Along with vine species, they have brought acknowledgment about cooperage, having it been after them that the wooden barrels started being used instead of the clay “ânforas” . From the crossing between Celts and Iberos, and through mutual sharing of culture, a new civilization was formed, the Celtiberos (4th century b.C.), whom also gave great importance to the wine and its culture. The Celiberos are the ascendants of the Lusitanos, people which the Portuguese descend from. When the Romans tried to invade the Peninsula in 194 b.C., they were stopped by the Lusitanos, in a region located in the north of what is today the Portuguese territory, named Lusitânia. The Peninsula's defence was only broken in 15b.C., year marked the beginning of the Roman occupation. The Roman presence and influence in wine-making is one of the easiest to witness still today, for there are many places that survived the troubled times that followed the Roman domination. The Romans developed and modernized the farming of the vines, introduced new species, as well as new techniques, and upgraded ancient local techniques. During the Roman occupation, the volume of production suffered a substantial increase, to answer to the increasing need for wine in Rome . With the decadence of the Empire, Rome lost Lusitânia for the Sueves and Visigods (what is known as the Barbaric Invasions) during 585 a.C..
In the 8 th century, and for five centuries to come, Iberia's Peninsula was under Muslim domain (in the territory that today corresponds to Portugal). According to the Islamic law, it is forbidden the consumption of fermented drinks, although for economical reasons (there were taxes applied to the traded goods, and the wine was one of the biggest shares in the exportations), and to keep the social peace, the Emir of Cordoba, then governor of Lusitânia, did not forbid it. Like this, Lisbon was able to remain the wine trade centre. The Almorávidas and Almoadas had power over the Peninsula during the 10 th and 11 th centuries. Their tribes were descendants of more intolerant and radical Muslim tribes, with more literal interpretation of the Coran. Since wine was forbidden by the Islamic law, so the wine production suffered a natural regression. Nevertheless, between the 12 th and 13 th centuries, wine was undoubtedly the main product exported. Documents show that vineyards and wine itself, were highly valuable goods, in what is today Portugal, being the main items in donation documents or presents among the richest families. Example of this is a document that establishes a donation of a vineyard to the Monastery of Lorvão, between 950 and 954 – near Coimbra in the centre of Portugal , this monastery had the outmost religious importance both for Portugal and Europe ).
The Christian re-conquering, which ended the Muslim domain over what is today Portuguese territory, had as a consequence the destruction of the greater part of the vineyards (due to the generalized state of battle). However, the foundation of Portugal in 1143 by D. Afonso Henriques, as well as the conquest of the full length of the Portuguese territory (Portugal is the European country with oldest unaltered frontiers), created the stability condition for religious, military and monastic orders to settle. Greater examples of these orders are the Templários, Hospitalários, Santiago de Espada, and Cister (the already mentioned Monastery of Lorvão was the first home of the female congregation of Cister in Portugal, after deep reform in 1205 by D. Teresa and D. Sancha, both granddaughters of D. Afonso Henriques, Portugal's first King). Extensive areas of farming were given to these Orders with the objective of organizing the agriculture panorama of the country, widely affected by the war period. Vineyards were one of the most developed sectors. Within the religious communities, wine had a vital role in the ceremonies, hence the greater interest shown by churches and monasteries in possessing vineyards. Wine became once again a part of the daily life of the, now, Portuguese people, becoming as well an important income source for the lords of the lands.
Portuguese wines are by now widely known in the North of Europe. Moscatel de Setúbal was already exported to England in very large amounts in the second half of the 14th century (as documents of 1381 show); Bucelas wine (close from Lisbon) is a frequent reference in Shakespeare (1564 / 1613), and in his play “Henry IV”, referred to Madeira Wine as “precious essence”; The Duke of Clarance, brother of Edward IV (King of England from 1461 to 1483), when sentenced to death for conspiring against his brother (18 th of February of 1478), chose to be drowned in a barrel of Madeira Wine (Malsiva da Madeira).
Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Maritime Discoveries, Portuguese wines become known and appreciated throughout the world. The ships that leave the country transport in their lower decks immense amounts of wine to be used as present and as exchange for other goods. It was in a consequence of this transportation that, by accident, the most appreciated aging process was developed – aging in oak barrels. The trips took some long six months, period in which the wine was kept in the lower decks, in oak barrels, smoothly moving with the waves, sometimes with the sun straight on the barrels, sometimes with the barrels submerse, almost constantly under relatively high temperatures granted by at least two passages through the Equator, creating a smooth and gradual aging of the wine. At the end of the trips it started being noticed that the wines that would have made the round trip were actually returning with an exquisite quality. These wines were called “Vinhos de Roda” or “Vinhos de Torna Viagem” (Wines of the Round Trip), and were sold with fabulous prices. In the 16th century Lisbon was the biggest centre of consumption and distribution of wine of the Empire. Throughout the 17th century the growing interest in wines started being evident with the number of books and catalogues written about it. It is possible to see that there was already a clear regional distinction of the wines, and some regions were highly recognised both in Portugal and abroad. Following the diplomatic brake of relations with France in 1703, Portugal signs with England on the 27th of December 1703, the Treaty of Methwen, where the commercial trades between the two countries become regulated (the treaty also had military implications, being the two countries bound to help each other in case of attack). There was a special clause for the wine, in order to ease the entrance of Portuguese wines in England, which lead to a highly significant increase of the exportations.
In the 17 th century, Port Wine was without rival, “the finest of all wines”, “a wine for Kings”, the only drink with which it is allowed a direct toast to the King or Queen of many monarchies, namely the British Empire (this imposition is still in usage today in Great Britain ). The fame of this wine grew in such way that the requests for orders were already in hold. The extreme values that Port Wine was involving made the farmers care more with the quantity produced than with the quality, which quickly led to a crisis in the sector. To regulate the production and the market of the Port Wine, the Marquis of Pombal (by now Royal Secretary of the Kingdom, one of the leading figures of his time), created on the 10 th of September of 1756 the “ Companhia Geral de Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro ” (General Company of the Agriculture of the Vines of Alto Douro). Besides the already mentioned, this institution had the responsibility of performing the quality control over the wine and applying the designation “Port Wine”. The creation of this institution implied the delimitation of the Port Wine Region, delimitation which is today still in use; the region of Douro becomes the first delimited wine region in the world.
The 19th century, especially its first half, was for Portugal a most troubled time. The French invasions of 1808 to 1810, followed by the political crisis that rose in consequence of the French invasions – known as the Liberal Revolution of 1820; the constant political instability generated by the permanent state of war between the absolutist fashion and the liberal fashion between 1823 and 1824; and the crisis of the succession of the King D. João VI which kept the country in a state of war between 1828 and 1834. This troubled panorama debilitated very much the Portuguese economy, and because the troublesome had its origin in war, most of the country showed signs of destruction by the end of 1840.
The French Invations of 1808 to 1810 brought a very troubled time with much destruction, which affected all economical fields, mostly the utmost important Peninsular War which took place from 1807 to 1814. This was the only war to ever appose the four Empires: Portuguese, British, French and Spanish. The high mortality of the battles are an indicator of the fearfulness of the war. Curiously, when most sectors of Portuguese living were indeed affected, the war had one positive side for the wines. Armies that were passing through Portugal where thrilled with the quality of the wines, having that translated into a slight increasing of the exportations. General Wellington (commander of the British Army) took immense amounts of Bucelas wine and Carcavelos wine back to England, having personally introduced King George III to the Bucelas', which after that became an imperative in the British court, and later, in the Northern European courts.
Besides the already mentioned political and war crisis, the 19th century brought to Portugal other obstacles to the wine production, namely two plagues, first the oidium, and later the Philoxera. Having appeared initially in the Douro Region in 1865, philoxera (small insect brought from North America , which is thought to have entered Europe through France ), quickly became a plague through the whole country devastating the greater part of the vineyards. Only the vineyards farmed on highly sandy soil were speared, since the philoxera does not spread in such terrain (the region of Colares – close to Lisbon – was the only region not affected). To find a solution for this problem, it was created in 1866 a commission headed by António Augusto de Aguiar , João Inácio Ferreira Lapa and the Viscount of Vila Maior, which travelled the country from north to south, with the objective of gathering complete information on the farming characteristics of every region. This constituted an x-ray of the vine farming in Portugal , which allowed for specific solutions to be arranged for the specific types of farming existing.
The plague of Philoxera was responsible for some transformations in what concerns the farming of the vine and associated techniques. These transformations are responsible for the difference existing between the wines produced today and those produced before the plague. The only exception in Portugal is naturally the region of Colares, where the vines were not affected given the sandy soil in which the vines grow (each plant has roots going over 2m deep in the soil). This means that the vines in this exceptional region are mostly pre-Philoxera (at least in terms if their farming).
In 1865 when the plague arrived to Portugal, the possibilities of fighting it were almost null, having been developed two main processes, with the same basis. The origin of the insect was North America, where there was no record of any plague, for the north American vines had to be resistant to the insect. American vines were brought to Europe and served as basis for the two solutions developed. The first solution was to put down the old dead vines and produce wine exclusively from the American vine, since it was resistant to the plague, that problem would never appear again; this processes is completely abandoned today, and it is even illegal (behind the illegality of the wine production from American grapes lies a health issue. The grapes themselves are harmless, but during the fermentation a toxin is generated, which attacks the brain cells) . The second solution consisted in growing the true wine vines (vitis vinifera) in the American vine plants(vinis americana ). This process is today the most common way of farming the vines since it does not affect the quality of the wine, and it constitutes a natural defence against the Philoxera.
During 1907/1908 took place the process of officially delimitating and regulating other denomination of Portuguese origin. Besides the already delimitated Douro Region, the other regions were as well delimitated, Madeira , Moscatel de Setúbal, Carcavelos, Dão, Colares and Vinho Verde. With the long government of 1926/1974 (Estado Novo), a new economical order was established, the “Organização Corporativa e de Coordenação Económica” (Organization of Corporations and Economical Coordination), to control and regulate institutions from the entire economical spectrum. One such institution was created in 1933 under the designation “Federação de Vinicultores do Centro e Sul ” (Federation of Wine Makers of the Centre and South), with a corporate character, its objective was to regulate the wine activity from the market point of view.
Today Portugal has 33 Denominations of Origin, 8 Geographical Indications, and an outstanding number of sub-regions and candidates to sub-regions. It is interesting to notice that despite of its history and legacy of large scale exportation, Portuguese wines are now found in very small amounts in foreign markets. Nevertheless, its quality is hardly questioned. The wine production in Portugal is now largely consumed within the country in its greatest majority, being a smaller amount reserved for exportation. Following the increasing of Portuguese wines that participate in international contests and are prized, and as a result of a few incentives, the exportations have been increasing since 2001.
With over 500 autochthon grape varieties registered, and an uncalculated number of variations, in a country with such climate differences, the peculiarity of Portuguese wines is unique. The number possible combinations of grapes to form a fine blend is enormous, which allows for the very original wines that have been appreciated for centuries.
