In the beginning there was an idea…
Wine is deeply rooted in the Portuguese history. It is presumed that the Tartessians settlers coming from the city of Tartessos at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river in todays Andalusia first cultivated vines in Portugal. This happened about 2000 BC in the Tagus Valley. Later in the 10th century BC, the Phoenicians introduced vineyards in the region. But it was in the 7th century BC, when the Greeks settled on the Peninsula that the wine making art developed. In Alcácer do Sal, a cratera was found, which is a vase used by the Greeks to drink and dilute wine with water, showing that the Ancient Greeks also drank Portuguese wines.
In Mythology, Luso was son or companion of Bacchus, the god of winery and vegetation. Mythically, Lusitania gained its name from Luso. Lusitania was an ancient Roman province in the present day Portugal. During the Roman rule over Portugal, the vineyard culture greatly developed, as the region supplied Rome with its wines. The wines became popular in Rome, leading to the demand being superior to wine production.
During the Reconquista in the 12th and 13th centuries, with the populating (povoamento) of the conquered territories, areas that due to religion the Arabs reduced wine production, and planting grapevines were a priority. During this period, some new varieties were added to the ancient ones, from Burgundy came the French varieties. And during the period of discoveries, Henry the Navigator brought to the newly discovered island of Madeira the Moscatel and Malvasia from the Greek Island of Crete.
Due to historical reasons, England was to where Portuguese wines were most exported. Exports of Portuguese wines from Northern Portugal to England are known since the 12th century. From this commerce a wide variety of wines started to be grown in Portugal. And, in 1758, the first wine-producing region of the world, the Região Demarcada do Douro was created under the orientation of Marquis of Pombal, in the Douro Valley. The demarcated region had the aim to guarantee the production of excellent quality wines.
In the reign of King Charles (in Portuguese Dom Carlos Fernando Luís Maria Victor Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis José Simão de Bragança Sabóia Bourbon Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha) at the end of the 19th century, the Região Demarcada do Vinho Verde and the Região Demarcada do Dão among Colares, Carcavelos, Setúbal, and Madeira were created. These wines were already famous before the creation of the Demarcated region. In 1979, Bairrada was added and in 1980 the Algarve region (Lagoa, Lagos, Portimão, and Tavira) was finally demarcated. In 1998, the Alentejo region was demarked by the fusion of several smaller demarked regions created in 1995.
Portugal is home to one of the greatest international wine success stories of modern times. That is the production and marketing of medium sweet, lightly sparking rosés. In the late 1980s, Mateus accounted for over 40% of the country’s total table wine exports and was especially popular in Europe. Lancers is better known in the United States, where it continues to be successful.
In recent years more and more premium wines of high quality are produced in the most wine regions of Portugal. Starting in the Douro Valley the quality initative spreads over the country. Dão, Bairrada, Terras do Sado, Estremadura, and last but not least the Alentejo. All these regions developed a new confidence in quality of the own varieties and wines. Portugal became so innovative in wine production that some call it the European California.
But this process did not yet reach the south of the country. Today there is no premium Algarve wine. If you find Algarvian wine of better quality it is not made from the traditional grapes. Still cultivation rights are sold from the Algarve to other wine regions of Portugal, mainly to the prospering Alentejo. There might be a connection of this backwardness of the Algarve in the matters of wine to the settlement of the Moors in the region. A further point may be the prejudice of the wine scene that it is not possible to produce premium wine in the constantly warm climate of the southern Iberian Peninsula.
The Moors went away hunderds of years ago and in the close-by Cadiz region high-class wines, even highest in Parker rating are produced latterly. So we decided to start these changes in the Algarve. On our own property new vines planted of the traditional varieties Periquita and Negra Mole are planted. We are gathering old traditional vineyards, the “secret gardens”, for recovery, even if the land was not worked on for years.