History of wine in Portugal

Exciting things are happening in the Portuguese wine world today but the winegrowing and making in Portugal actually dates back to incredibly early A.D. However, much like the mountainous range across the iberian peninsula, the industry has experienced many ups and downs.

Vines were said to grow spontaneously in Portugal and today there are over 250 known, native grape varieties across 14 wine regions. The first recordings of Portuguese wine date back to the birth of A.D when the Romans were discovering new territory. Viniculture (the production of wine) in Portugal started around this time. It was the Phoenicians and the Greeks who, from the 8th century BC, initiated contact with Portuguese with interest in their wine. During this time, wine was an expensive drink that was saved for ceremonies and special occasions.

The cease of the Roman ruling marked the beginning of the Islamic reign in Portugal. Many political, social, economic, and cultural changes occurred during this period. Due to Muslim beliefs, there was a total ban of alcohol consumption. Interestingly though, this did not end the trade of alcohol.

Alcohol continued to be traded elsewhere until the Islamic reign ended and the middle ages/ discovery era began whereby most were converted to Christian beliefs. Wine was particularly important in Christian worship and because of this, the consumption of wine grew significantly.

Many groundbreaking findings were uncovered during the ‘discoveries era’. But one that the sailors found rather helpful to aid their day to day activities was wine! Not only did wine last much longer in a barrel than water, but it was said that the wine gave them the courage to voyage on such dangerous journeys. The saying ‘the famous wine will make them travel’ speaks for itself.

It was during this period that Port wine, from the Douro Valley, began its ascent to fame. Along the river is where the first ‘Quintas’ (wine estates) were born. The fortified wines were created in order to combat the intense weather during transportation in the height of Portuguese summer. The creative Portuguese found that their wines stayed better for longer if distilled grape spirits were added before fermentation was complete. However, this process left residual sugar and increased its alcohol content. Thus, Port was born.

Similarly, on the island of Madeira, transporters discovered that the longer the wine barrels aged, the more ‘roasted’ they tasted. They recreated this flavour by “cooking” the wines using ‘estufagem’, and baking them in warm tanks to create what we know today as the fortified Madeira wine.

Port and Madeira soon became the most favoured wines to be exported. And even when their fortified, Spanish rival ‘Sherry’ soared in popularity, the Portuguese wines remained iconic. Today, the Alto Douro Valley, where it all began, is a World Heritage site protected by UNESCO.

As Portugal and England continued to strengthen their relationship through regular trading, relationships started to turn sour between the French and the English and so, they looked to Portugal to also supply their wine. In 1703, the ‘Methuen Treaty’ was created in order to reduce the tax on Portuguese wines entering England. Around this time, Portugal accounted for 66% of British wine imports, dramatically increasing the profits and fame of the Portuguese wine industry.

Everything seemed to be going swimmingly until the end of the 19th Century when the ‘Phylloxera Plague’ obliterated a large proportion of the vineyards across Europe. Affecting the Douro region initially in 1865, it rapidly spread throughout the country, devastating most of the wine regions. One of the only regions to survive the plague was the Algarve. Its sandy soils were paramount to the prevention of the insect being able to destroy the roots of the plant.

The plague was a blessing in disguise for viticulture in Portugal, particularly the Algarve as the Algarve’s vines were now indispensable. It was able to export its grapes to those regions who had experienced casualties due to the plague but still with extremely high demand. These were both in Portugal and further afield in Europe.

Regrettably, this did not last once the vineyards started to recover. The Algarve’s focus on wine culture soon shifted from winemaking to wine growing. So, they had to adapt their methods to be able to grow large amounts of grapes at a lower cost. The Algarve had taken the approach of ‘quantity over quality’ which led to the decline in popularity for the wines made here.

With the Algarve dramatically rising in tourism in the 1980’s, many vineyards were forced to sell their land or to extract sand from the soil for construction. This led to the almost total abandonment of the Algarve’s vineyards. In just a few years, about 70% of the vineyards were uprooted.

All hope had seemed to be lost for the ‘wine world’ of the Algarve, until today…

The 21 st century saw an influx in ‘expats’ relocating to the Algarve. Today, there are over 30 known wine producers. 30% of which are owned by foreigners or of Portuguese descent.

These passionate pioneers are creating a movement which is seeing more ‘artisan wines’ hit the shelves. These people are skilled with grape varieties and new technologies, along with traditional ones. Said methods are arguably more time consuming and expensive but intriguing, nonetheless.

This winemaking combined with the region's main income (tourism) could create a competitive edge which may be interesting to watch over the next coming years.

Guillaume Leroux owns ‘Monte da Casteleja’ which is an organic winery based in Lagos. His grandfather, born in Sagres, has an excellent reputation in the Lagos fishing industry and bought the farm in 1952. Monte de Casteleja creates beautiful wines with a forward-thinking approach. Though his winemaking takes on the traditional and ‘old fashioned’ approach, they are socially responsible, ecological, and sustainable. This winery also combines great wines with tourism. They offer several tours and wine tasting experiences at a reasonable price.

Other highly recommended vineyards in the Algarve to visit are Quinta dos Vales wine estate (Lagoa), Adega do Cantor (Albufeira), Quinta do Frances Winery (Silves), Quinta do Tor (Loule) and Quinta do Canhoto (Albufeira). From spontaneously growing vines, to no wine consumption at all; From being a key part of Portugal’s discovery legacy, to an almost total abandonment of wine growing culture. It is safe to say, Portuguese wine has not had an easy ride so far. Nonetheless, today, Portugal is ranked the ninth largest wine producer in the world.