Madeira is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese Madeira Islands, off the coast of Africa. Madeira is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own, as an apéritif, to sweet wines usually consumed with dessert. Cheaper cooking versions are often flavoured with salt and pepper for use in cooking, but these are not fit for consumption as a beverage.
Port wine or simply port, also known as vinho do Porto, is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.
Foz do Tua is a small village in Portugal on the right bank of the Douro river, near the town of Carrazeda de Ansiães, in the Bragança district. It is surrounded by some of the most beautiful and important farms in the Douro Valley - Quinta Foz Tua, Quinta do Tua (Cockburn's), Quinta dos Aciprestes and Quinta dos Malvedos. It is accessed by boat, car and train(Linha do Douro). It is also possible to see a very interesting bridge that represents a previous model of Porto's Arrábida Bridge, designed by Edgar Cardoso.
Portuguese wine was mostly introduced by the Romans and other ancient Mediterranean peoples who traded with local coastal populations, mainly in the South. In pre-Roman Gallaecia-Lusitania times, the native peoples only drank beer and were unfamiliar with wine production. Portugal started to export its wines to Rome during the Roman Empire. Modern exports developed with trade to England after the Methuen Treaty in 1703. From this commerce a wide variety of wines started to be grown in Portugal. In 1758, one of the first wine-producing regions of the world, the Região Demarcada do Douro was created under the orientation of Marquis of Pombal, in the Douro Valley. Portugal has two wine-producing regions protected by UNESCO as World Heritage: the Douro Valley Wine Region and Pico Island Wine Region. Portugal has a big variety of local kinds, producing a very wide variety of different wines with distinctive personality.
Douro is a Portuguese wine region centered on the Douro River in the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region. It is sometimes referred to as the Alto Douro, as it is located some distance upstream from Porto, sheltered by mountain ranges from coastal influence. The region has Portugal's highest wine classification as a Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) and is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin under EU and UK law, and as a Geographical Indication in several other countries through bilateral agreements. While the region is best known for Port wine production, the Douro produces just as much table wine as it does fortified wine. The non-fortified wines are typically referred to as "Douro wines".
The classification of wine is based on various criteria including place of origin or appellation, vinification method and style, sweetness and vintage, and the grape variety or varieties used. Practices vary in different countries and regions of origin, and many practices have varied over time. Some classifications enjoy official protection by being part of the wine law in their country of origin, while others have been created by, for example, growers' organizations without such protection.
Carcavelos is a Portuguese wine region centered on the Carcavelos municipality in Estremadura region and includes land near the cities of Cascais and Oeiras. The region has Portugal's highest wine classification as a Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC). Located at the very southern tip of the Estremadura region, the region has a long winemaking history dating back to the 18th century when Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal owned vineyards here. The region is known for its fortified wine production, creating off dry, topaz colored wines that have nutty aromas and flavors. While once a thriving wine region, world-renowned in the 19th century for its tawny colored fortified wine, in the modern era Carcavelos has been devastated by real estate development in the suburbs of the capital city of Lisbon and nearby coastal city of Estoril.
The history of Portuguese wine has been influenced by Portugal's relative isolationism in the world's wine market, with the one notable exception of its relationship with the British. Wine has been made in Portugal since at least 2000 BC when the Tartessians planted vines in the Southern Sado and Tagus valleys. By the 10th century BC, the Phoenicians had arrived and introduced new grape varieties and winemaking techniques to the area. Up until this point, viticulture was mostly centered on the southern coastal areas of Portugal. In later centuries, the Ancient Greeks, Celts and Romans would do much to spread viticulture and winemaking further north.
The Douro Wine Company was a government oversight organization established by the Portuguese Prime Minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal to regulate the trade and production of Port wine. Established in 1756, one of the first official duties of the company was the delineation of the boundaries of the Douro wine region. This act essentially made the Douro the world's first regional appellation. While the boundaries of the Chianti and Tokaji wine regions were outlined in 1716 and 1737, respectively, neither of these regions were "technically" appellations in the sense of being subjected to continued government control and regulations. Under their charter, Pombal invested an immense amount of control in the Douro Wine Company to regulate all exports of Port, set production quantities limits, fix maximum and minimum prices for grapes and to serve as sole arbitrator in any disputes between vine growers and Port shippers. In 1761, the company was further granted a monopoly on the sale of brandy which was used in the fortification process of Port winemaking. The Douro Wine Company continued to operate to 1833. Today, many of it functions have been deregulated with the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto or being the official regulating body of Port wine and Douro table wine production.
The Quinta classification of Port vineyards in the Douro is a system that grades the terroir and quality potential of vineyards in the Douro wine region to produce grapes suitable for the production of Port wine. In Portuguese, a quinta is a wine producing estate, which can be a winery or a vineyard. While other wine classification systems may classify the winery, the Douro quinta classification is based upon the physical characteristics of the vineyard. The classification system is run by the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP) and shares some similarities to the classification of Champagne vineyards in that one of the purposes of the system is to ensuring that vineyards producing grapes with the highest quality potential receive a high price. A secondary function of the quinta classification is the establishment of permitted yields for production. Quintas with a higher classification are permitted to harvest more grapes than a vineyard that received a lower classification.
The British Factory House, also known as the British Association House, is an 18th-century Neo-Palladian building located in the northern Portuguese centre of Porto, associated with the influence of Britain in the Porto Wine industry.
Symington Family Estates is a wine company and Port wine house in Portugal, which owns and operates several vineyards and wineries and owns several brands of Port, Madeira wine and Douro DOC wines, including some of the oldest and most well-known Port and Madeira brands. With their extensive vineyard holdings and many Port brands, the Symingtons are often described as being a "Port empire".
Fonseca Guimaraens, often simply called Fonseca, is one of the largest Port wine houses in Portugal. Manoel Pedro Gonçalves Guimaraens and his brother João Gonçalves Salgueiro, established the company in 1822 when they acquired control of the Fonseca and Monteiro Company from the Fonseca Family by purchase of the majority of Fonseca owned shares. A condition of the sale of Fonseca's shares was that the name Fonseca remain as the brand name. David Guimaraens, the great-great-great grandson of the founder Manuel Pedro, has been the head winemaker since 1994, and oversees the winemaking and blending for all four Taylor Fladgate Port houses: Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca Guimaraens, Croft, and Delaforce.
Richard Mayson is a British author and expert on fortified wines and the wines of Iberia. He is series editor for the Infinite Ideas Classic Wine Library. He is the author of Lowry's Lamps, published by Unicorn Press and was Pro-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield from 2017 - 2021.
Lt.-General Sir William WarreKTS was an English officer of the British Army. He saw service in the Peninsular War and was colonel of the 94th Foot.
Churchill's Port is a port wine company based in Porto, founded in 1981 by John Graham, who named the company after his wife, Caroline Churchill.
Jeropiga is the name given to a traditional alcoholic drink of Portuguese origin that is prepared by adding aguardente to grape must. The addition is made in the beginning of the fermentation process, making it different to another Portuguese traditional drink, the abafado, in which aguardente is added during the fermentation process.
Port tongs are a special set of tongs designed to open wine bottles that are sealed with a cork. The tongs are heated over an open flame and held against the neck of the wine bottle for 20–30 seconds. The heated section of bottle is then cooled with a damp cloth or ice water, causing the glass to fracture due to thermal expansion. The result is generally a clean, predictable break. Any possible shards of glass are strained out, along with any sediment, when pouring the wine into a decanter.
Fernando Nicolau de Almeida (1913–1998) was a pioneering Portuguese oenologist, best known for developing the Barca Velha red wine, one of the most expensive wines in Portugal.
