Portuguese wine is part of the country’s ancient tradition introduced to the region by ancient civilizations such as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and mostly the Romans. These wines are known worldwide for their high quality and in last few years has been considered by specialists among the best in the world, as is reflected in its success in international competitions.
It is famous for its taste and quality world wide and Portugal boasts of some of the best vineyards accumulating wine and is one of the most prominent, and underrated wine producers of the world.
By some it’s considered Portugal’s best-kept secret. The most famous Portuguese wine is surely Porto, yet there are a lot of other wine-producing regions in Portugal. Although Portuguese wine is as old as any other European region’s, it is just recently rising to new heights in quality and more contemporary style.
As Portuguese cuisine has re-established itself in restaurants so has it’s Wines.
Wine is named according to the names of the regions they are produced in Portugal. Wines from villages of Durnstein and Loiben are superb, and Spitz and Joching are very good but tend to be more delicate due to the cooler nights of the region. The of Vinho Verde region, in the Northwest produces some of the world’s finest, unique and highest value-added wines.
Portugal has about 500 native breeds, producing a very wide variety of different wines with distinctive personality. The country is considered a traditional wine grower with 8% of its continental land dedicated to vineyards and is home to one of the greatest international wine success stories of modern times. In the late 1980s, Mateus accounted for over 40% of the country’s total table wine exports and was especially popular in Europe. The quality and great variety of wines in Portugal are due to noble castas, microclimates, soils and proper technology. The most popular variety in Portugal and abroad are the white wines, but there are also red and more rarely rosé wines.
It’s believed that wine exports started during the Roman Empire.
With the quality and uniqueness of its wines, the country is a sizable and growing player in wine production, being in the top 10, with 4% of the world market. During the Roman rule over Portugal, the vineyard culture greatly developed, as the region supplied Rome with its wines.
