ALVARO PALACIOS OLI D'OLIVA VERGE EXTRA PRIORAT 500ML

Portugal

Portuguese wine is the result of traditions introduced to the region by ancient civilizations, such as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and mostly the Romans. 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.

And, 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 (Douro Vinhateiro) and Pico Island Wine Region (Ilha do Pico Vinhateira). Portugal has a big variety of local kinds, producing a very wide variety of different wines with a distinctive personality. Portugal possesses a large array of native varietals, producing an abundant variety of different wines though most famously the nation produces Port and Moscatel wines. The wide array of Portuguese grape varietals contributes as significantly as the soil and climate to wine differentiation, producing unique and intriguing wines from the Northern regions to the Madeira Islands, and from Algarve to the Azores. In Portugal, only some grape varietals or castas are authorized or endorsed in the Demarcated regions.

The appellation system of the Douro region was created nearly two hundred years before that of France, in order to protect its superior wines from inferior ones. The quality and great variety of wines in Portugal are due to noble castas, microclimates, soils and proper technology.

It might be useful some terms in Portuguese wine like Branco is White, Tinto is red, Espumante is sparkling wine where the word Seco means dry and Quinta means vineyard.