page_title: History of Portuguese wine
section_title: After the scandal
hierarchical_section_title: History of Portuguese wine / Relationship with England / The rise of Port / After the scandal
context_page_description: 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 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.
  Portuguese wines were first shipped to England in the 12th century from the Entre Douro e Minho region. In 1386, Portugal and England signed the Treaty of Windsor which fostered close diplomatic relations between the two countries and opened the door for extensive trade opportunities. The 1703 Methuen Treaty furthered advanced English economic interest in Portugal by reducing tariffs and giving Portuguese wines preferential treatment in the British wine market over French wines.
context_section_description: The economic turmoil as well as growing complaints and dissatisfaction over the business dealings of the British caused the Marquis of Pombal, in 1756, to create the Douro Wine Company to regulate the Port wine trade. One of the company's first regulations was the delineation of the Douro wine region as the only sanction area that could produce wine labeled and sold as "Port". This 1756 declaration made the Douro region, one of the world's oldest established appellations. The aim of the organization was to supervise the production of Port in all stages of winemaking from harvesting to winemaking to aging and finally shipping. In addition to their supervisory role, the organization also sought to remove the temptation for fraud by ordering that all elderberry plants in the Douro be ripped out.
  The efforts of the Portuguese government and the General Company helped restore the Port market and sales quickly rebounded. In 1799, 44 million liters (over 11.6 million US gallons) of port were imported by the English-an equivalent of five liters for every man, woman and child in England. During this period, Port became associated with the "Englishman's drink" with social clubs touting membership of "three-bottle men" or those who were able to drink at least three bottles of Port in one sitting. Among the notable men who touted this accomplishment were William Pitt the Younger and the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
  So intimately tied was port to the English that during the Napoleonic Wars, French and Spanish troops invaded Northern Portugal and Douro in an attempt to hurt British trade interest. While the vineyards themselves sustained little damage, the two French invasions of the Douro between 1807 and 1809 had a damaging economic effect on the Douro wine growers. The British merchants of Porto fled before the French arrival which sealed off that valuable export market. While the foreign troops themselves provided some local market, more often than not cellars were raided rather than actually purchased. In 1808, a group of Portuguese soldiers and growers staged a series of guerrilla attacks in the Douro. Hiding among the high, terraced vineyards of the Douro, the Portuguese would fire upon and attack the French soldiers stationed along the roads bordering the river below. By 1809, the French invasions ended but British Port sales were slow to return. Despite the British population boom of the mid-19th century, sales of Port was mostly leveled with the totals of the previous century. The likely cause was the diversification of British tastes which started to include the popularity of teas, coffees, beers, chocolates and other fortified wines such as sherry from Spain.
caption: In 1756, the Marquis of Pombal (pictured) established the declaration that delineated the Douro wine region, making it one of the world's oldest established appellation.
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