The DOC area named after the city on the Atlantic coast is located south-east of the Portuguese capital Lisbon on the Península Setúbal peninsula in the west-central part of the Península de Setúbal region. The climate here is characterised by the influence of the Atlantic Ocean in autumn and, above all, by cool and very humid air currents from the Tagus estuary. The vines grow here on calcareous, sandy and clayey soils. After port and Madeira, this is the third great Portuguese dessert wine with a very old tradition. The French Sun King Louis XIV (1638-1715) is said to have always requested liqueur wine from Setúbal for his festivities in Versailles. The English wine writer Cyrus Redding (1785-1870) praised the wine in 1851 in his book "A History and Description of Modern Wine". Around 1860, the wine was exported to three continents. In the same way as Madeira, it was loaded onto ships in barrels and transported across the equator twice before being sold. Such bottles, labelled TVE (Torna Viagem) and dating from 1870 to 1890, are still stored in the cellars of the Fonseca company.
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