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The best quality (vintage port) of a ; see there.

portwine World-famous dessertwine from portugal, known as "Vinho do Porto" or simply "Porto", is named not after its region of origin douro, but after the port city porto, from where it is shipped. The English were significantly involved in its creation in connection with their trade wars with france. In the 17th century, the import of French wines to england was banned for a time and later burdened with high tariffs. This led to a supply bottleneck. In 1678, a winemerchant from Liverpool sent his two sons to Viano do Castello near the city of Porto to buy wine. In Lamego, they came to a monastery, where the abbot served them a wine they were enthusiastic about. The clergyman revealed to them the secret of why this wine was so pleasantly sweet and soft, namely by adding brandy, that is, spirits during the fermentation. Subsequently, the two bought up the entire stock, sent the shipment to England, and the triumph of the port wine, initially referred to as "Red Portugal", began. British influence was crucial for the port wine boom, which was facilitated by the Methuen Treaty concluded in 1703, which provided for tariff concessions for the import of Portuguese wines into England. At that time, port wine was almost exclusively intended for export to England, which is why it is still referred to today as "Englishmen Wine". Back then, it was still common to add red elderberry juice as a coloring agent. From the beginning of the 18th century, English, German, and Dutch families settled in Porto to market port wine. Among them were names that still play a decisive role in production and/or trade today, such as Cockburn, Croft, Ferreira, Niepoort, Sandeman, Taylor’s, as well as the companies Dow, Graham, and Warre, which were later taken over by Symington. The British trading houses built the Factory House in Porto in 1790, which initially served as a factory and then from 1811 to the present as a gentlemen's club and meeting place. The English practically acquired a monopoly on marketing. Under Prime Minister Marquês de Pombal (1699-1782), owner of a wine estate in Carcavelos, the area Douro was defined in its boundaries in 1756 to protect port wine. Only the best vineyards were included. Of the approximately 250,000 hectares of land, only about one-eighth is suitable for port wine vines. The area is thus one of the oldest legally demarcated wine-growing regions in the world, alongside Chianti in Tuscany (Italy). Pombal issued further measures to protect port wine. As an important measure to break the English monopoly, he founded the "Real Companhia Velha". Furthermore, he prohibited the addition of elderberry juice and the fertilizing with manure. This reduced the yield, but increased the quality. The defined boundary applied exclusively to port wine for over two centuries. The name "Vinho do Porto" is derived from the city of Porto at the lower reaches of the Douro. It was not until 1979 that the DOC classification was extended to unfortified red and white wines. However, the best soil is reserved for port wine, which is mainly the most suitable slate soils on mostly terraced slopes. The region is located in the northwest of Portugal and includes the valleys of the Douro River and its tributaries up to the Spanish border. These waters have a positive effect on viticulture or create the conditions through the formation of valley slopes. The...

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