Wine of the world: Portugal, Alentejo

The vast Alentejo region, which alone accounts for 10-15% of Portugal's wine production, has been gaining in importance over the last twenty years thanks to an improvement in the quality of its wines. The region has attracted a large number of investors, who are making wines in a market-driven fashion, free from traditional methods, and are becoming the "California of Portugal". In spite of this, some winemakers have relied on ancient grape varieties to enhance their identity and stand out from their major competitors.

Alentejo, Portugal: a little geography...

The name Alentejo comes from its geographical position " beyond the Tagus ". The Alentejo wine-growing region stretches across an immense part of southern Portugal, right up to the Spanish border.
Vineyards stretch from south of Lisbon to the Algarve coastal region.Red clay makes up the majority of wine-growing soils in the south, but schist and granite are also found. In the east of the region, vines are grown at altitudes of up to 700 m.

The climate is a blend of continental and Mediterranean influences, with particularly hot, dry springs and summers and little rainfall.
Inland, irrigation is essential for agriculture and viticulture.

There are, however, a few areas with a cooler climate, notably along the coast and in the north-east of the region. The province of Alentejo comprises 8 very distinct DOCs:

• Borba,
• Evora,
• Granja-Amareleja,
• Portalegre,
• Redondo,
• Reguendos,
• and Vidigueira.

In addition, there is the regional appellation Vinho Regional Alentajano.

... and a little history

IfAlentejo winegrowing is on a roll today, it wasn't always so. The region has not benefited from the support of national agricultural policies, as the main crops have always been cereals, olives, cork oak and cattle.

Throughout the mid-twentieth century, the government decided to make the Alentejo the breadbasket of Portugal. The wine industry was essentially geared towards family production and domestic consumption.

Until the 1950s, when the first cooperative was set up,winemaking methods remained close to those developed under the Roman Empire: fermentation and ageing were carried out in large clay amphorae. It was in the early 1980s that Alentejo began its winegrowing "revolution", which culminated in the award of DOC status in 1988.