Algarve Regional Tourism Board - ...

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
guide
to the
wines of
the algarve
 Thanks
The Algarve Regional Tourism Board wishes to express its thanks to Hermínio Rebelo and all Algarve wine
producers for their excellent collaboration.
Under the Sign
“Wine is one of the most civilized things in the
world and one of the most natural things
of the world that has been brought to the
greatest perfection, and it ofers a greater
range for enjoyment and appreciation than,
possibly, any other purely sensory thing.”
Ernest Hemingway
of Bacchus
excellence and quality of their wines. This proves
that they are working well and are creating excep-
tional products, which is yet another cause for pride
at the Algarve Regional Tourism Board.
This guide is but a small sample of the Algarve,
where an ancient tradition has been brought back
through the use of new techniques and new meth-
ods in the art of producing the drink of the gods,
symbolised by Bacchus, and which represents the
good cheer and the pleasure that exists in every
drop of Algarve wine.
Please discover, taste and enjoy the wines of the Al-
garve that we are introducing to you here.
Wine and vines have been in the
Algarve for centuries, dating back
to the time of the Roman pres-
ence on the Iberian Peninsula.
The soil, be it sandy or clayey, is
a medium that is conducive for
the growing of grape varieties
as wide-ranging as Trincadeira,
Aragonez, Touriga-Nacional, Ar-
into, Malvasia-Fina and Moscatel-
Graúdo, along with many other
equally well-known varieties, that
are used to produce red, white,
rosé and fortiied wines which,
since the 1980s, have given the
Algarve the status of a demar-
cated region.
Nowadays, the Algarve includes
the
Denominações de Origem
Controlada
(DOC)
of Lagoa, Lagos,
Portimão and Tavira, which in the
past decade have introduced
new brands and new concepts
of wine-making into the market,
and many Algarve producers
have been awarded prizes for the
The President of the Algarve Regional Tourism Board.
Nuno Aires
|
Guide to the Wines of the Algarve
|
The Wines of the Algarve
|
|
The Wines
of the Algarve
“Nectar of the gods”: this is another name for
wine, the juice of the grape.
Because of its exceptional climate, its soil and
its south-facing location, the Algarve has what
is known in specialist wine terminology as an
excellent
terroir
for growing vines. For this rea-
son, the Tartessians are thought to have been
the irst people to produce wine in the region
in about 2000 B.C. They were followed by others,
from the Phoenicians to Greeks and from the
Celts to the Romans, who, when they brought
Christianity to the Peninsula, introduced wine
into the communion liturgy because it was a
product regarded by the church as pure and
uncorrupted.
varieties to the region. The magic of Algarve
wine was reborn.
Tourism, which is a crucial factor in the regional
economic strategy, needs contributions like
this. And wine – which was never a big draw
among the Algarve’s attractions for tourists
– needed this new closer relationship.
For this reason, the publication of this guide by
the DRAPALG and the ERTA, with the coopera-
tion of wine-growers and the helpful collabora-
tion of head sommelier Hermínio Rebelo, is of
great importance for us to the extent that the
symbiosis between tourism and agriculture
contributes to maintaining the mosaic of the
landscape and to the development of regional
activities and products which still leave their
mark on the present, preserve the past and
project our identity into the future.
The importance of wine was once again recog-
nised when it was mentioned in the charters
of Tavira (1266) by D. Afonso III, and Porches
(1286) by D. Dinis. However, it was impossible
for the growing of vines on the sands of the
coastline to generate the same income as tour-
ism, so that in the middle of the 20
th
century
the ields were abandoned and the production
of wine rapidly began to decline. However, it
has been interesting to see the progress in the
wine-growing sector in the Algarve in recent
years. And the future looks very bright.
With this initiative, the oicial bodies are doing
no more than is their duty, providing business-
people with the conditions in which they can
thrive. All that remains is for the latter to grasp
their opportunities and forge ahead along new
avenues essential to the airmation of the Al-
garve Wine Route.
In 1996, when the DRAPALG proposed the ap-
pointment of the president of the CVVR and
was involved in the approval of a “PROAGRI”
project, the aim was to re-launch the business.
The CVVR and the technical staf who were
contracted realised that the traditional grape
varieties were favouring quantity over quality
and they began the process of getting recog-
nition for the introduction of new, interesting
Director of the Algarve Regional
Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries
Joaquim Castelão Rodrigues
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]