Portugal: Wine Law, Regulations and Business

Question 1

Portugal: Wine Law and REgualtions

Answer 1

DOC/DOP - more modern Denominacao de Origem Protegida are widely used for PDO wines
There are 31 dOC’s in Portugal and each has its own regualtions on grape growing and winemaking - all wines must officially tasted, tested and approved

VR - Vinho Regional - PGI wines - 14 VR’s in Portugal and have less stringent rules , often permitting Cab Sauv and Chardonnay

Vinho - not of PDO or PGI

Question 2

Portugal: Wine Business

Answer 2

• grape growing is 35% of the agricultural output
  -6.5 mill HL incl fortified and sparkling wine / 5.5mHL still, unfortifed
  -mostly small holdings by estate
  -Until the Carnation Revolution in ‘74 gorwers had a market - sold to coop and negociants who shipped bulk wine to Africa, Angola and Mozambique ( former colonies )
• high volume wine brands like Mateus Rose and Lancers and Big brand Casal Garcia Vinho Verde are still largely sourced from growers
  -with EU funding , negociants have purchasesd their own vineyards to help diversfiy and increase quality to compete on the global market eg. Sogrape now the biggest wine company in Portugal with annual $$ that exceed all of the next 7 biggest producers combines

growers can add value to their grapes by becoming producers of their own estate , esp. in the Douro, Alentejo, Dao and Vinho Verde
Co-ops have reduced in number - now around 67 in all of Portugal

**Small, new trend is the rise of samll-volume artisan winemakers who donot own vineyards - they select old neglected vineyards, in overlooked regions to source their grapes ( usually natives out of fashion )

-2021 - 10th largest wine makers and 10th largest exported by volume
Steady in growth in volumes and value per unit in the last 20 years for still unfortifed wines

Largest exports are France, US, UK, Brasil

Wine of Portugal was founded in 2010 to promote and educate consumers in trade and export markets

Some domestic sales have gradually increase because of the avg.income increasing but also due to rise in tourism