Portugal

The history of Portuguese wine has been influenced by Portugal's relative isolationism in the world's wine market, with the one notable exception of its relationship with the British. Wine has been made in Portugal since at least 2000 BC when the Tartessians planted vines in the Southern Sado and Tagus valleys. By the 10th century BC, the Phoenicians had arrived and introduced new grape varieties and winemaking techniques to the area.

In the mid-16th century, Lisbon was the biggest centre of consumption and distribution of wine in the empire, and Portuguese wine reached the four corners of the world.

Portugal's advantage in wine terms – its isolation, which has kept its inheritance of indigenous vine varieties intact and virtually unaffected by Chardonnay- and Cabernet-mania – has also been its disadvantage. The Portuguese have had this strange habit of making wines to suit the palates of other Portuguese rather than making the sort of fruity, juicy-yet-structured wines that appeal to the majority of the world's wine consumers. The wines that have traditionally been most respected within Portugal are incredibly tough reds and whites that are perhaps past their best.

Today, there appears to be more international recognition of the 'indigenous Portuguese grape variety-driven wines that have for decades been the backbone of local consumption. For international drinkers of Portuguese wine, it is perhaps best to understand Portuguese wine, not in terms of grape varieties, but to drink the wine and appreciate its style: crisp, dry, fruit-driven or savoury whites. And juicy, fruity, plush reds, or the structured, firmer, more robust and fleshy red styles. Or of course the gorgeous sweet, heady Ports.