Origins of Port Wine

The first demarcated wine region in Portugal was the Douro's region.

During the reign of D. José I, his minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, who would get known in history as the Marquês de Pombal, created the "Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro", based in Oporto, with order to limit the influence of English in the trades of Douro Wine and resolve the crisis that the region lived.

Fonte: http://www.ateneulivros.com/website/?attachment_id=11602

Composed by the leading wine producers in the Alto Douro and the great merchants of Oporto, the Company should sustain the cultivation of vineyards and maintain their production in its original purity.

The first reference to Port Wine date 1678.

Patrimony: Ferreirinha

Source: http://quintadasparcelas.blogs.sapo.pt/6911.html

D. Antonia Adelaide Ferreira (1811-1896), better known as Ferreirinha, played a pivotal role in the dissemination of Port Wine.

From her first marriage to Antonio Bernardo Ferreira (1812-1844), her cousin, she inherited a fortune and vast estates, to which she gave very good use.

She fought against the lack of support from the Portuguese government, which was more interested in Spanish wines. Armed with popular support, she always took her along.

This lady will go down in history for the technical innovations she brought to the vineyards, the prosperity she got in Douro wines and for the social action that she performed among the workers of her land, who she very much carried about.