Alentejo

The IVV cites grape pips found in the ruins of the Roman villa of São Cucufate, near Vidigueira, and old Roman presses. The 2011 technical file says the region has suited wine since Roman and Phoenician times. As evidence it points to wine still made in clay jars (talhas) and amphorae, and to wine tanks of the Arab period. The earliest written records of planting date from the twelfth century; the file dates evidence of expansion after the Reconquest to 1143. It places a high point at the end of the seventeenth century, with the trade treaty between Portugal and England.

The first Alentejo designations of origin were regulated in 1988. In 1989 the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional Alentejana (CVRA) was set up to certify and regulate the wines. The CVRA now certifies wine under the Alentejo PDO and the Alentejano PGI.

The technical file says the Alentejo plain has no mountain barrier to wring moisture from sea air, so Atlantic influence is weak. The few ranges that do rise set the subregions apart. The IVV names the Portel, Ossa and São Mamede ranges, the last reaching 1,025 m. The CVRA says São Mamede, above Portalegre, is the highest range south of the Tagus and gives fresher wines; areas above 700 m are excluded from the Portalegre subregion. The climate has Mediterranean and continental features, with hot, dry springs and summers. Rain falls mainly in winter, 550-650 mm a year, but 750-850 mm at Borba and 900-1,000 mm at Portalegre. The mean temperature is 15.5-16 °C, with about 3,000 hours of sun.

The rules set soils subregion by subregion. Portalegre has mainly granite. Borba has crystalline limestone, which the CVRA describes as marble outcrops, with red schist. Redondo and Reguengos have eruptive rocks such as quartz diorite. Évora, Granja-Amareleja and Moura have brown and red Mediterranean soils and calcareous clays. Alluvial and black clay soils are excluded everywhere.

The technical file says the long hours of sunshine, especially in the months before harvest, favour the build-up of sugar and of colour in the grape skins. Reds run from ruby to deep red, ageing to garnet and brown. Whites run from pale citrine to light gold, and rosés from pink to salmon. All show young fruit or floral aromas that develop with age. The IVV relates style to place. It names altitude freshness in Portalegre and structure and minerality on granite and schist. It names elegance in Borba, power in Reguengos and Moura, and balanced whites in Vidigueira.

DO Alentejo covers still wine, quality sparkling wine and fortified wine. Reds and rosés need at least 12% alcohol, whites 11.5%, sparkling wine 11% and fortified wine 17.5%. Sparkling wine must be made by the classic method in bottle. Fortified wine is made by adding neutral wine alcohol or wine distillate to must at the start of fermentation. Vines must be trained low, as cordon, guyot or gobelet. Maximum yields are 8,500 kg or 65 hl/ha for reds and 10,000 kg or 75 hl/ha for whites. Wine may leave Portugal only bottled and labelled. The grape list and the blends allowed are set in the region's own regulation. Among the grapes it lists are Antão Vaz, Trincadeira, Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional and Fernão Pires. The regional wine Alentejano, over the districts of Portalegre, Évora and Beja, allows more freedom in grapes and styles.