2026 Harvest: A Year of Contrasts in the Douro
The 2026 growing season brought very different conditions to the Douro Valley vineyards. After a rainy winter, spring and summer were marked by high temperatures and little rainfall. The heat...
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During my trip to Hong Kong there was something that made me sad. Over the last four of five years I have been realizing how difficult is to build a brand. As said, only the first 100 years are difficult. And this is even more true for Port Wine. It took many years for Port to be known, recognized and appreciated all around the world. But it achieved such a difficult task. Is one of the wines with more brand awareness and associated to quality, distiction and a certain nobility. So the Portuguese must be very proud to own and make one of the most valuables wines in the world.
However, and there is always a “but” in everything, the success achieved by our ancestrors in the creation of a distinctive wine, attracted others to replicate the original. Almost every new world wine countries have it own version of Port: Argentina, South Africa, Australia or USA. I would not find any problem in this if they would create a new desgnition for their fortified wines. Call it Mendoza 20%, Stellenbosch Noble, Barossa Fortified or Napa Sweet, but not Port. Port is only made in sqm in the Douro wine region of Portugal.
The US have already started legislating against the use of European protected wine-related designations, forbidding the use of the word “Port” in theirs fortified wines. But a lot of political and legal work is still required in other countries.
I hope to find only one type of Port next time I go to Hong Kong, the one from Douro.
Oscar
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