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| The vineyards about Porto Moniz show the extent to which every bit of tillable land is explored and used to plant the grapes. Beneath the vines and trellises the farmers plant their domestic vegetables. |
It took thirty
years of careful toil in the late 1400’s and early 1500’s before there
was a proper quantity of wine to sell commercially, at first being sold
to passing sailors who drank it as possible protection from scurvy.
Initially the vineyards along the southern coast yielded only small quantities,
sufficient for consumption by the local population which, in 1500, numbered
scarcely more than 16 000 and, by 1600, only 30 000. It was only with
the ports increased activity that the shortage become acute.
Another hundred years had to slip by to mature and age the wines before a reasonable product was available for export. This period of initiation lasted about 200 years - from the first plantings until the time they were celebrated with regal splendour as a true gentleman’s drink in the courts of the kings and czars.
