Alto Douro

Coordinates: 41 ° 6 ′ 6 ″  N , 7 ° 47 ′ 56 ″  W.

Alto Douro wine region
UNESCO world heritage
National territory:	Portugal
Type:	Culture
Criteria :	iii, iv, v
Surface:	24,600 ha
Reference No .:	1046
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	2001  (session 25)

The Alto Douro wine region ( Portuguese High Douro ) is the world's oldest wine-growing region with a protected designation of origin . It is located in the north of Portugal and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001 .

geography

The Alto Douro wine-growing region is located on the Portuguese Douro River in the northeast of the country.

The most important places are Vila Real, Lamego and Peso da Régua, which can be considered the capital of the Alto Douro.

The Rio Pinhão flows into the Douro at Pinhão in the Alto Douro

It is about 26,000 hectares and includes the following 13 districts ( concelhos ) :

Mesão Frio Peso da Régua Santa Marta de Penaguião Vila Real

Alijó Sabrosa Carrazeda de Ansiães Torre de Moncorvo Lamego

Armamar Tabuaço Sao João da Pesqueira Vila Nova de Foz Côa .

history

Historical map of the Alto Douro

People have settled here since the Paleolithic . Drinks were made from grapes here as early as the Bronze Age , but it was not until the Romans that actual viticulture was introduced, which was continued and further developed by the Suebi and Moors who followed . Thus, wine has been grown on the Douro for over 2000 years.

In 1756, the mercantilist - absolutist Prime Minister Marquês de Pombal had today's wine-growing region demarcated with landmarks and transferred the wine-growing monopoly here to the specially founded Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro ( Portuguese for: General Enterprise of Wine-Agriculture of the High Douros). This made the area the world's first protected wine region. Port wine in particular brought the region upswing and significantly improved the country's trade balance.

On December 14, 2001 , the wine region was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . The port wine is still the best-known wine in the region today, and the red wines are also particularly important.

See also

• port wine
• Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto

literature

• Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon, 3rd revised edition . 1st edition. Gräfe and Unzer Verlag, Munich, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .
• Richard Mayson: Port and the Douro . 2nd Edition. Mitchell Beazley Classic Wine Library, 2004, ISBN 978-1-84000-943-9 .

Web links

Commons : Alto Douro  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• www.dourovalley.eu ( Portuguese , English, Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.dourovalley.eu , accessed February 19, 2013
2. ↑ ditto
3. ^ Hans-Peter Burmeister: DuMont art travel guide: Portugal. 3rd edition, DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2008, pp. 254f.