Lisbon toasts Algarve wines

Agriculture Minister, Sevinate Pinto, has launched an exhibition of Algarve wines at Terreiro do Paço in Lisbon. Pinto also welcomed a group of Algarve wine producers who went to Lisbon to participate in the inauguration of the event. Around 90 per cent of wines produced in the Algarve originate from Lagoa, where producers are organised in a co-operative, but, in the last few years, there have been many other fine wines emerging from other parts of the Algarve. “Our preoccupation has not been with quantity but rather with quality, and we have already welcomed many fine wines in recent years, some of which are of truly superior quality,” said the Director General of Algarve Agriculture, José Paula Brito.

The Adega Co-operative at Lagoa may still be the Algarve’s most famous production centre, but others include Quinta do Moinho, near Albufeira, the property of Sir Cliff Richard, which has recently been producing high quality red wines destined for the British market. Other entrepreneurs are also investing in Algarve wines include businessman, João Pereira Coutinho, who recently invested 1,250 million euros in a high quality wine production facility at Quinta de Mata-Mouros, near Silves.