The “Grapes Country”: Portuguese Viticulture from the Early Nineteenth Century Until the New Millennium

Abstract

In the wine branch, the process of merging began later than in the beverage industry and its aim was to deal with both the concentration in the distribution and retail sector and the growing globalization of the wine industry. In Port wine sector, mergers and acquisitions grew importance in the early 1960s, when Harvey’s (Allied Domecq) bought Cockburn and Martinez Gassiot (1961) and Sandeman acquired Offley Forrester (1962). Until the 1960s the commercialization structures of those firms changed slowly comparatively to what happened in other segments of alcoholic beverages. This explains their subsequent vulnerability to the competition of the great beverage firms and of international distribution. In this context many Port wine companies were integrated in multinational groups, or established partnerships or alliances with other companies, and only a few kept up its independence. To face the challenges of globalization, in 1992 seven of the ten largest Portuguese wine companies joined as a task force to promote internationally their wines.