In 1942, with the war blocking port wine, a Portuguese businessman created a rosé to export to a country that was outside the conflict
Mateus Rosé was born from a dinner conversation in Portugal in 1942, in the middle of World War II. According to Australian critic Huon Hooke, in The Real Review, the guests were talking about how hard it was to sell port during the conflict when someone suggested making table wines to export to Brazil, a Portuguese-speaking country that, at that moment, was outside the war. The idea gave rise to the company that became Sogrape, which still makes the wine.
The man behind it was Fernando Van Zeller Guedes, born in Porto in 1903 and died in 1987, according to Diário de Notícias. Rosé was almost unknown in Portugal at the time, and he decided to make a slightly sweet wine, believing most people preferred a bit of sugar. The grapes were bastardo, touriga and tinta francisca, from the Douro Valley.
The flat, round bottle mimics the canteens carried by World War I soldiers. The shape required special moulds, and the first bottles were filled by hand, with a rubber tube connected to the cask, Hooke writes.
The label shows the Palace of Mateus, near Vila Real, built in 1610 and then owned by the Count of Mangualde, who sold grapes from his vineyard for the wine. The count first agreed to receive half an escudo per bottle for the use of the image, but days later swapped the deal for a one-off payment. Guedes would later say that, when Mateus was selling 50 million bottles a year, the royalties would have paid the count 25 million escudos in 12 months.
The wine sold well in Portugal and Brazil until Brazil banned wine imports during an economic crisis. Guedes then sent two bottles to every Portuguese embassy and to friends abroad: one was to be drunk chilled, the other given to someone who could become the brand's agent in that country. The plan worked, according to Hooke.
According to Diário de Notícias, fado singer Amália Rodrigues was an ambassador for the wine, and a famous photo shows Jimi Hendrix drinking straight from the canteen-shaped bottle. Today Mateus is sold in more than 100 countries, and Sogrape is run by the founder's grandson.
Sources: The Real Review (August 20, 2020), Diário de Notícias (September 1, 2020).
