The port wine trade is of considerable importance to the United Kingdom not only because the chief trade in this wine is with that country, but also because a very large proportion of the capital invested in the industry is English.
The growth of the export trade from Oporto with the rest of the world is principally due to the enormous increase in the quantity of wine sent to South America, chiefly Brazil, but only a small proportion of this (probably one-eighth) is port wine proper.
In Lisbon a chamber of commerce (Junta do commercio) was organized in 1756 to replace an older association of merchants, the ilIeza dos homens de negocio, which had attacked the Path Company; and in the same year the Alto Douro Company was formed to control the port-wine trade and to break the monopoly enjoyed by a syndicate of British wine merchants.
If a wine-glass be half-filled with port wine the liquid rises a little up the side of the glass as other liquids do.
The menu is a real chunk of haut cuisine with a choice of roast haunch of venison with port wine sauce.
