Portugal's Wine Empire: The Treaty of Methuen and Port

The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History · Jun 1, 2026 · 7m · transcript

How did a small European nation build a global empire fueled by wine? In this episode of The History of Portugal, we uncork the story of the Treaty of Methuen of 1703 — a trade deal that swapped Portuguese wine for English wool and created the modern Port wine industry. We explore how the Douro Valley became the world's first demarcated wine region, the role of British merchants in Porto, the 1756 Marquis of Pombal reforms that set global standards for wine regulation, and the resilience of Portuguese vintners during the Napoleonic Wars. Along the way, we meet figures like John Methuen…