🍷 José Maria da Fonseca

José Maria da Fonseca is a wine company based at Quinta da Bassaqueira in Vila Nogueira de Azeitão, on the Setúbal Peninsula south of Lisbon. According to the house, it was founded in 1834 by José Maria da Fonseca, born in 1804 in Vilar Seco (Nelas); Wikidata gives the same founding year. After the founder's death in 1884 the company stayed in the hands of his family.

According to the house, it created the Periquita brand in 1850, the Lancers rosé in 1944 and the white BSE in 1945, and in 1959 launched Terras Altas from the Dão. It makes fortified Moscatel de Setúbal, including old vintages from 1911 and 1955, and also runs the Adega José de Sousa in Reguengos de Monsaraz in the Alentejo.

According to the house, the family tells its history in cycles. Between 1920 and 1935 it had a delegation in Rio de Janeiro and exported more than a million bottles a year to Brazil; from 1937 it turned to rosé wines under the enologist António Porto Soares Franco. Lancers Rosé was created in 1944 after a visit by the American Henry Behar, and the house says its sales in the United States reached one million cases in the late 1970s. In 1996 it became the first table-wine producer in Portugal certified to ISO 9002, and in 1999 it built a winery with a capacity of 6.5 million litres. The house presents the Hexagon brand of 2003 as a tribute to the family's sixth generation.

The house lists brands such as BSE, JMF, João Pires, Lancers, Periquita, Terras Altas and Hexagon, a Frasqueira collection with Moscatel de Setúbal Superior 1911 and 1955, and alcohol-free wines called O%riginal; its winemaking centre is named after Fernando Soares Franco.

Moscatel de Setúbal is made under the protected designation of origin (PDO) Setúbal; the peninsula's wines may also carry the protected geographical indication (PGI) Península de Setúbal. The label shows which of the two applies.

Why it matters to you. A PDO or PGI name on the label tells you where the wine comes from, while names such as “Periquita” or “Lancers” are the house's brands. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.