Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho
THE ABANDONED WINE INSTITUTE IN PORTUGAL
The ‘Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho’ or in English ‘Institute of Vine and Wine’ is a public institution that has the general supervision over the wine sector.
Portugal has a big variety of local wines, producing a very wide variety of different wines with distinctive personality. The country is the seventh-largest exporter of the product worldwide, by value. Famous, for example, are the Port wines form the Porto region.
The IVV controls the Portuguese wine production, to ensure the quality, the certification system and coordination and supervision of promotional activities. The Wine Institute has a long history dating back to the 1930s with the creation of the National Wine Board. During the 1990s and 2000s, the Institute has made useful progress in the naming of individual grape varieties.
Near the main building, we discovered large dome-shaped concrete vats. These vats ensure consistent temperature during fermentation. The practice of fermenting grape juice in concrete is quite ancient. The tiny air pockets within the concrete surface permit the fermenting juice to breathe similarly to oak, yet without imparting any flavors.
The ‘Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho’ buildings were left abandoned in 2005. The local government bought the buildings. I visited the site in 2016.
