Mateus (wine)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A bottle of Mateus (2013)
Country of origin Portugal
Introduced1942
ColourRed
FlavourMedium-sweet
Websitemateusrose.us

Mateus is a brand of medium-sweet frizzante rosé wine produced in Portugal.

History

The Mateus Rose brand was launched in 1942 and introduced to the UK in the early 1950s.[1] Production began at the end of World War II. The wine was especially styled to appeal to the rapidly developing North American and northern European markets.

An early admirer was

pétillant. Let no one despise it for its colour! Mateus is delicious beyond words; and since I am told that it will travel and is exported to Brazil, it is a pity that one cannot buy it here in England.[2]

Production grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and by the late 1970s, supplemented with a white version, it accounted for almost 40% of Portugal's total export of table wine. At that time, worldwide sales were 3.25 million cases per year.[3]

Roger Scruton recorded the social impact which the wine had in England:

My two sisters and I were raised in the shelter of

penury and puritanical restraint. And maybe we would have retained the meek decencies of our childhood, had it not been for the great transformation that our generation underwent when the Portuguese brand called Mateus Rosé burst on the scene, along with other breaches of English decorum around 1963...[4]

Producer

Vila Real, Portugal) and cork stopper were retained, although a screw top version was offered in Northern Europe.[1]

Varieties

As Mateus rose' sales exploded in the 70's, producer Sogrape introduced Mateus White, then Casal Garcia vino verde, both in the traditional Mateus shape bottle. In 2005, "Mateus Rosé Tempranillo", produced in Spain, was launched aimed at younger wine drinkers, particularly women. [5] In 2014, the company launched its "Expressions" range of three rosé wines and one white wine.[6] The Expressions range comprises three rosé wines – Baga and Shiraz, Baga and Muscat and Aragonez and Zinfandel – and one white wine – a Maria Gomes and Chardonnay blend.

Cultural significance

  • Mateus rosé was among the alcoholic beverages which were stockpiled in the cellars of Saddam Hussein's palaces.[7]
  • It was a preferred wine of Queen Elizabeth II (in 1999).[8]
  • The wine is mentioned in the lyrics of the Elton John song, Social Disease (1973): "I get juiced on Mateus and just hang loose."[9]
  • A bottle of Mateus can be seen in the cover photograph of Graham Nash's 1973 album Wild Tales, positioned on the mantelpiece just behind Nash's head.[10]
  • A standard decoration in Beat Generation coffeehouses was an empty Mateus bottle with colourful candle drippings down the sides.[citation needed]
  • In Mike Sager's May 1989 Los Angeles Times article "The Devil and John Holmes", the late porn star's ex-wife Sharon confides: "On their first date, he'd brought a bottle of Mateus and a handful of flowers. Sharon had watched through the window as he picked them from a neighbor's front yard."[11]
  • In the 1978 film,
    grass" is to be consumed, a Mateus bottle is seen being used as a candle-holder.[citation needed
    ]
  • In 1977, Frontier Airlines featured complimentary Mateus wine as part of its meal service on selected flights and advertised this fact.[12]
  • Professional wrestler André the Giant was said to drink six bottles of Mateus wine before a match.[13]
  • During the Cold War period, Mateus wine became one of the most drunk wines of the American army. Its soldiers are told to be one of the main evangelists of Mateus in markets in the Far East, as in Vietnam.[14]
  • In an episode of the sketch comedy TV series
    Kids in the Hall, Mateus is used to toast a recently-concluded business transaction between an artist and collector who are implied to have poor taste in art.[15]
  • According to Amy Wallace, his former partner, Mateus served Carlos Castaneda as an inspiration for naming his invented teacher, Don Juan Matus.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Cozens, Claire (9 April 2002). "Mateus Rose raises glass to 70s nostalgia". .theguardian.com. Retrieved 31 January 2017 – via The Guardian.
  2. ^ Truffle Hunt (Robert Hale Ltd, London, 1953), at page 102
  3. ^ Chandra, Alok (22 March 2014). "Wines for the summer". Business Standard India. business-standard.com. Retrieved 31 January 2017 – via Business Standard.
  4. ^ Roger Scruton, I drink Therefore I am: a Philosopher's Guide to Wine (Bloomsbury, 2009), at page 10
  5. ^ "Mateus makes comeback with new rosé but same bottle". The Independent. 13 June 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Sogrape launches Mateus Expressions". thedrinksreport.com. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  7. ^ Saddam Hussein's palaces July 9, 2009.
  8. ^ Glyn Middelton (producer): Secrets of the Royal Kitchen (documentary). BBC Television 1999
  9. ^ "Elton John Lyrics: Social Disease". eltonography.com. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  10. ^ "Graham Nash – Wild Tales (1973, Vinyl)". Discogs. 1973.
  11. ^ Mike Sager (May 1989). "The Devil and John Holmes". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ^ departedflights.com, 1977 Frontier airline advertisement, "Frankly, we don't think of good food as a frill."
  13. ^ Schwartz, Nick (October 20, 2016). "The most unbelievable Andre the Giant drinking stories". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016.
  14. ^ admin (2015-10-23). "10 curiosities about the admirable story of Mateus Rosé". webook Porto. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  15. ^ "The Collector". Kids in the Hall. Season 4. Episode 16. 20 April 1994. CBC.
  16. ISBN 978-1-58394-206-2. Archived
    from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2015.

Sources

  • Robinson, Jancis (Ed.) The Oxford Companion to Wine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, second edition, 1999.
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