Portuguese brand of wine
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. 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 Sacheverell Sitwell:Among the delights of Portugal are the unfamiliar wines upon the wine lists... there is one wine that is altogether exceptional, and that comes from the remote northern Province of Trás-os-Montes. This is the most delicious "vin rosé" that I have ever tasted. It is called Mateus, and it may be that the view of the lovely villa of that name, near Vila Real, which is upon the label, makes the wine taste even better. For the villa has a façade of granite and white stucco, with many urns and statues. But what is unique in this wine is that it is the colour of orangeade, and slightly "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.
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.
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...
Producer.
Sogrape, Portugal's largest winemaker and the brand's owner, has diversified as the Mateus brand lost favour with consumers. In the UK in 2002 the wine was re-packaged and relaunched to capitalise on 1970s nostalgia, with the wine being less sweet and more sparkling as drinkers preferred a drier wine. Its flask-shaped bottle, with unique "baroque historic mansion" label (Mateus Palace in Vila Real, Portugal) and cork stopper were retained, although a screw top version was offered in Northern Europe.
Varieties.
In 2005, "Mateus Rosé Tempranillo", produced in Spain, was launched aimed at younger wine drinkers, particularly women.
In 2014, the company launched its "Expressions" range of three rosé wines and one white wine.
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.
References.
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