Setúbal is a DOC of the Setúbal Peninsula in southern Portugal. It is best known for its fortified wines, although these lie in the significant shadow of their more famous northern counterparts of Porto. Where red port is made from a medley of Tourigas, Castelaos and Tintas, Setúbal is made almost exclusively from Moscatel grapes. These grow in vineyards on the lower slopes of the Serra Arrabida hills, and below on the sandy plains around Palmela.
The DOC is named after the port town of Setúbal, which lies on the northern shores of the Sado estuary just south of Lisbon. The geographical area now covered by the title was originally demarcated for Moscatel de Setúbal wines as far back as 1905. Production and cultivation lay largely unchanged here for almost a century, until the DOC revisions of 1997 and 1999. At this time Moscatel was highlighted as the variety of choice, and the previous tolerance of other varieties was outlawed. This change was intended to bring Setúbal wines into line with EU labeling guidelines, which stipulate that any varietal wine must contain at least 85 percent of the variety stated on the label.
©Comissão Vitivinícola Regional da Península de Setúbal
The specific strain of Muscat used here on the Setúbal Peninsula is, appropriately, Moscatel de Setúbal (aka Muscat of Alexandria). The rare, pink-skinned Moscatel Roxo is also occasionally used, but less so with every year that passes.
The key difference between Moscatel de Setúbal and other fortified wines is the winemaking process after vinification. As with almost all sweet fortified wines, pure grape spirit is employed to stop fermentation (a process known in France as mutage), and the wine is then aged for a period in wooden barrels. Setúbal winemakers add the leftover, highly aromatic Moscatel grape skins to the mix and allow them to macerate with the wine for as long as six months. This gives Moscatel de Setúbal its intensely pungent, floral aroma.
The majority of Setúbal spends four or five years in oak, during which time it takes on a burnt-orange hue and develops a spicy, raisined character akin to the smell of baking Christmas cake. The very finest Setúbal wines spend four times this period in barrel, and are more brown than orange or bricked.
Setúbal shares its geographical area with the peninsula's other DOC, Palmela, which primarily covers red wines made from the Castelão grape variety.
