Dominic Sandbrook

I can't remember exactly what it was.

So England is at war with France.

So access to French wine has been cut off.

The Methuen Treaty is a treaty that allows wool to go to Portugal, England's oldest ally.

And at the same time, England cuts import duties on Portuguese wine.

So Portuguese wine comes the other way.

This is the sort of genesis of the English fascination with port.

Port wine, isn't it?

Yeah, exactly.

So when you go to Porto and you go up the banks of the River Douro, you see all the great

You know, port wine lodges, tailors and sandermen.

But also in the Alentejo, which is the kind of Portuguese rural heartland, there are these great forests.

I was actually only there a couple of weeks ago.

There are all these forests that produce cork.

And Portugal still to this day is the world's great producer of corks.

Yeah.

And again, the cork is a little bit like the dark wine bottle, isn't it?

There are lots of people, particularly in the New World and Australia and in California, who say, why are we still using cork?

You know, a screw top is just as good.

But cork is seen as a marker of prestige and quality.