摘要：The world wine market is currently characterised by two principal wine suppliers: the European and the New World. Countries such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal have witnessed a tremendous growth in the New World wine- makers (Australia, Chile, South Africa, etc.). As competition continues to intensify, wineries are searching for new channels to increase revenues and many vintners chose to develop other activities. Portugal is one of the European countries that present several natural and technical constraints which might be now resulting in modest performance regarding its position in the global wine market, competitiveness and dynamism required to overcome difficulties. The main objective of the study is to provide information to vintners concerning the current situation of the wine industry and possibly to present "holes" in the market which overall might be explored as new business opportunities. To that end, the research will attempt to measure the competitiveness of the Portuguese wine industry and its behaviour during a time period considered. This will be based on indices such as the trade intensity index, revealed comparative advantage, auto- sufficiency and market share ratios. This paper will also try to analyse empirically the specific case of exports and activity diversification in the Vinhos Verdes region.
