In 1990, with an impressive wine portfolio, well representative of the quality and diversity of Portuguese viticulture, SOGRAPE was exporting to about 125 countries, with a sales volume of about 30 million litres (about 40 million bottles). At the start of the decade, however, due to several factors – from the effects of the Gulf War (1991) on the world economy, to the competition from Chilean, American and Australian wines and the anti-alcohol campaigns, which focused strongly on wine – there was a new period of crisis in the sector. SOGRAPE’s response was quick and a vast Cost Reduction Programme for resource reorganisation and re-qualification was launched, with the aim of increasing the Group’s competitive capacity in European and world markets. Concentrating on its core wine business, SOGRAPE quickly recovered the growth it had enjoyed in the 1980s. Particularly in the latter part of the decade and at the start of the new century large investments took place in new vineyards and wine-making facilities. The launch of top-quality wines from Quinta dos Carvalhais (the single-variety Encruzado, Touriga Nacional and Alfrocheiro Preto as well as Reserva Red) signalled a triumph for the Company in the Dão Region. Bought by SOGRAPE in 1989 and totally replanted in 1990, Quinta dos Carvalhais is currently one of the main references in Portuguese viticulture, with wines of great quality and prestige which are the result of careful viticulture and oenology, supported by a modern vinification centre.. In the 1990s SOGRAPE consolidated its presence in the Port business and in the Douro Demarcated Region with the purchase of Forrester & Ca., S.A. (OFFLEY brand), and signed a distribution agreement for the Offley brand through the internationally known group Bacardi. With the purchase of Forrester, SOGRAPE acquired one of the most iconic estates in the Douro, Quinta da Boavista. 1997 saw a further two fundamental acquisitions for SOGRAPE due to the diversity and prospects they hold in separate wine regions of the world. The first was HERDADE DO PESO in the Alentejo, completing a cycle that had started in 1991 when SOGRAPE launched one of the increasingly important brands in the region, Vinha do Monte. The second, and rather significant, one was the purchase of FINCA FLINCHMAN in Argentina, confirming Sogrape’s international strategic vision. In Argentina SOGRAPE currently produces and sells, under the Finca Flichman brand, both single-variety (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Malbec, Merlot, etc) and blended wines. In 2000, through the acquisition of the distributing agent Evaton Inc., with head office in Connecticut, SOGRAPE again ensured a direct presence in the American market.