The history of Port really begins in the 11th century, when Henry II of Burgundy, who had won renown fighting the Moors in the name of Alfonso VI, king of Castile and Leon, married the latter’s daughter. By way of dowry he was granted the County of Portugale, where he planted vines brought from his native province, replacing in part the vines introduced previously by the Romans.

It was not, however, until the 17th century that Port began to rise to prominence. The bitterness of the English, still smarting from the loss of Aquitaine, and the protectionism imposed by Colbert against English exports to France prompted England to forsake the wines of Bordeaux in favor of those of the Douro valley.

In 1703 the English and Portuguese signed the Methuen Treaty, which guaranteed preferential customs tariffs for Port wines. At the time, the wine of the Douro was red, dry and coarse, with an alcohol content of 12-13%. But it was ill-suited to long sea crossings and traveled badly until someone hit upon the idea of stabilizing it with brandy. The next step was to add the brandy as part of the wine-making process. It was apparent that this practice countered the wine's excessive acidity, making it rounder and enhancing its flavor. In this way, Port, as we know it today, came into being.

In order to safeguard its quality and authenticity, the Marquis of Pombal, who as prime minister rebuilt the Portuguese economy after the catastrophic Lisbon earthquake, issued a law in 1756 which decreed the boundaries of the Douro Valley vineyards. He also set an annual production quota, established strict rules on cultivation, transportation and prices and even required a tasting before wine was sold “in order to verify its quality”. Portugal thus created the world's first controlled and demarcated wine region, two centuries ahead of the great wine-growing regions of France.

In 1855, Ostende Rozès, then a fine wine trader, founded the Rozès House. Initially marketed in the Bordeaux region, the reputation of the firm's Port wines rapidly spread thanks to their quality. Edmond Rozès, Ostende's son, contributed substantially to the development of the company in the 1910's and 1920's. He created the "Rozès Porto" brand, using a bottle shape that enabled the identification of both the brand and of the Port wine. Hence, a Portuguese-shaped bottle with an old-fashioned presentation was marketed with a neck wrapped in sulphurized paper and a wax-coated stopper.

The company then set up business in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, from where it shipped its wines worldwide. The war brought the activities to a halt, but shortly afterwards business picked up and on December 13, 1956, Guy and Yves Rozès - the founder's grandsons - created “Rozès Limitada” in Vila Nova de Gaia. The company remained under family control until 1974. The Rozès company in France and Rozès Limitada were both acquired by the Moët Hennessy group in 1978.