The José Maria da Fonseca house bears the name of its founder, born in 1804 in the village of Vilar Seco, in the municipality of Nelas, in the heart of the Dão region. Founded in 1834 in Vila Nogueira de Azeitão, it is the oldest producer of table wines and Moscatel de Setúbal, remaining in the possession of his descendants to this day.

A man of great vision, José Maria da Fonseca was a pioneer in Portuguese viticulture. Replacing manual labor with plowing and widening the spacing between vines for better sun exposure were two innovations widely praised in his time. He is also credited with introducing new grape varieties to the region, such as Castelão Francês, which he brought from Estremadura, as well as substantial improvements to Moscatel de Setúbal.

In 1857, King Pedro V awarded José Maria da Fonseca the Order of the Tower and Sword of Valor, Loyalty, and Merit. At the time of his death in 1887, the company possessed prestigious brands recognized nationally and internationally, and its products were exported to every continent.

António Porto Soares Franco, a fifth-generation member of the family and a winemaker trained in Montpellier, is responsible for the creation of two rosé wines that represent two major brands produced by José Maria da Fonseca: Faísca and Lancers. The latter, launched in the United States in 1944, remains a leading Portuguese wine imported and consumed in that country to this day.

The introduction of the first highly successful white wine to the national market occurred in 1945 with the Branco Seco Especial (BSE), and a decade later, in 1959, the Terras Altas brand was launched with wines from the Dão region. The Pasmados wines, initially known as Branco Velho and Tinto Velho, acquired their own identity in 1959.

The Palmela Superior brand gave rise, from 1969, to the Camarate Clarete and Camarate wines, and, from 1985, to Quinta de Camarate. Finally, in 1945, the production of cellar wines identified by secret acronyms began, making them authentic collector's items: P, DA, AE, CB, EV, are the first of a long series of more than twenty cellars of different origins that give José Maria da Fonseca a remarkable reputation in the production of this type of wine.

The purchase in 1986 of the José de Sousa Rosado Fernandes Agricultural Estate in Reguengos expanded the range of Quinta wines offered by José Maria da Fonseca, with José de Sousa currently being the only Portuguese wine produced in clay amphorae.

The growth in sales of Periquita, with a very strong presence in foreign markets, of BSE and Moscatel de Setúbal, and, in terms of small productions, the success of José de Sousa, D'Avillez, and the three winery wines CO, TE and RA, confirm José Maria da Fonseca's commitment to developing a portfolio of quality products.

From 1995 onwards, new wines such as Periquita Clássico, Primum and Coleção Privada have given José Maria da Fonseca a certain harmony between the strength of tradition and creativity in producing new wines that appeal to new consumer trends.

José Maria da Fonseca is currently owned by the sixth generation of its direct descendants, since Antonio Soares Franco took over the presidency in 1986 and his brother Domingos, a graduate in Oenology from the University of Davis, California, oversees viticulture and creates a very unique and personalized style for the wines that characterize the house.

In April 1996, JM da Fonseca Internacional Vinhos and the Lancers brand were acquired from the British group IDV, making José Maria da Fonseca the largest company in the sector with exclusively Portuguese capital ownership.

In that same year, the company received recognition from IPQ for the quality of its production and bottling process according to the ISO 9002 standard, becoming the first table wine producer to receive such distinction.

The growth strategy also involves a significant increase in vineyard area, and consequently an increase in the company's own production as a percentage of total sales. At the end of this century, José Maria da Fonseca owns 600 hectares of vineyards, 500 in the Setúbal Peninsula and the remainder in the Alentejo region. To this must be added 150 hectares managed by third parties.