White Lancers

The visit of Henry Behar, an American of Armenian origin, to José Maria da Fonseca, even before the end of the war, and his proposal to launch a rosé wine in the United States, constituted the great turning point in the company's business from 1944. Vintage Wines, which Henry Behar created with three other partners and who would later sell to Heublein, quickly covered the North American market. reaching sales of almost half a million boxes of Lancers in the mid-1960s and one million boxes at the end of the 70s. From the agreement signed between António Porto Soares Franco and Henry Behar, the Lancers would come to present a unique and distinct image , with the bottle still being an object of worship in the United States today. It identified a pleasant, unpretentious product, with an easily readable name, adapted from the painting "Las Lanzas" by the Spanish painter Velasquez, of whom Behar confessed to being a great admirer, versatile with any type of food, and within the reach of new generations of North American consumers. thus presenting all the essential requirements for mass consumption. Today, Lancers continues to be a successful case study, given its international profile, being one of the best-selling Portuguese wines worldwide.