10 Port anD the Douro
is much larger than Viana and here are more English and Scotch families. The wine of
the Duro [sic] is much praised by Mr Harris and others.’ (Mr Harris was presumably
the partner who joined Thomas Dawson, whose firm subsequently became Dawson and
Harris and Harris Stafford & Sons, before taking on the name Quarles Harris). Woodmass
came across a number of other merchants, among them a Mr Clark (probably John Clark,
a forerunner of Warre) and Mr Phayre of Phayre & Bradley. During the vintage at the end
of September he wrote ‘the heat is so great that breathing is difficult. Wine is at 13 millreas
the pipe, but of this vintage there will not be abundance’. Apart from the price, it could
almost be an extract from a modern vintage report.
Those pioneer travellers to the Douro must have suffered appalling privations. There
were no roads over the mountains of the Marão and the inns and taverns were apparently so
flea-infested that travellers preferred to sleep on the tables. The River Douro itself became
a means of transport but it was an unpredictable torrent. Floods were commonplace and
in 1727 the Douro swept away over a hundred people along with boats, vineyards, lagares
and buildings at a cost of millions of cruzados.
Men who shaPeD the Douro
Job, Peter and Bartholomew Bearsley
the Bearsleys arrived in Portugal in 1692. Job Bearsley owned the Ram inn in London’s
smithfield and went to Viana do castelo in search of wine. his son Peter settled in
Portugal, becoming British consul in Viana before moving to oporto where, by 1709,
he was established as a shipper. at a time when wine was brought to oporto by
intermediaries, Peter Bearsley was among the first of the english shippers to endure
considerable privations in order to visit the vineyards of the douro. three sons,
Bartholomew, chares and Francis, joined him in the business. in 1744 Bartholomew
Bearsley purchased a property at Lugar das Lages just downstream from Régua. it is the
first recorded British-owned property in the douro and it still belongs to the Bearsley’s
successors, taylor, Fladgate and yeatman. the property is recognised today in taylor’s
‘First estate’ Port.Portugal remained at war with Spain until the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713.
Apart from the local highwaymen who attacked Thomas Woodmass near ‘Villadecon’
(Vila do Conde) there were also dangers from Lord Galway’s interfering troops who went
on a drunken rampage in Viana, forcing the English merchants to shut themselves in their
houses. However, as the century wore on, life improved greatly for the growing British
community in Oporto. The wines also began to improve and demand steadily increased.
Queen Anne placed an order for ten pipes of Port and farmers began to command higher
prices for their wines. ‘Red Oporto’ was described as ‘deep, bright, strong, fresh and neat’
and in 1712 a merchant advertised the wine at 5s 6d a gallon. However the Port trade still