Port anD the Douro uP to Date 15production of cereals and rice. Any contravention of the rules would be met by stiff
penalties ranging from six months in prison to deportation to Angola. But there is no
doubt that the Real Companhia das Vinhas do Alto Douro proved to be a lucrative exercise
for Pombal himself, who often flouted his own regulations. The Prime Minister had a
country residence at Oeiras just to the west of Lisbon and stipulated that grapes from his
Carcavelos vineyards could be blended into Port. The Companhia also became corrupt
and many of the officials used it as a means of lining their own pockets. Villa Maior,
writing in 1876, describes them as a ‘true oligarchy’ adding that ‘to this day their quintas
in the Alto Douro are distinguishable on account of the magnificence of the buildings
and by the escutcheons proudly displayed over the principal gates of the mansions’. Many
of the fine eighteenth-century houses which can still be seen in the streets of Mesão Frio
and Provesende were built by officials working for the Companhia. Nonetheless, Pombal’s
measures were as far-sighted as they were far-reaching. They continue to have an impact
on the Douro and in other European wine regions two and a half centuries later.
Pombal’s measures were successful in the short term. Exports to England immediately
began to rise from a low of just over 12,000 pipes in 1756 to an average of around 17,000
pipes just four years later. Prices also began to pick up, reaching around 40 escudos a pipe
in 1765. Two years earlier the Companhia had intervened to buy up wines ‘preferably
from the poorest farmers’ in order to prevent a collapse in price due to the huge stocks
of wine sitting in the London docks. In 1766 a number of Port shippers failed, among
them Adam Standard, Ricardo Tisuel and Estevão Heraut, but the majority weathered
Pombal’s legislation.
Pombal continued issuing decrees and dictates including, in 1776, a complete ban on
exports of wine from Viana, Monção, Bairrada and the Algarve in order to protect those
from the Douro. This didn’t last long; he was dismissed from office the following year and
some of his more draconian legislation was immediately relaxed. Frei João da Mansilha
Noble house, Vilariça