Port anD the Douro uP to Date 17work progressed, more vineyards were planted in the Cima Corgo upstream from Régua.
The English preference for stronger wines was reflected by a significant increase in the
production of Port from the hotter, more arid parts of the region around Pinhão and Tua.
During the Pombaline era the Cima Corgo had produced barely a quarter of first grade
wine, but by the end of the eighteenth century the Baixo Corgo had been overtaken as the
main source of premium quality Port. Pombal’s vineyard registration merely recorded the
name of the owner of the vineyard and not the name of the property itself, but by 1800
it can be supposed that a number of now famous properties as far upstream as the present
day Quinta da Tua and Quinta dos Aciprestes were already well established. Villa Maior
attributes the foundation of nearby Quinta dos Malvedos to his maternal grandfather
who began planting vines on the site at the end of the eighteenth century.
The first vineyard in the Douro Superior appears to be Quinta do Silho at Barca d’Alva on
the Spanish border, planted by Miguel António Ferreira in 1820. This was closely followed
by Quinta das Figueiras (subsequently Quinta do Vesúvio) which had been acquired by
the so-called ‘capitalista da Régua’, Bernardo Ferreira. In 1827 he wrote proudly of his new
property: ‘all the English have praised my armazém [warehouse]... adding that they had
not seen another adega [winery] in the Douro like mine which has reinforced their belief
in my passion for good wines, so much so that they openly say that nobody in Oporto or
the Douro has better wines...’ As these properties fell outside the 1761 demarcation, the
wines were still technically illegal although highly regarded for their quality. Around 1832
the first Visconde Vilarinho de São Romão wrote that ‘almost all the wines from Arnozelo
upstream to Villarinho de Castanheira, as well as those from the other side of the river, are
being brought each year into the Feitoria Demarcation. This wine is really very good...’ By
the middle of the century, Quinta dos Canais, Quinta da Telhada, Quinta do São Xisto,
Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta do Arnozelo were already well established.
the First vintage Ports
The rapid expansion of the Port trade in the second half of the eighteenth century had much
to do with the science of the bottle. The first bottles had merely been used as a convenient
vessel to convey the wine from the cask to the table. Short and squat in shape, they were
totally impractical for laying down. As the eighteenth century wore on, they began to be
more elongated in shape with a longer neck until by the 1770s a bottle could be cellared on
its side without too much difficulty.
This brought about an entirely new approach to wine in general and Port in particular.
Instead of being acclaimed as ‘new’ as it had been earlier in the century, it was now
possible to age Port in bottle, with a cork providing an effective seal against oxidation
and bacterial spoilage. The cylindrical bottle was available for the great 1775 vintage so,
claims H. Warner Allen in The Wines of Portugal, ‘it seems a fair guess that the best Douro
wine of 1775 profited by it to become the first great vintage Port in history’. However,
the first mention of a vintage Port appeared in a Christie’s catalogue of 1773 when a