Port anD the Douro uP to Date 39out against the military government of General Oscar Carmona. Fierce fighting took
place in Oporto and the local correspondent for the London-based Wine Trade Review
stated that the bombardment that took place across the River Douro from the heights
of Arrabida (now the site of the Arrabida bridge) ‘was as good as any I’ve heard on the
Western Front’. A number of stray shells fell on Port lodges but, apart from shattered
nerves, the shippers themselves survived unscathed.
One unusually enduring piece of legislation from these unsettled times was the
creation of the entreposto or entrepôt in Vila Nova de Gaia. From the spring of 1927, all
Port wine destined for export had to be shipped through a tightly delimited area where
the lodges were situated, effectively handing the established shippers complete control of
the industry. Needless to say, it caused a good deal of dissatisfaction among growers, 750
of whom went to lobby the minister in Lisbon. In the spirit of the age, their views fell on
deaf ears and the entreposto continued to hold a monopoly on exports to the detriment of
single quintas until Portugal joined the European Union in 1986.
Men who shaPeD the Douro
George Massiot Brown and Walter sandeman
in october 1928, a representative of the Lochend Printing company in London called
on sandeman’s advertising Manager, eric Marshall-hardy, with a business proposal
for posters to promote Port. sandeman had been using posters for some time and
Marshall-hardy assured him that he would be interested to see a design.
the task was given to a scottish artist in Lochend’s design studio, George Massiot
Brown. Brown was aware of the vogue for French poster artists and signed his work
G. Massiot to hide his scottish origins. he produced a silhouetted figure, dressed in a
Portuguese student’s cape and wide-brimmed hat, holding a glass of Port. the work
was accepted by the chairman, Walter sandeman, who purchased the artwork and
the rights for 50 guineas. ‘the sandeman don’, as he became known, was used in the
1930s on posters, letterheads and abels. in 1935 sandeman launched a tawny Port
named dry don. the don developed into one of the world’s most recognisable logos
and effectively marked the launch of the first, and one of the strongest, brands of Port
and sherry.the strong arM oF the state
Such was the desperation with the state of the Portuguese economy that almost no one took
any notice when Prime Minister Colonel José Vicente de Freitas appointed the demure son
of a Dão smallholder, António de Oliveira Salazar, to the post of Finance Minister in April
- On being sworn in as a minister he uttered the ominous phrase which eventually