Port anD the Douro uP to Date 49Europe’s poorest agricultural regions. It was seized upon by Douro growers, relatively wealthy
Port shippers included, who were permitted to plant or replant between three and ten hectares
of vineyard provided that the land was officially classified as being of A or B grade and that
only five prescribed grape varieties were used. In 1982 ten leading Port shippers joined forces
to create ADVID (Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Viticultura Duriense). Supported by
the new University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) in Vila Real, this became the
first properly funded vineyard research programme in the Douro. The World Bank Scheme
allowed the members of ADVID to put many of their ideas into practice and whole hillsides
of traditional stone-walled terraces, many never replanted after phylloxera, were excavated and
replaced by modern patamares or vertical vinha ao alto (see Chapter 2). By 1990, 2,500 hectares
of new vineyard had been planted and a further 300 replanted.
the Casa Do Douro saga
in 1990, 40 per cent of the shares in one of the largest shippers of the time, Real
companhia Velha (also known as ‘Royal oporto’) were bought by the casa do douro.
the deal provoked strong opposition from the majority of Port shippers who felt that
the acquisition of shares in Royal oporto by an organisation with statutory powers
amounted to a massive conflict of interest. one leading shipper declared that the
deal was tantamount to a ‘referee turning player’. in spite of a wave of protest, the
Portuguese government nonetheless consented to the deal. the scandal, reported
(mainly) by the British media, prompted a press conference at the Vintner’s hall
in London in February 1991 at which the President of the casa do douro, Mesquita
Montes, defended his position. ‘the aim of the participation of the casa do douro in
the capital of Real companhia Velha is to quickly enable the growers to start trading
their own products,’ he declared. at the same press conference Manuel de silva Reis,
chairman of Real companhia Velha, told the audience that the potential conflict of
interest was ‘an imaginary problem’. imaginary or not, the deal did not prove to be
beneficial for the casa do douro or the growers they purported to represent. By the
mid-1990s the casa do douro had been effectively bankrupted.
sadly, successive governments, perhaps fearing the electoral consequences from
33,000 growers and their dependants, have baulked at fundamental reform. But
with debts running at 110 million euros in 2003, the government was finally forced
to act. a new single inter-professional body, the instituto dos Vinhos do Porto e do
douro (iVdP) was created to govern and represent the interests of both Port and
douro wine producers. the new organisation is a fusion of several bodies and has sole
responsibility for the control and guarantee of both Port and douro wines. the iVPd
also has full control of the benefício (the annual authorisation of how much grape must
may be fortified to make Port in any one year), leaving the casa do douro with the
administration and management of the cadastro (vineyard register).