70 Port anD the Douro
years, Mediterranean arbutus shrubs quickly take root on the taludes and need to be
controlled. The need to apply systemic sprays and herbicides makes organic cultivation
almost impossible on all but the highest, well-ventilated vinha ao alto slopes. A number
of shippers are now members of a scheme called Protecção Integrada that operates from
an ecological point of view to minimise treatments. The Fladgate Partnership are leading
proponents of this form of sustainable viticulture, sowing alternate cover crops in between
rows of vines both to reduce erosion in vinha ao alto and to fix nitrogen in the soil. On the
second generation single-row patamares developed by David Guimaraens and vineyard
manager António Magalhães, the vines are planted towards the front of the terrace, which
is 2.3 metres in width, leaving space behind for a small tractor equipped with a mower
to cut the vegetation both on the flat surface of the patamar and on the steep slope of the
talude. This helps to bind the slope and reduces erosion during winter, spring and early
summer when torrential downpours are most frequent. David Guimaraens describes this
form of viticulture as ‘90 per cent organic’.
organiC Port: Pioneers
there are still very few producers of certified organic wine in the douro. a small
producer, casal dos Jordões with forty-three hectares in the torto Valley, has led the
way making a unique selling point from producing organic Port since the 1990s. some
of the larger shippers are now taking to organic cultivation. in 1992 Fonseca began by
cultivating two hectares of organic vineyard at the top of Quinta do Panscal. they have
subsequently replanted Quinta do santo antónio, a six-hectare vineyard in the Pinhão
valley that has formed a part of Fonseca vintage Port for over a century, so that it can
be cultivated organically. Working with a number of independent farmers, the result is
reserve Port, certified organic, called terra Prima.
since taking over cockburn’s Vilariça vineyards in 2010, the symington family have
been producing organic Port and douro wines (Graham’s natura and altano Biologico)
and have a small organic vineyard at Quinta dos Lages in the torto. the drier douro
superior lends itself to organic viticulture much better than the more humid cima
corgo or douro superior. they all restrict their treatments to enxofre (sulphur) and
calda bordelesa, and use pheromones to confuse or trap insects. Production from an
organic vineyard tends to be about 15 per cent lower and labour costs are much higher.
taking into account that the fortifying spirit also needs to be certified organic, charles
symington estimates that the cost of producing an organic Port is around 40 per cent
more than its non-organic equivalent.